Yesterday the Guardian searched for a list of forthcoming singles and albums on www.amazon.co.uk. We then logged on to a pirate site to try to find them. Searching under artist or tracklisting, we were able to download free the following unreleased tracks, each in less than five minutes.

· Victoria Beckham's new single, A Mind of It's Own, which is not released until Monday.

· Break Me, from Alaskan singer Jewel's much awaited album, This Way, not released until the end of February.

· Former US teenage television star Brandy's new single What About Us? from her forthcoming album Full Moon, due to be released on February 25.

· Rock City, the new Royce Da 5' 9" track featuring Eminem, due for release on February 26.

None of these tracks was available for download on legitimate music sites. To download already released tracks on these sites costs a small fee. AOL's MusicNet.com, for example, charges $9.95 (£7.05) a month, which allows users to access 100 downloads a month from a selection of more than 78,000 songs.