Web sites offering free classical music downloads for your iPod

There are several good sites offering free classical music downloads for your iPod. What is the catch and why are they free? The reasons are varied, but most are made by organizations who want to promote themselves through free music. My only conditions for this hub were that the music must not be pop, performed by humans, rather than by electronic instruments or synthesisers; no money, credit cards or the like were needed, nor were e mail addresses required. None of these websites are suspicious Mp3 mirror sites, offering illegal music.

Several recordings in this list are made by students from music conservatoires or colleges; typically each students offers one movement as an example of their craft.

You are downloading the work of a young musician who will probably become a professional. How exciting to have the recorded work of a future star! The recordings from music colleges are of excellent standard since they usually provide an example from different disciplines, musical periods and styles. These are young people who have studied music for most of their life and have made a lot of sacrifices to get this far. Music conservatoires and colleges are very competitive and they have to be good to gain entry.

Several institutions promote complete works (rather than individual movements from a work), particularly the Peabody. There might be various reasons; the institute wants to promote a particular composer, or occasionally a benefactor may have left money to be used to promote a specific composer's works. Recording standards are extremely high; sometimes such tracks act as a sampler for potential record labels such as EMI and Sony.

There are two basic ways by which the music will be downloaded. Typically, your browser will automatically open Apple's Quicktime, and indicate progress with a horizontal bar. When this has completed, click the down arrow on the far right-hand side and "Save as" source. This should save as an Mp3 file, ready for playing on your iPod.