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Well, considering the Russian police raided the offices a while ago, and legality in other countries was quite disputed, and that they encode their album selections with lossy files (ie-256 kbps MP3--->*whatever you select*)....I would think about avoiding it.

Last edited by Unforgiven (2005-09-27 9:15 am)

They were cleared as being 'legal' (certain circumstances etc.) in Russia.
Most countries consider it legal to import the songs if it's legal in Russia.
Encoding into whatever format is either done from high-quality MP3 (but still lossy) or original CD quality depending on when the album was added (usually).

It is entirely unethical but I've used to it buy hard to find back catalogues and songs I enjoyed but wasn't in love with (I know this is no justification).

I've used them for a couple of months now, without any problems.  My first stop is always iTMS, but sometimes the songs I want are not available.

From their website:

Is it legal to download music from site AllOFMP3.com?

All the materials in the MediaServices projects are available for distribution through Internet according to license # LS-3?-05-03 of the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. Under the license terms, MediaServices pays license fees for all the materials subject to the Law of the Russian Federation "On Copyright and Related Rights". All the materials are available solely for personal use and must not be used for further distribution, resale or broadcasting.

Users are responsible for any usage and distribution of all materials received from AllOFMP3.com. This responsibility depends on the local legislation of each user's country of residence. AllOFMP3.com's Administration does not keep up with the laws of different countries and is not responsible the actions of non-Russian users.

It is still a loop hole based business and is unethical. If it was the oil company using a loophole to make extra profit at others expense it would matter; but since it is "cheap" music everyone's, "who cares if some shady company in russia is making money of the sweat of others, at least I got my Dan Fogelberg and Journey mp3's cheap." Blech.


"and I shoulda been goOne"

valencio wrote:

I've used them for a couple of months now, without any problems.  My first stop is always iTMS, but sometimes the songs I want are not available.

My first stop use to be iTMS - then I realized it was a fd,f,fmhf pain in the mhdmhd ddmdk jmdhtdgrss to have to burn/rerip any song I wanted to play in Linux - so I no longer use iTMS.

I only used allofmp3.com to replace my iTMS library with something more portable, and a few albums I've had in the past that have been destroyed.

My analysis is that using them is legal, but for music you have not payed for otherwise - its legal but not ethical.

mjsmitho wrote:

It is still a loop hole based business and is unethical.

It's a loophole you could drive a truck through.  As you quoted, U.S. copyright law allows you to import single copies of copyright-protected works for individual use.  i.e. it's perfectly legal to go to Russia, buy a CD, and bring it home.  What's unclear is where electronic (non-physical) copies fit into this law.

Ethical concerns are best left to the individual, much like musical tastes.  Some people like Dan Fogelberg and Journey.  Even though they totally blow, I'd never dream of making them illegal to listen to.

I'd be surprised if using allofmp3.com from Australia was legal in any way, but then neither is ripping my CDs to mp3 or mp4 format.

At this point, I have to admit that my collection of 5200 songs is entirely illegal. I've got the CDs in the other room, but Aus copyright law specifically points out that changing media infringes.

I'm interested in getting music that I've already paid for on cassette. I don't have a cassette player though, and I really don't believe I should have to pay again and again and again for the same music.

On a related note, I picked up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the other day. My DVD player broke the day after the warranty ran out so I went to the iBook and found that the disc is protected. I can't even see it on the iBook, let alone play it. There's no warning on the box either, just a copy protected logo.

Apparently protecting their film is so important that purchasers aren't allowed to watch it. I wonder what DNA would have thought - he was an avid Mac user after all.

mjsmitho, there was a guy on Call For Help yesterday saying the same thing. He is trying to work out a scheme that will allow 5¢ per song downloads from a 4 million song catalog. One of his keys to success was to use a 'recommendation' search engine. Something interesting he pointed out was how easily the record companies could be bought by tech companies to make this happen. He said Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, and Apple could easily share the cost.

Interesting stuff to ponder.

mjsmitho wrote:

Gary Patterson wrote:

I don't have a cassette player though, and I really don't believe I should have to pay again and again and again for the same music.

See that is part of the issue, people use to readily do just that. Back in the day it was LPs, and then people bought the same music on 8-track, then cassette, and eventually CD.

Most people I knew back in the days would buy a crapload of blank tapes and use those to copy their vinyl (or tapes).

Ever see Back to the Future?
Remember the Van Halen tape? Yup - it was a recordable cassette - not a vendor tape (which were recordable too, but ...)

That was typical - at least in the 80's.
We'd have a walkman and a bunch of tapes - masters of which were not carried around.
Kind of like today, eh?

Oh - and back in the day, singles were readily available.
Singles on CD are rare.
The "B" side songs, often not on the Album, were sometimes really good.

brendave wrote:

That being said, how can you lambast this "new" technology

I didn't lambast anything

or goatast anything for that matter.

Last edited by mjsmitho (2005-09-27 9:16 pm)

resedit wrote:

mjsmitho wrote:

Gary Patterson wrote:

I don't have a cassette player though, and I really don't believe I should have to pay again and again and again for the same music.

See that is part of the issue, people use to readily do just that. Back in the day it was LPs, and then people bought the same music on 8-track, then cassette, and eventually CD.

Most people I knew back in the days would buy a crapload of blank tapes and use those to copy their vinyl (or tapes).

Ever see Back to the Future?
Remember the Van Halen tape? Yup - it was a recordable cassette - not a vendor tape (which were recordable too, but ...)

That was typical - at least in the 80's.
We'd have a walkman and a bunch of tapes - masters of which were not carried around.
Kind of like today, eh?

Really you could record to tapes?

I would think that was not nearly as widespread; and there was not nearly the ease of use and distribution as today. I would wager more folks would have prefered a mastered tape than a cassette copy of vinyl or 8-tracks. I for one tended to prefer a trip to Sound Warehouse(f'n Blockbuster) than sitting around duping tapes. I had some most of my tapes were mixes though. I know it happened but doesn't compare to today.

-

Last edited by mjsmitho (2005-09-27 9:25 pm)