Sites for Classical Music

Specialty sites for less common genres

One problem with music download sites in general is that they're largely geared to the mainstream tastes of those who use these services, mainly young adults ranging in age from 15 to 30. That's why the latest top-40 hits will instantly be available on every music download website, while you may have a hard time scrounging up even one acceptable rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or a particular Thelonious Monk track.

Reviewers say iTunes has recently intensified its commitment to classical music. While classical has always been part of the iTunes mix, Apple has added some exclusive performances from the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. We've read nothing but praise for the iTunes music library, which contains over eight million tracks. Reviews say you can find an excellent selection of indie music at iTunes, in addition to more mainstream titles. Jazz and world music is also well represented.

Wal-Mart, perhaps not surprisingly, does not even have a classical music section. "If you're looking for extreme indie, obscure jazz or classical, you can pretty much forget Wal-Mart's digital music service," says ExtremeTech.com's Don Salvator. His search on the jazz pianist Hampton Hawes found three tracks from two compilation albums, but no solo albums, compared with Napster's nine solo albums and iTunes' 15.

In its November 2006 roundup of eight music sites, U.K.-based Which? magazine included two services devoted to classical music, eClassical.com and Classical.com. Classical.com, the bigger of the two, features over 350,000 recordings -- the majority of them classical, but also some world and jazz music. A basic subscription (*est. $12 per month) gets you unlimited listening on a PC from their catalog, plus eight downloads. Clearly, this site doesn't have the multi-million-track breadth of Napster or iTunes, but it looks like a good deal if you're a fan of classical or jazz music.