The British Library has launched its Sounds website

http://sounds.bl.uk

The new website allows users to listen for free to 50,000 tracks of music, spoken words and environmental sounds. Listeners at licensed UK universities and colleges may additionally download tracks for their research.

The site’s large holdings have been organised into nine main collections, which include: Accents & Dialects; Arts, Literature & Performance; Classical Music; Environment & Nature; Jazz & Popular Music; Oral History; Sound Recording History; World & Traditional Music; and Sound Maps.

The catalogue can also be searched online here.