Stealing, err, checking out music has never been easier, and you can thank your Uncle Sam

With file sharing turning college students into criminals these days, who would have guessed that the biggest culprit of distributing musique gratis is actually bankrolled by the government? Listeners, listen up: The best source of free music - and I'm talking about albums in their entirety - is your local library. Now, sure, you'll find deaf, 19th century German composers or field recordings from remote Chinese villages. But many library music collections today also feature a surprisingly hip assortment of modern bands in my favorite genre, indie rock. Library: 1; you: 0. Digging through shelves of CDs and spotting obscure '80s art punks Mission of Burma and U.K. shoegazers Jesu feels like finding buried treasure; Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Rogue Wave, every Tom Waits album ever made. WTF?!? All for free!* Faced with so many enticing choices, I've become quite the library connoisseur, mostly shopping San Mateo County but also browsing Palo Alto, San Francisco and San Jose branches. Here's a roundup of a few worthy of frequenting:

• Millbrae: Best selection of new indie on the Peninsula. Last visit, my hands were full by the time I got to "D": Animal Collective, Bat for Lashes, Beirut, Blonde Redhead, Boris, Castanets, Comets on Fire, Cursive, Datarock, Destroyer. I'll be back.

• Pacifica - Sanchez: This library is tiny, but it stocks hard-to-find CDs that other branches never seem to carry. The location itself is hard to find, though, so print out thorough directions before you decide to wing this trip.

• South San Francisco - Main: Decent collection from many genres, though generally you'll come across more classic rock than modern rock. One caveat? Some CDs are misfiled, so locating works purportedly in stock could be difficult; I found Pink Floyd both in the "P" and "F" sections, and "The Very Best of Aerosmith" in the "V" section. Not that Aerosmith would ever creep onto my check-out receipt.

• San Francisco - Main: Due to its size and prominence, it's obvious you'd find an obscene selection here. However, you are frustratingly restricted to checking out only six CDs at a time (others have more generous limits), so you'll always be planning a return trip. A bonus: They stock multiple copies of some CDs, thus making it possible for you and five of your weirdo friends to play Deerhoof's "The Runners Four" in one big simultaneous cacophony.

• Other Bay Area branches that appear to have strong collections: Foster City, Menlo Park, San Carlos and San Jose - Evergreen.

To locate particular artists or albums, peruse your new BFF, the online catalog, which tells you where to find specific CDS, if it's already checked out, and also allow you to place a hold on the item so that you're the first in line when it's returned.

If you're spoiled and will only borrow the very freshest in library stock, subscribe to Wowbrary and get weekly e-mails listing your local branch's newest acquisitions. Watch those due dates, though, or you, might end up paying for that music after all.

* Note to the PC enforcement police: I still buy music and support artists. But I'd rather spend the $15 I save from buying crap CDs on something a little more worthwhile, like buying sweaters for stray dogs. Plus library services are partially funded by my tax dollars anyway. So there.