Super MP3 Download is one great software (for Windows) that allows you to do what you love best: download MP3 for free. And yes, you can find the Top 40 Hits here, and songs from many other genres and categories. In fact, there are more than 100 million songs available for you to search (and download), so there is a very high chance of you finding the songs you want.

MP3 search – by title, artists or albums

After you have installed the software, you can easily perform a search either by the song title, artists or its album name. Super MP3 Download is quick to fetch the result from its database, and I am happy to find that it brings back the songs I want at the first search for more than 95% of the time

Preview the songs before you download

There are many great many features in Super MP3 Download, but the one that I love best is the ability to preview and listen to a song before I download. After you have performed a search, from the search result, you can simply highlight an entry and get it streaming directly from the Web. If you are satisfied with the quality, you can then proceed to download the song. Now, for those who are afraid of the legal issue (by downloading the songs), or your hard disk is running out of space, you can also use this as an online radio where you get your favorite songs to play non-stop.

Advanced search

I have no use for the Advanced Search because the basic search function is already good enough for me. But if you are looking for more specific piece of music, perhaps the unplugged version of “Hotel California”, then the Advanced Search will be useful for you. Similiar to the basic search, you can query the database via the song title, artists, album name or all of them. In addition, there is an “Edition” field where you can choose the edition you want.

More ways to discover new songs

The Hot Songs and the Categories sections are two great place to discover new songs, or to zoom in on your searches. As its name implies, the Hot Songs section shows the Top 10 songs in USA. There is also a link for you to expand the list to Top 100 songs. The Categories section allows you to narrow down your search to the Genre of the songs. When you click on any of the category, it will show a list of the popular songs from that category.

Extra features that I hope to see

While this is already a great software that can save you time and effort to search and download MP3, we can definitely benefit with even more features. Here’s what I hope to see:

Search for songs by the music

There are times when I have heard a nice song in the bar, but I have completely no idea what’s the name of the song or the artists. All I can do is to record the music with my phone and get Shazam or Tunatics to identify the song. Now, if SuperMP3 allows us to perform a search with bits and pieces of the song itself, it will be great.

Support for multiple platforms

I am not shy to hide that I am using three different OS in my three computers at home. I have Windows, Mac as well as Linux. In my opinion, Super MP3 Download is not a complicated software and it should be easy to implement one for Mac and Linux.

Super MP3 Download comes in two version: Free and Pro. The free version allows you to download only 5 songs per day and you can only download 1 song at a time. The pro version comes in at $39.95 for a lifetime license or $1.66 per month if you just want to try it out. The Pro version removes all limits. You can download unlimited songs simultaneously at any moments.

Super MP3 Download

Firefox Add-on

The first is to a Firefox add-on called Fire.fm. Once you installed the add-on, it will load the Last.fm homepage. Sign in and give Fire.fm permission to access your account. A toolbar will be added with basic controls to start and stop a song, start a new station, change stations, adjust volume, ban or love a song.

The obvious downside to having this toolbar is the need to have Firefox running at all times. This isn’t all bad if you are surfing the web or don’t mind having a browser open all the time. On a Windows machine, Firefox must be minimized for the music to still play. Where as on a Mac, no window needs to be open or minimized for the music to keep playing. However, without the browser open, the controls are not available to skip, love or ban a song. Not very convenient.

Download

The desktop application for both Windows and Mac fills this void. The downloaded app gives you slightly more control and information than the Firefox add-on in a stand alone window.

The desktop app can be minimized or closed and still be controlled from the task bar in Windows or the menu bar on a Mac. The majority of the time, this is the method I use. I have things set up so I can stream audio from my computer to my home audio receiver in another room. I leave it on all the time when I am at home so there is always great music in the background.

On the Webpage

The most social way to use Last.fm, is via the website. The site offers a plethora of features so all of your friends know what your your listening to. You can share you library, suggest songs or artist you like to friends and so on. Those features are pretty common among most social music sites.

A feature that I really like is, Last.fm displays the local shows for artist that play in your radios stations. At first glance, this feature didn’t appeal to me; When I looked a little deeper, there were A LOT of shows at very small clubs and venues. Some of these shows weren’t advertised anywhere else in town. To top it off, there is an option to add the show date and information to your calendar with a reminder.

While viewing an event on the site, there is a spot on the page to let others know you are attending the show. This puts you on a list of attendees allowing everyone to see who else will be there.

Software Integration

Developers have created add ons to other apps like Aduim, iPhone, Android, social networking sites, Greasmonkey and many others. Through their hard work, it is  super easy to show the world your vast and varied musical tastes. Some of the add-ons will list or “scrobble” the songs you have listened to on other devices or with other apps such as iTunes.

What other ways do you use to access your Last.fm?