To help you avoid the scams, cons and dodgy sites we've put together a resource of online services and products which are legal to use in the UK*, which let you download and stream music, films, television programmes, games and software! Some are free, some are on a pay as you go basis and some are by subscription...
 

Films, Television and Radio

Websites such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand Five and STV Player all allow you to watch television programmes via the internet. The programmes available and the length they are available on the site mainly depends on the rights agreements.

The BBC iPlayer provides a seven day catch up service of much of its television and radio programming, including local BBC radio stations. You can also watch the BBC television channels and listen to the BBC radio stations live online. You can also download some television programmes using BBC iPlayer Desktop. Once you've downloaded a television programme from BBC iPlayer you have up to 30 days to play the television programme; once you have played it you have up to seven days to finish watching the programme, after which it will no longer play.

The ITV Player allows you to watch programmes from ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. You can also watch a complete series up to 30 days after the last episode is broadcast.

In November 2006 4oD (4 on Demand) was launched. The 4oD website now includes many programmes recently shown on Channel 4, E4 and More4 as well as a large amount of content from their archives including many complete series.




On Demand Five you'll find programmes from Five, FiveUSA and Fiver; you can catch up on shows recently shown and watch complete series from their archive.




Sky Player is Sky's online TV service. You can watch Sky TV without the need for a dish, set top box or long term subscription. With Sky Player you can get a flexible one month contract to suit your budget and life style. There are up to 30 live channels to watch depending on your subscription and some content is available to watch 'on demand' including up to 400 movies!


The STV Player allows you to watch programmes from the STV (Scottish Television) library.



SeeSaw is a service which rose from the ashes of a project named Kangaroo which was to be a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4. When it was blocked by the competition commission it was taken over by a company called Arqiva. From Kangaroo they created SeeSaw, a video on demand service which contains whole series of some programmes from the BBC, 4oD and Demand Five.

4oD and Demand Five content is also available via the 'TV Shows' link at the top of the website YouTube.

The BBC have a large back catalogue of radio and television programmes, documents and photographs, in themed collections, which they have made available via the BBC Archive site.

You can download or rent a wide range of films and television programmes from the Apple iTunes Store (this link may take some time to open as it will either open your iTunes client, and then the iTunes Store, or if you haven't got the iTunes client, it'll prompt you to download the free iTunes software).


You can watch full length films online with a LOVEFiLM unlimited subscription and some on a pay as you view basis. They also have a selection of titles to watch for free.


You can buy and rent films and television shows at Blinkbox. They also have a selection of free films as well as catch up television!

Indiemoviesonline.com streams free movies, free short films, and free documentary films on-demand. Everything on the site is free to view, with a focus on theatrical independent feature films. There are currently over 400 films available to watch in the UK, covering all genres, with new titles added each day.

Music

Mainstream music which can be downloaded for free, legally, is often difficult to find online. When it comes to genuinely legal mainstream free music it tends to be just particular tracks, given away for free by record labels or retailers, sometimes to help promote a particular artist.

If you're searching online for free music you need to be very careful to ensure you don't fall foul of any scams, cons, or illegal downloads.

The BPI (a trade organisation funded by their members, which include the UK's four major record labels and hundreds of independent music companies) have produced a list entitled 'Where can I get music online?' It's worth noting that YouTube is included in their list under the 'Streaming' heading; there has been a lot of controversy surrounding music and music videos on YouTube and it's sometimes quite difficult to work out which videos are official uploads and which have been uploaded without permission. Many of the major record labels have their own YouTube Channels, and one would hope that watching videos via their official channels is safe and legal! Some record labels have music videos on their own official websites and some artists have music videos on their own official websites. One would hope these are safe legal options too!

The four major record labels: EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group

we7 is a UK-based, ad-supported music streaming service allowing you to legally listen to, share and discover music for free. The service has over four million licensed tracks to stream and download from all four major record labels and hundreds of independents, so you can select the music you want to listen to and play full songs and albums on-demand. You can buy tracks and albums to download and keep. we7 also offers a Premium Subscription service  - by paying a monthly fee you can listen to unlimited music without ads!

