European Archive (copyright free classical recordings)

otterhouse · Post by **otterhouse** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:38 am

Hello All,

A while ago there was a topic in the "other" section where I mentioned the European archive. Since then, several more copyright free classical lp's have been uploaded on that site. Unfortunatly, because of severe copyright restrictions in the USA, Americans can not access the collection.

http://www.europarchive.org

It's a collaboration of different European radio libraries.
At the the moment there are more then 800 classical Lp's
you can download for free. There are some real rare gem's in that
collection, like the Max Rostal Beethoven sonata's ($200 at Ebay!)
never issued on cd:

http://www.europarchive.org/item.php?id=lp-00938_BeG

I uploaded some examples of the lp's on youtube, where I used the scans of the lp
for the video's:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EuropeanArchive

I am very curious what you think of the collection, and what your favorite Lp is...

Greetings,
Rolf

Post by **Leonard Vertighel** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:12 pm

It's an amazing collection, and it's a real pity that the copyright system in the US is so... how shall we put it... less than perfect that our US friends can't access it.

The only downside is that the network capacity seems to be seriously lacking (FTP seems completely dead). It would also be nice if the ogg files had sensible ID3 tags. Nonetheless, it's a great resource. I've already downloaded some recordings - in fact, I'm downloading some more while I'm writing this.

I'm just a bit puzzled by the "non commercial use" clause in the Terms of Use. Is this bogus, or are the recordings not really copyright free after all?

otterhouse · Post by **otterhouse** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 7:20 pm

I have to look in to it. As I understand from the director Julien Masanes, people are encouraged to use the "raw" files for their own transfers (in a creative commons way)... That would counteract the claim you read...

There is one small problem, which has to do with the interaction;
At the moment, the "whole side" wave files on top are Raw unedited files.
People mistake them for "the declicked and normalized" files. So please scroll down
and you the the edited (and better sounding) files.

Also some (but actually very few) records have small defect. If you find one, could you please report it?

Have fun!
Arrivederci!
Greetings,
Rolf

Post by **Leonard Vertighel** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:52 pm

otterhouse wrote:Also some (but actually very few) records have small defect. If you find one, could you please report it?

In the Horowitz recording of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto No.1, first movement, the record hangs somewhere around the 6.30 mark.