Digital Storytelling: Creating Commons/Digital Storytelling Resources Compilation

Introduction

Below are sources that provide downloadable free music, video, and image files. The music is provided by artists who want to promote their songs. The files are licensed with a creative commons license, making it legal for you to download the material. Some files are public domain because their copyrights have expired. We suggest that you give credit to the artist in your credits slide/reference list when using the material in a digital story.

Digital Storytelling Sites:  

• https://u.osu.edu/digitalstorytelling/resources/
• https://commons.georgetown.edu/projects/digitalstories/

Legal Music:

• http://www.soundzabound.com/
• http://soundcloud.com/
• http://audiofarm.org/
• http://dig.ccmixter.org/
• http://www.resources.bravenet.com/audio_clips
• http://www.flashkit.com/loops/
• http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper

This article is divided into different sections. Please click on the desired link to jump to that section:

• Save External Music to Your Computer from SoundCloud
• Save External Music to Your Computer from Audiofarm
• Save Safe Google Images to Your Computer
• Save Every Stock Photo Images to Your Computer
• Save External Videos to Your Computer
• Save YouTube Videos to Your Computer

Instructions

Save External Music to Your Computer from SoundCloud

1. Navigate to: https://soundcloud.com/
2. Log in with your credentials
3. Click tracks and creative commons
   • Note: This will bring you to licensed songs that you are allowed to legally download
     
4. Click the name of the track that you would like to download
   
5. Click Download
   
   • Note: If the download button is grayed out, it cannot be downloaded because it has already reached its limit of users
      

Save External Music to Your Computer from Audiofarm

A add-on called Video DownloadHelper can be used to save most videos to your computer. This add-on only works with Mozilla Firefox.

1. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/
2. Click Add to Firefox to use the add-on
   
3. Once the Video DownloadHelper is downloaded, you will have a video icon on your browser. When you come across a video, you can click it to download the video. You must be using Mozilla Firefox to use this icon.

To download a music file from Audiofarm

1. Navigate to http://audiofarm.org/
2. Select which type of music you are looking for
   • Note: If you know the name or artist of a specific song you are looking for, you can type it in the search box at the top right portion of your screen.
     
3. Click your song selection
   
4. Click the DownloadHelper icon
   
5. Select your song
6. This will download the song and save it to your computer. These songs can now be uploaded on digital storytelling tools.

Legal Images:

• http://www.everystockphoto.com/
• http://www.public-domain-image.com/
• http://www.istockphoto.com/
• http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en
• http://www.stockvault.net/
• http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm
• http://www.picfindr.com/
• http://pics4learning.com/
• http://openclipart.org/
• http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
• http://www.picturehistory.com/
• http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/collections.html
• http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/images.cfm
• http://www.loc.gov/teachers/
   

Save Safe Google Images to Your Computer

1. Navigate to Google's Advanced Search: http://www.google.com/advanced_image_search?hl=en
2. Enter your search
3. Under usage rights, use the drop down menu to filter the images by the license that works for you. For example, search for images that are free to use, share, or modify.
4. Click Advanced Search
   

Save Every Stock Photo Images to Your Computer

1. Navigate to http://www.everystockphoto.com/
2. Log in with your credentials
3. Search for an image using the Search Bar
   
4. Select your image
5. Click your image again
   
6. This will bring you to a page that shows Photo details and usage options
   
7. Click usage options to display the legal information. For example, this image can be used “in digital format on websites, multimedia presentations, broadcast film and video, cell phones.”

Legal Videos:  

1. http://blip.tv
2. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/
3. http://keepvid.com/

Save External Videos to Your Computer

A add-on called Video DownloadHelper can be used to save most videos to your computer. This add-on only works with Mozilla Firefox.

1. Go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/
2. Click Add to Firefox to use the add-on
   
3. Once the Video DownloadHelper is downloaded, you will have this Video DownloadHelper icon on your browser. When you come across a video, you can click it to download the video. You must be using Mozilla Firefox to use this icon.
   
4. This will download the video and save it to your computer. These videos can now be uploaded on digital storytelling tools, like Windows Live Movie Maker.
    

Save YouTube Videos to Your Computer

1. Copy the URL of the YouTube video
2. Navigate to: http://keepvid.com/
3. Paste the URL into the download box
4. Click Download
   
5. Click 
    
6. Click Save
   
7. Choose where to save your video