Miguel Mejias wrote:

>Hi, i want to know if it is illegal to download classical music from the
>net (using P2P) even after more than 100 years of the death of the
>compositors.

With online music file sharing the issue isn't what style of music it
is, or when it was written, and certainly not what technology is used
to distribute the files.  The issue is simply: "Who owns the recording?"
If you do not own the recording, it is illegal.

If the recording is so old that it is now out of copyright, as is the
case with some historical recordings, and it is now in the public domain,
then it's probably not illegal.  However, if the older recording has
been remastered, that remastering is new and is still protected by
copyright.

Everything else, including every CD in your collection (including audio
files made from those CDs,) is still under copyright protection, and
therefore it is illegal to download or distribute the music in any way
without the copyright holder's permission.

This is not to say that it's not possible to download this music legally,
you just have to pay for it.  If you are downloading music and you are
not paying for it, either by the file or via a subscription service,
chances are very good that you are breaking the law.

One very interesting service I came across recently is Naxos' Music
Library:

    http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/

I no financial interest in this, and I haven't even signed up for the
free trial.  I should also point out that the more expensive subscription
is for "CD Quality sound" which at 128Kbps is certainly NOT the same
sound quality as a CD.

Dave
http://www.classical.net/