A new music downloading service is attracting attention. AllOfMP3.com is hosted in Moscow and offers music downloads at dirt-cheap prices by the megabyte, in a variety of formats, from a large catalog, with no restrictions on the files.
Here’s an article from an Australian journalist who downloaded a gigabyte of mp3 files for less than fifty dollars and reports no subsequent abuse of his credit card. The Register and other sites are commenting on AllOfMP3.com, but nobody seems to know what to make of it.
Is it legal? Funny you should ask. The site promises: “All the materials in the MediaServices projects are available for distribution via internet, according to Licence # LS-3M-02-36 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society.” It claims it pays licence fees for all material on the site, “subject to the law of the Russian Federation on copyright and related rights.”
Maybe that’s true. Maybe AllOfMP3.com has discovered a loophole that allows them to stand the world of digital music on its head and completely gut everything the RIAA has been working to accomplish. Personally I think that would be a good thing – but common sense tells me that a ballistic missile launched by the RIAA will be headed towards AllOfMP3.com sooner rather than later.
Try it if you’re feeling brave! And if you think it’s a good idea to have your name and address and credit card number in computers in Russia that may currently be owned by the Russian mafia, and may soon be owned by the recording industry.
