I'm looking for someplace where I can download free .mp3's that i can
put as background music for photo slideshows. Like the background
music that comes bundled with several photo to vcd/dvd programs. I've
searched on google for slideshow music, background music and have yet
to come up with good results. I have found some sites offering music
for TV advertising and commercials that is very sim to what i'm
looking for. However they are charging for commercials and tv
advertising. I'm looking for something to use for digital home videos,
cd and flash photo slideshows. I'm looking for music without vocals.

Getting truly free mp3's is tricky--most mp3's on the web are either
there without the copyright owner's permission (which means it is
illegal to download them) or they are available (as you state) for a
fee.  Note that there are many "royalty-free" music sites that permit
you to download mp3's.  "Royalty-free" does not mean "free," however. 
It means you can play them again and again without owing anybody a
royalty payment for performing the work.  Normally, the artist or
copyright owner gets a royalty each time their song is played or
performed.  Royalty-free works usually contemplate a one-time payment
and then you get to use it forever without additional royalty
payments.  You might just want to bite the bullet and pay, e.g.,
$29.95 to get some music.  See
http://www.pdinfo.com/source/M990101.htm.   This site looked good too:
http://www.opuzz.com/background-music.asp.

Alternatively, some musicians place midi?s or mp3?s of their work on
the web and permit people to use them for free (really free) as a
means of developing an audience.  I couldn?t find any like that in a
quick search, but you might try ?free midi? as a google search.  I
realize midi's aren?t mp3?s, but if you can get them for free maybe
you can convert formats or just use midi's.  Maybe there are some
<truly> free wav?s out there too.

This is a tough one. Copyrighted material like this likely demands
payments. Your best bet might be visiting your local music store and
getting an inexpensive CD full of background music.