AmazonMP3 have a small but regularly updated selection of free MP3s as well as thousands of MP3s available to purchase.


24 February 2010 saw the 10 billionth song download from the Apple iTunes Store (this link may take some time to open as it will either open your iTunes client, and then the iTunes Store, or if you haven't got the iTunes client, it'll prompt you to download the free iTunes software). On the iTunes Store you'll find a Free Single of the Week, as well as thousands of hours of music, television programmes and films, as well as apps and games for your Apple products, to purchase and download.


7digital was launched in 2004 and was one of the first digital music stores in the UK. They provide a small selection of free MP3 tracks as well as thousands of tracks spanning all four major record labels.


Napster have come a long way from when they first appeared on the internet. They now offer a legal music service with over 10 million tracks. You pay a monthly fee to listen to an unlimited number of tracks online (streaming) and you also get to download and keep either five, ten or fifteen tracks each month depending on your subscription level.



Sky Songs operates a subscription service; you pay a monthly fee to listen to an unlimited number of their 5 million tracks (streaming) and then download five MP3s per month.



If you collect Tesco Clubcard points you might be particularly interested in the MP3 store from Tesco Entertainment.




Spotify is a music streaming service, you pay a monthly fee to listen to an unlimited number of tracks. You can also use Spotify on many mobile phones and in offline mode meaning that you can listen to some tracks even when you're not connected to the internet. The free, advert supported version of Spotify is now available by invitation only.




Games

There are a great number of games which are available to play for free online, as well as games which are free to download.

Wikipedia has a number of long lists of games which are free to download and play;

Commercial games released as freeware
Freeware games
Open source games

There is a wide range of genres of games which are free to download and play, from flight simulator games such as FlightGear, to strategy games like Battle for Wesnoth, Warzone 2100 and Widelands, from racing games like VDrift, to transport simulation games such as Simutrans, and a huge range of first person shooting games such as the Allies vs Axis game Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (multiplayer), Quake-inspired Cube 2 Sauerbraten (single and multiplayer), Combat Arms (multiplayer) with its customisable characters, and the surreal cartoon-like World of Padman.

If you're more interested in playing directly from your internet browser then there are a range of sites which will cater to your needs.

There are sites such as Quake Live, which allow you play one specific game title in your browser, in this case a first person shooter. Then there are sites which contain large catalogues of browsers game. MiniClip, for instance, contains over 300 browser-based single and multi-player games and a community of over 57.1 million gamers!

Paint.NET

PRESS: Tom Pearson, from AllYouCouldWishFor.co.uk, talks about some of the legal* download and streaming options available for UK users; contact Wild Duck Productions for feature and interview requests. Please see the Wild Duck Productions Press and Media page for other feature subjects and appearances.

Tom Pearson appeared on BBC Radio Wales on the Jamie and Louise Show with Jamie Owen and with Alan Thompson in for Louise Elliot 15th April 2010. Tom talked about some of the possible risks of illegal downloading as well as explaining about some of the great legal options available to UK residents for downloading and streaming!

Tom Pearson appeared on the Annie Othen Show on BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire 8th April 2010 talking about legal download and streaming options.

Tom Pearson appeared on BBC Radio Nottingham on the Frances Finn Show 6th April 2010 talking about legal download and streaming options. (Frances Finn won gold at the Sony Radio Academy Awards 2010 in the category Speech Radio Personality of the Year).

*From our research the services which appear in this article, at the time of the latest update of the article, are legal to use in the UK (however, you should always read all the available terms and conditions, licence, and the privacy policy, for each website you visit/each service you use/each product you purchase/download).

Prices and service offerings were, as far as we could discover, correct at the time of the latest update of this article.

This article was last updated 29th April 2010.

Remember watching or recording television live online requires a television licence just as watching or recording live television with a traditional television set and recorder does. According to the TV Licensing website (FAQ 95) you do not need a television licence if you are not watching/recording live television, the BBC iPlayer Help section explains that a TV licence is not required if you are watching television using their 'catch up' services.

This article is not an extensive or complete list of providers, services and products available.

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