The Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) is a useful site for students, amateur musicians, and seasoned professionals alike. Started in 1994 as a part-time hobby by Pierre Schwob, the Web site contains more than 12,000 pieces by nearly 1,000 composers. The Classical Archives is the premiere Internet destination for classical music in General MIDI (GM) format.

Contributors from around the world have uploaded MIDI files of pieces by just about every classical composer you can name (and some you may never even have heard of). Quality varies widely, from excellent live recordings of difficult Chopin etudes performed by talented pianists on MIDI instruments to clumsy, heavily quantized renditions of Bach fugues and Mozart symphonic movements. But the sheer quantity of files is astonishing, making the site an invaluable resource for anyone interested in studying a piece of music, learning about harmonic theory, or sonifying a Web site with a Beethoven sonata.

The site's archives are categorized alphabetically and are searchable by composer and keyword. Some composers, such as J. S. Bach, have their own sections: in this case, the MIDI files are also cataloged by their BWV (Bach-Werke Verzeichnis) numbers, as used in the Bach Works Catalog. You can audition the files from your browser simply by clicking on them (sometimes there are multiple versions, uploaded by different performers), or you can download the files to your desktop and open them in your favorite sequencer.

The Classical Archives used to be a MIDI-only site but has branched out recently into the streaming-audio world by providing concert recordings of classical performances using RealNetwork's RealPlayer8 plug-in, Windows Media, and MP3. The site even has an online classical radio station. It also features links to pertinent freeware and shareware programs, submission forms for adding your own files to the archive, and a list of netiquette rules for using the site without violating copyright regulations.