MP3 Downloads from Russia

Comments

• Apreche

  August 2006

  I think that because of Fairuse4WM allofmp3 is kind of useless. It's a much better idea to sign up for Yahoo! Music unlimited or other equivalent service. You can pay a flat fee and download as much as you can, then break the DRM off of it. Get it while you can.
• Kilarney

  August 2006 edited August 2006

  Agreed. I was asking this assuming that Fairuse4WM would not work at some point in the future - or for when my "free" trial expires. I would never download enough per month to make the flat fee worthwhile.
  
  This got me thinking....
  I subscribe to Cable TV. I pay good money for my cable tv. The shows are sent to me with no DRM. I can record them on my DVR. I can record them on tape, DVD, etc. I can download most of the shows I watch on Bittorrent. It would be a whole lot cheaper to do so. Despite this, I still pay for cable. Why? Because it's convenient. With my DVR, it's REALLY convenient.
  
  When will the record companies get it? I would gladly pay for a subscription music service if, like with cable TV, I could enjoy the media how, when and where I want to. It's that simple. The television industry is thriving. (okay... so the broadcast networks are hurting, but that's for different reasons) I gladly pay extra for convenience... and DRM is anything but.

  Post edited by Kilarney on August 2006
• Apreche

  August 2006

  I think Engadget did a really good job of pointing this out on their podcast. These services like Napster, Yahoo Music or even iTunes really aren't worth the money they charge for them. But now with the prospect of DRM being removed, all of a sudden those services look really attractive. People don't "steal" music because they aren't willing to pay. They steal music because the music they want is not available in a convenient format at a decent price. Getting music on bittorrent is a lot less convenient than clicking one button in iTunes. But that one button in iTunes doesn't get you what you want, it gets you DRM crap. eMusic has the right idea selling normal mp3s, but their service doesn't have the best selection or pricing. If Napster just took away the DRM and gave out mp3s they'd make a hojillion dollars.
• crowe

  August 2006 edited August 2006

  Re: the legality of Allofmp3.com. What they're doing is most certainly illegal, at least in the ethical sense. To say that they're selling digital copies of music without permission from the artists (read: labels) is probably true. The tricky bit is, in Russia the laws for digital distribution of, well, anything haven't been made yet. It's not illegal because there are no laws to say so. That's how they get away with it, at least for now (IFPI is trying so hard that I'm sure it's hurting them to get the site shut down).
  
  I love Allofmp3.com. It's the most convenient, fastest way to find and download music. (There's a reason it's the #3 online store after iTunes (BAD) and eMusic (GOOD - I have a subscription there myself).) The only reason I haven't been downloading off it recently is because they've been blackballed by Paypal and Mastercard (almost 100% chance that RIAA is behind that) and I don't have a VISA card. I used XROST in the past, since they did take Paypal, but now they only take payment from some screwy European-only e-cash dealy. I really want to buy music, but I literally cannot, and so it's back to piracy for my major label mp3s. Le sigh. It was fun while it lasted though.

  Post edited by crowe on August 2006