Auckland Library has signed up with a music service called Freegal that lets library members download up to three songs per week from the Sony Music catalogue, totally free and totally legal.

All songs are DRM-free MP3s, and users can keep track of their usage via a counter at the top of the page. The counter re-sets at midnight on Sunday Eastern Standard Time, or Monday afternoon our time.

You can still browse the music after you've reached your download limit, but each song will display a ‘limit exceeded' notification.

Freegal is a US-based music service sold to libraries all around the world.

55 libraries were incorporated under the Auckland Library banner when the region became a Supercity, meaning anyone who lives in the region is eligible to use the service.