Recently I got an e-mail telling me "Classical.com is back!" Last year, Classical.com got out of the consumer market to focus exclusively on selling subscriptions to libraries. Now, they have returned to offer a la carte downloads to the public and remind us that Classical.com is "not just a pop music service with classical as an afterthought." They have a point. Many services are organized around the needs of the pop music lover, and fail to distinguish, for example, between composer and performing artist—opting instead to list music under a single "artist" listing. Information on classical music, with most services, also tends to be weak. With that in mind, I decided to take a brief look at the world of online music from a classical music perspective.

Although public radio stations have reduced their classical programming in favor of talk formats, there is still plenty of classical music on public radio, provided you are willing to go online. PublicRadio.com has a page that will show you, at a glance, a list of classical "Music Programs on Now". The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio 3 is another great source. In addition to regular classical programming they have an archive of "discovering music" classical programs. The most popular stand-alone classical Internet radio station is Beethoven.com, according to Ando Media's Webcast Metrics. In addition to the all-classical format, the site offers classical music news and message boards.

Among the Internet radio services, Live365 has the biggest variety of classical stations: 529 broadcasters now list their stations as "classical." For more detail on these stations—not all of which are truly classical—see the related article. Another service worth considering is Naxos Web Radio, which offers 60+ channels of classical music from the Naxos music catalog, ad-free for $9.95 per year.

Other notable services include Moontaxi, with 21 classical stations, and its sister service, MyMoontaxi, which offers personalized radio for classical and jazz lovers. Then there is Accuradio, which offers six classical stations and lets you personalize them by deselecting artists from the mix.

What distinguishes the following three services from their mainstream counterparts is their ability to support classical music discovery. By providing more detailed paths into their catalogs and richer music information, these services make it easier for users to explore classical music and learn something in the process. It is therefore no surprise that all three services are used by libraries and educational institutions. Though their catalogs might be smaller and their interfaces less polished, they offer the classical music lover things their flashier mainstream cousins do not.

This subscription service is more boutique than supermarket, more library than jukebox. Aimed at the classical afficiando, it provides a selective, if limited, selection of streaming music ("over 1000 recordings") from partners including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Handel and Haydn society. This includes historical archived performances and recent festival recordings. Subscription to Andante ($9.99/month or $99/year) includes access to an impressive array of music reference materials, including reference books, music databases, reviews, and concert notes. People subscribe to this service as much for the information as for the music. Subscription is not required to access Andante's online magazine, which provides frequently updated news, reviews, interviews, and commentary on the classical scene. Subscribers, however, have access to "search agents" that will notify them when information matching their interests is posted. Subscribers with annual memberships also get a 10% discount on CDs purchased through Andante.

This all-classical service offers a la carte downloads, priced from $0.99 and up (depending on length), from a catalog of 30,000+ tracks from over 25 classical record labels. Downloads are available in either MP3 or WMA (Windows Media Audio) formats, encoded at 128 Kpbs (with 196 Kpbs encoding "coming soon"). Though their terms and conditions are similar to those of the major label services, they do not encumber their downloads with Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls. Track samples are one minute long, rather than the 30 seconds offered by most download services. While not especially elegant, the downloading process works well enough, and can be used by Windows and Macintosh users alike.

Music can be browsed by composer, artist, conductor, ensemble, instrument, genre, period, and record label. Also provided are collections of playlists and "discovery concerts" which provide additional views into the catalog. Classical.com also strives to offer "multiple performances of most works played by carefully selected musicians and ensembles." At present the streaming, subscription component of the service is only available to libraries and institutional subscribers, though their Web site indicates they will sell individual subscriptions when "online music becomes more mainstream."

Update: Naxos is now offering access to an "FM quality" (low bitrate) version of the service for $20 per year (November 2005).

This subscription service provides streaming access to approximately 5,500 CDs from the well-regarded Naxos music label. This is the biggest collection available from a classical-only on-demand service. The music is mostly classical, but some jazz, blues, world, and chinese music is included as well. Recordings can be searched for by composer, performing group, and performing artist. Or by period, year of composition, genre, instrument, and even mood. Detailed liner notes from the CDs are available, adding considerably to the value of the offering. Artist and performer information are available, as are a collection of opera librettos and excerpts from audio-books on classical music.

Among its major users are educational institutions and libraries; its strength as an education resource reflects this. On the down side, the player and search interfaces are a bit clunky. For example, it doesn't let you read about one recording while playing another. It is also expensive compared to the mainstream on-demand services. The basic, "near CD-quality" subscription costs $15 per month or $150 yearly. For access to a "CD quality" music stream (128Kbps WMA), the cost is $25 per month or $225 per year. In contast, a Rhapsody subscription will give you access to most of these recordings for $10 per month, with "CD quality" streams (128Kbps WMA), a better interface, and close to a million more tracks in other genres. What Rhapsody won't give you, however, are the rich search options and liner notes.

Rhapsody provides on-demand access to 3,270 classical albums as part of a larger collection of 90,000+ albums (as of this writing). When it comes to browsing, discovering, and sharing classical music, it is the best of the general online music services. With a Rhapsody subscription comes the ability to play these albums on-demand, buy them as downloads at a discount ($0.89 per track), or rent them as portable downloads using the new "Rhapsody To-Go" option. One caveat: not all streaming albums are available for purchase. Rhapsody lets you browse eight sub-genres of classical music. Each sub-genre page lists key artists, key albums, as well as the most popular artists and albums. Rhapsody's search tool lets you differentiate between composer and artist. Popularity charts are provided as are lists of staff picks and new releases. Five ad-free classical radio stations are also provided. With the recent release of Rhapsody 3.0, classical playlists are now also available. For more on Rhapsody, see the profile on this site (soon to be updated).

The iTunes Music Store has the best classical selection of any download store, including exclusive offerings from Deutsche Grammophon and the London Symphony Orchestra, available for $0.99 per track. But it's a download-only offering, so it's best for buying music you already know you want to buy. No sub-genre browsing is provided, but it is possible to browse a "great conductors" list. Recordings can be searched by artist or composer. Classical playlists can also be found in the iMix and iTunes Essentials sections of the site. For more on the iTunes Music Store, see the profile on this site.

Update: eMusic added over 4,000 recordings from the Naxos label in November 2005

This independent-label downloading services provides a sizable bargain-bin of classical albums. For a price of $0.25 cents a track or less (by monthly subscription), you can buy DRM-free downloads from a selection of approximately 2,500 classical albums. While this collection is small by the standards of the major label services, it is still substantial, and worth a look for the music explorer and bargain-hunter alike. eMusic lets you browse within 15 sub-genres of classical music and search for music by artist, composer, and label. To read recent discussions on eMusic's classical offering, see the Classical message board on eMusic. Another way to learn about eMusic classical offerings is to read the columns supplied by Justin Davidson, Newsday's classical music critic, which discuss notable eMusic offerings. For more on eMusic, see the profile on this site.

At present, Yahoo's otherwise excellent LAUNCHcast radio service doesn't have much to offer the classical music lover. Yahoo's newly acquired Musicmatch subsidiary offers a bit more, but not enough to seriously attact a classical music lover. Musicmatch Radio has 10 pre-programmed, ad-free classical stations, but does not offer a classical music category for either its Musicmatch On-Demand or Musicmatch Store services.

—Andy Breeding

• eMusic Expands Classical Offering, Adds Naxos Recordings
• Metropolitan Opera Makes Rich Opera Database Available
• A Look at Classical Music on Live365

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