The best things in life are free!

Free is good, whether it is music, books, an office suite or a complete operating system, free is good. As long as it's legal. You can get through life legally getting stuff for nothing. Just search for "creative commons" or "open source software" and you will see what I mean.

Free drama through the north window

OK so the books might not be the latest bestsellers, most of the music might be so-so, and the computer software might not have a 24 hour support desk, but if you look around you will find music as good as anything that you would pay for, books better than the pulp fiction that dominates the bookshops, and computer software that does exactly what the paid for stuff does.

Free gold through the south window

Does this mean that you shouldn't buy anything, of course not, it means that you have a real choice, something that capitalism tries to convince us that we have, as long as it is their choice.

Try it for a week or two, you might find that you like it.

Here are a few to get you started:
www.jamendo.com (music)
http://manybooks.net (books)
www.libreoffice.org (office suite)
www.ubuntu.com (operating system)