A Nice Use of the Internet: Free Rare Beethoven Classical Music Downloads   7/19/2005 - 1,997 views,

As you may be aware, for various legal reasons having to do with copyright processes and time limits, classical music is, for the most part, free of copyright restrictions. Primarily this has to do with copyright expiring 70 years after the death of the copyright holder (however a performer or author or musician can hold a copyright to their unique rendition of that classical piece).

Thus there are classical archives all over the Internet where you can download classical music completely free, although for some reason these tend to be in MIDI format rather than MP3.

Recently, Aunty came across the site UnheardBeethoven.org.

This nifty website is dedicated to bringing to the masses the works of Beethoven which heretofore have gone unrecorded, and, indeed, for the most part unknown.

Says the site, “This website endeavors to make all of Beethoven’s unrecorded music readily accessible to the public. Now YOU may judge for yourself as to whether these pieces deserve a wider hearing and the ability to join the repertoire. These never-before-heard works are now available to anyone with a computer, a modem and a soundcard, in the form of MIDI files. Our rule of thumb has been that if a work has been recorded and is readily available, we will not produce a MIDI file, concentrating instead on the works which are not otherwise available. At present, over twelve hours of Beethoven’s music is available on this website and in no other listenable format.”

Wow, now that’s cool!
Most, if not all, computers are capable of playing MIDI files. But if you want to carry your unheard Beethoven around on your iPod or other MP3 player, you’ll need to convert those MIDI files to MP3. Mac users can do that by simply pulling the MIDI into iTunes and converting it through the iTunes conversion utility (Advanced->Convert Selection to MP3). Windows users can download any number of MIDI-to-MP3 conversion utilities There is a list available here, although Aunty cannot vouch for any of them.

To get your unheard Beethoven music, go to UnheardBeethoven.org.