Classical music is alive and well on the Internet. That may come as a surprise, since classical music is so, like, you know … back then.

But culture is never zero-sum. It's always additive, so good music will always survive, especially in a setting as infinitely expandable as the Internet.

Having spent way too much time poking around on the Net, I'll share some discoveries and offer a quick sampler of some of the really neat music sites on the Web:

The San Francisco Symphony and PBS collaborated to make www.keepingscore.org, a site both entertaining and (yikes!) educational. It stars the engaging San Francisco Music Director Michael Tilson-Thomas to give guided tours of musical scores.

The site is interactive and throws a whole of lot information and music at you in a format that's neither daunting nor dumbed-down. In several of its sections, the orchestra plays as the score scrolls by before your eyes in real time, with different waypoints highlighted.

The animated score of Beethoven's “Eroica” Symphony focuses on the key changes and has a short interactive video feature on the idea behind all these key changes that make its harmonic underpinnings. The animated score of Stravinsky's propulsive “Rite of Spring” focuses on meter changes, and its add-ons explain time signatures. The Tchaikovsky section uses his Symphony No. 4 to illustrate the instruments of the orchestra.

It's all free and easy and beautifully put together.

Want to see Anna Netrebko go crazy in “I Puritani?” The odds are that if you love opera or beautiful women (or both), you won't be disappointed by The Met Player.

Just Google “Metropolitan Opera” and click on “Watch and Listen.” The Met Player uses some of the newest streaming video software (it reads your operating system and self-adjusts) to stream high-definition stereo videos that you select from a library of about 50 operas. The first week is free (go crazy) then there's a monthly fee, a yearly fee or pay-to-play.

I have a decent 20-inch monitor and use some cheap headphones, and the overall quality was excellent. The operas have track listings, so you can come back and pick up where you left off if you run short on time.

For all you women who might not have the same Netrebko thing going on, there's some Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who, I'm told, is opera's yang to Netrebko's yin.

There's also NPR Music (just Google those words to get there), and, of course, lots of streaming music from classical stations around the world. But perhaps the most intriguing place to poke around is YouTube.

It seems that in Europe and Asia, there's still a lot of classical music on television, and fans grab clips and post them. Just enter a name in the search field, a name like, say, “Netrebko,” and you get a long list of clips. I found a bunch of great clips of performances of music by composer Alfred Schnittke to feed my ravenous Schnittke habit.

On YouTube, a symphony or concerto usually will be broken into movements, to keep the video size small, so if you find one movement, refine your search to see the rest.

I also stumbled upon the documentary “Richter, The Enigma,” by the excellent filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon, about the late, reclusive pianist Sviatoslav Richter. For some reason, Netflix doesn't stock this video (though they have 10 other Monsaingeon music films), so finding it online was like discovering buried treasure.

YouTube is replete with stars from the last century, with videos of Callas, Heifetz, Pavarotti, David Oistrakh ripping your heart out with his Shostakovich … you name it. The reigning American star, violinist Hilary Hahn, has page after page of clips. Just go exploring … it's as if a century of concerts await you.

A pair of headphones (don't overspend!) does wonders for the experience. Online videos aren't exactly Cinemascope, but they are searchable, amazing in the variety of artists (including interviews, like Glenn Gould expounding on just about anything), and best of all, still free.

And did I mention Anna Netrebko?

This Is The Opinion Of Milton Moore.

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