Adam Wilcox; tea drinking Brit with fondness for the media and tech.
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From Russia With Love 29 August 2006

There are some very good things to come out of Russia recently; Night Watch, Maria Sharapova, and today’s subject; allofmp3.com.

Darren showed me the wonderful, semi-legal, online music store based in Moscow. A survey has said that the Russian website accounts for 14% of downloads in the UK, not surprising when it sells albums for as little as £1. The reason I like the site is, (apart from cheap music), is that there are no restrictions on the music you download.

Restrictions

When you download music from somewhere like iTunes, the files you pay for and download contain DRM, (Digital Rights Management). DRM is an encrypting method which limits what you can do with the music, and what you can play it on.

Imagine going to Tesco and buying a book, but only being able to read it if you also do all your shopping there too. That means that you can never buy a book from WH Smiths or Waterstones, and you can’t buy your milk and bread from Asda or M&S. A crazy idea, but that’s pretty much what DRM means to music.

If I buy a track from iTunes Music Store, I could have problems playing it on my Creative MP3 player. Moreover, I wouldn’t be able to send it to my girlfriend to have a listen to. So I try to avoid files with DRM for obvious reasons. The good part about music downloaded from allofmp3.com is that the files are unrestricted, or in other words they do not contain the restrictive information known as DRM.

Semi-Legal?

There is no doubt it is totally illegal… It is illegal for them to sell the recordings in Russia or anywhere else because they are not licensed, and UK consumers are infringing copyright law because they are making illegal copies from an unlicensed source.
Matt Phillips; BPI

That was a quote from Matt Phillips of the British Phonographic Industry who are seeking to sue allofmp3.com for illegal distribution. I would make nasty comments about Matt, but I have met the guy and he is very nice chap.

As far as the site’s owners are concerned, they said they operate “in full compliance with all Russian laws”. But the BPI doesn’t agree and are kicking up a fuss like normal. So with all this fuss surrounding the site, is there a risk? Well the BPI plans to sue allofmp3.com in the UK courts, but says users will not be prosecuted.

For my part, I will keep using allofmp3.com until iTunes and the like realise that I when I pay for music- I want to do what I like with it.