Freegal – WPLs music streaming service, has rebuilt its App from the ground up!
Fun fact: In December 2017, music lovers in Canada streamed over 900 million songs in a single week – setting a new national record. Our friends at Nielsen tell us that these numbers continue to increase, with streaming on the rise, downloading on the decline, and CDs moving towards obsolescence. With easy to use streaming services like Spotify, Play Music, and Apple Music providing access to hundreds of thousands of songs at the touch of a button, it’s easy to see why streaming has become the more popular option. While these services are great, they often require the listener to purchase a subscription, are not ad-free, and/or do not allow listeners to choose individual artists or songs – only preset playlists.
Did you know that you can access ad-free digital music using your library card? Freegal is a streaming/download service available exclusively to library cardholders. Through Freegal listeners have access to about 15 million songs, including Sony Music’s catalog, and over 40,000 music videos. You’ll find your current popular hits on Freegal, as well as a great variety of international and classical selections. You can choose to take advantage of Freegal’s delivered playlists, but what’s nice is that you have the option to generate your own custom lists as well.
You can access Freegal through the Freegal App (which is available as a free download for iOS and Android), or through the WPL website. Once you have logged in with your library card you can stream music for 5 hours/day as well as download 3 songs/week. If you have used Freegal in the past, you’ll notice that the App has a new look! It has been completely redesigned from the ground up and is easier to use than ever. We find it to be pretty intuitive, but if you’re having trouble be sure to check out the FAQ section. Your favourite librarians are always happy to help you out as well!