Contrary to what many people believe these days there are still many great places to download free, legally obtained classical music files for you to play on your computer or put on your MP3 player. While the selection of truly free music may not be as vast as those you have to pay for there are still plenty of free tracks out there to grab. All you have to do is know where to look.
Free Classical Music Downloads- Musopen
Musopen specializes in classical music recordings. All of the files provided by Musopen are released to the public domain and recorded by professional musicians throughout the world. Remember that any piece of music written prior to 1927 is out of copyright in the United States and thus can be recorded and distributed without having to worry about royalties or arranging fees. Because of this the majority of files on Musopen are older classical selections from both major and lesser known composers.
Free Classical Music Downloads- Wikipedia Commons
When Musopen comes up short take a closer look at good old Wikipedia. Just do a search for your favorite composer or artist and then scroll to the bottom of the entry. At the bottom of most composer's information page will be a listing of recordings or a section titled Media that will link to public domain or Creative Commons licensed audio files that can be downloaded and listened to. Be aware that some of the titles in these lists are recorded in strange audio formats. If a file downloaded from Wikipedia will not play on your computer download and install a copy of VLC, a free media player that will play almost any audio or video file format in existence.
Free Classical Music and Sheet Music Downloads- MFiles
Finally the web site mfiles also provides free public domain recordings of hundreds of pieces of classical music. It also goes a step farther by providing links to free sheet music for many of the same recordings, allowing music afficianados to print a copy for their own personal practice.
