The End of AllofMP3.com?

[Grid Iron]

Allofmp3.com is currently down. The trouble started around May 8, with the album catalog not being updated and several new albums unavailable for download even though they were posted as having been added to the server.

Then, on May 12, downloads were shut down altogether, users getting the message that the servers were down, but the website was still working.

On May 13, the website was replaced by a place-holder saying the servers were temporarily out of order.

Today, May 14, the website, and URL, is complete shut down. Not even a place holder.

This all comes on the heels of two events. First, U.S. businesses demanding over the last week or so that Russia crack down on piracy (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050200918.html) before being allowed to join the WTO. Second, an article posted last Friday reported that Allofmp3.com ranked second only to iTunes (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/12/alllofmp3_uk_download_demand/) for music downloads in the U.K.

Apparently, the owner of Allofmp3.com is back in court now over the legality of the site. You can find a link to the article here (http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/allofmp3com-sued-by-ifpi-again/1066), but it's in Russian.

It looks as if the days of cheap, non-DRM music downloads may be over.

On the other hand, with Allofmp3 getting so much exposure in the media now, especially in the UK, perhaps their servers couldn't handle the traffic.

Should be interesting to see what actually happened. . .

[SirFozzie]

amazing how it has/had been #2 in the UK with about 20% of sales

Hmm, looks like it's running fine for me, the AllOfMP3 explorer at least, but it won't let you order.

[Joe]

MP3Search.ru and Mp3Sugar are also unavailable...

[wade moore]

Boy, it's a shame that illegal music downloads aren't working...

[Neon_Chaos]

all hail www.bittorrent.com

lol

[Draft Dodger]

Boy, it's a shame that illegal music downloads aren't working...

not true. my illegal music downloads are working just fine, thanks. it's the barely legal ones that are having troubles. ;)

[jeff061]

not true. my illegal music downloads are working just fine, thanks. it's the barely legal ones that are having troubles. ;)

Indeed.

[Ksyrup]

I don't use torrent sites for anything but bootlegs. I'm a member at a couple of message boards where we YSI new stuff constantly, usually weeks before it comes out. And that's mainly what I use the newsgroups for as well. I just like getting stuff in advance, then I buy it when it comes out if I liked it.

[Ksyrup]

With its growing popularity however comes enormous controversy. Although AllofMp3.com is a pay service, its pricing, format and copy protection structure (or lack there of) has drawn the ire of the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.) Unlike most authorized download services which charge a flat rate of 99 cents per file, AllofMp3.com charges by volume. Each megabyte costs 2 cents, therefore the greater the quality the greater the price. For example, a 320 kbps bitrate MP3 from AllofMp3.com may end up costing the customer a whopping 8 cents while a 128 kbps may be as little as 4 cents.

In addition to an inexpensive price structure, music downloaded from AllofMp3.com contains no copy protection, or DRM (Digital Rights Management.) This allows the individual to copy, burn or transport the file to as many portable devices or share among friends without restriction. Customers of the service are also entitled to choose from a virtually any format, such as lossless FLAC, OGG, or MP3. AllofMp3.com's reputation for high quality music coupled with excellent customer service has allowed this service to approach near-mainstream success.

Yet the legality of AllofMp3.com remains in dispute. Because of considerably weak Russian online copyright laws (there are no provisions for online distribution), enforcement against the service has been met with fustration. Additionally, AllofMp3.com claims they pay royalties to the relevant collection agency in Russia.

The IFPI filed a complaint against AllofMp3.com in February of 2005; however their attempt lost steam when Vladimir Dragunov, the IFPI’s legal advisor in Russia, warned the IFPI “don’t have much chance of succeeding” if they attacked the digital music retailer. Moscow later dropped the charges against AllofMp3.com.

Considering the entertainment industry’s position against AllofMp3.com, many fans of this service feared the worst when the site was unavailable for a second day. Instead of the typical homepage, visitors were greeted with the following message:

“Attention” “We are sorry but the server is closed for maintenance”

However this is not the result of a civil complaint from the IFPI, nor does it appear to be anything other than a legitimate server issue.

“As far as we know the site is genuinely down for repair,” an IFPI spokesperson told Slyck.com. “Russian authorities had ordered the seizure of some of the site’s servers a couple of weeks ago, but it switched to new servers and the service carried on.”

Although there's an ongoing case against AllofMp3.com, the service appears safe for now. A request for comment from the administration of AllofMp3.com was not immediately returned at time of publication.

Update: After three days offline, AllofMp3.com has returned. No explanation other than the above mentioned server problem has been indicated.

hxxp://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1187

[amdaily]

Better grab what you want while you can.

[TLK]

Ordering is temporarily not available.


:(

[kcchief19]

This isn't really new. AllofMP3 is notorious for server issues and has been down before, from my understanding.

[Franklinnoble]

I miss the old Napster days...

[sovereignstar]

up and running

[Joe]

yee-haw!

[sovereignstar]

yee-haw!

http://www.lasvegasorthodox.com/images/russian_flag.jpg

[stevew]

woot!~

[Hurst2112]

I'm up to a 3% discount.

[Easy Mac]

IFPI says it's illegal, announced today. They'll be prosecuting.

hxxp://www.out-law.com/page-6956

I will say though, that the argument over the price is a bit skewed. It's $.02 a MB to download a song. So encoded at 192k (generally considered the best quality/price) ratio, it's $1.27 for Snow Patrol's Eyes Open cd. However, if you get it at cdda quality (also an option), it's closer to $8, assuming that the standard ratio of mb to minutes applies here (80 min cd=700 mb). Now, the CD at most retailers is about $10 (through a Froogle search).

My point is, in the end, to get the same quality music, you really only save $2 over buying it retail. The main problem that arises is people but the 192-320k versions of the songs. The thing is, the public doesn't really know the difference between paying $10 for a CD and $10 for a reduced bit rate version on Itunes, and since they don't get to hear the CD versus the Itunes version, they can't really tell what they're missing.

There's no real point to my ravings other than it seems like the music industry is just trying to protect their ability to rake people over the coals, and to get rid of any possible alternative that might screw that up... and that the general public are more than willing to go along with it as long as they get downloadable liner material.

[SirFozzie]

IFPI has said it's illegal before, and they couldn't get the police to agree.

[rexallllsc]

There's no real point to my ravings other than it seems like the music industry is just trying to protect their ability to rake people over the coals, and to get rid of any possible alternative that might screw that up... and that the general public are more than willing to go along with it as long as they get downloadable liner material.

What about indie labels, that don't have access to this technology? What about labels that don't want their music sold in this format?

[Grammaticus]

What about indie labels, that don't have access to this technology? What about labels that don't want their music sold in this format?
Unfortunately, on this one they are in the same position as tax payers that do not want their funds used to support "X". They get screwed.

[rexallllsc]

Unfortunately, on this one they are in the same position as tax payers that do not want their funds used to support "X". They get screwed.

I guess I see the difference being individuals can themselves make a choice - they're just too lazy and cheap to stop DL'ing illegally.

[Yossarian]

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/06/03/usa_russia_cant_ente.html