Sure, you can become a member of BMG's CD club, but the wonderful musicians' and composers' bios and CD discographies here won't cost you a penny. You can also get the lowdown on new BMG releases.

Beginners might enjoy the classical music guide, a history by era featuring top composers and MPEG stereo samples of their most famous works.

This "Cliff's Notes" to classical offers CD reviews, lists of top albums and 12 starter discs, tips on building a music library on a budget, and an overview of each era of the music (one is entitled, appropriately enough, "If It Ain't Baroque, Don't Fix It").

A site covering many aspects of classical music, from the Hall of Fame's Gallery of Artists spotlighting the greatest opera singers and classical musicians of the 20th century, The Masters, a history of the musical eras, each era's most influential composers and recommended recordings of their works. You can also visit the Conservatory to learn about a different instrument each month, its history and its construction.

But that's not all. If you don't know the difference between a coda and a crescendo, the Glossary of Musical Terminology can clue you in. Drop by the chat room and the message boards to discuss music and meet fellow buffs. If you have a soundcard and RealPlayer 5.0 installed, you can peruse the Cybercast archives of concerts, lectures, and discussions or listen to broadcasts from WQXR 96.3 in New York.

This site carries information on classical music in a variety of forms. Use the Concert Finder to locate when and where concerts will take place in the U.S. and Canada. Search the Film Music section for titles and composers of pieces played in films and commercials.

The Radio Finder lists radio stations by city, call letters and frequency, and links to their Web sites. Links to composer bios, audio samples of their works and Billboard album charts round out the offerings. Don't forget to enter their monthly trivia contests for a chance to win a CD.

A great introduction to classical, with a CD Buyer's Guide, sections on the different eras focusing on major composers and their works (helpful for building a basic library), composer's birth and death dates, CD reviews and articles, books about music, and categorized links to over 2000 sites.

Beyond Clara Schumann and Amy Beach, female composers are not widely known. This site brings to light those who composed during eras when women were seen, but their music wasn't heard publicly.

Get familiar with the composers through a chronology starting from ancient music to late Baroque and early Classical eras, linking to lists of names and birth and death dates, biographies, CD discographies, and MIDI arrangements. Follow the Web ring for a quick site tour.

From the U.K. comes this online version of "the best classical music magazine in the world." Among the noteworthy features here is Gramofile, a searchable database of "Gramophone" album reviews from March 1983 to the present.

The Audio Index lists all the audio equipment reviews printed in "Gramophone" since 1985. If you'd like to know more about newly released albums, you can view a list of CDs and cassettes scheduled for release each month as well as the editor's monthly album choices.

"How many tuba players does it take to change a lightbulb? Three! One to hold the bulb and two to drink 'till the room spins." Not everyone is afraid to let down their long hair. These jokes organized by instrument type veer from the funny to the cruel, with many variations on the famous lightbulb joke. Musicians should get a kick out of them.

The budget record label offers an introduction to classical music, advises how to build a collection, lists info on their labels and releases, a music glossary, detailed composer bios and reviews of notable recordings. To start your search for music in the movies off on the right note, see the list of classical music in films and Naxos' albums with those pieces.