GoMusicNow
GoMusic is a Russian music download site. The site offers a variety of music, including special collections, as well as audiobooks in both Russian and English. Songs are priced per song, with prices averaging 15 cents; audiobooks range from around $1.60 through $5.00 USD. The site design and display is highly similar to Mp3Search.ru along with current database collection numbers; in fact users with a GoMusic account that try to sign into the Mp3Search login page are told that their account is apart of the GoMusic network.
The site provides songs in MP3 format. The songs lack any digital rights management and thus are compatible with any MP3 player including the popular iPod, Zune, and Creative Zen.
GoMusic users can purchase and download an entire album or list of songs in one click. According to the Terms of Use [1], a purchased song may be downloaded only once. The Archive feature allows for a second download of a song. If the second download is not sufficient, a song may also be repurchased. Members can also submit album requests to the site's support desk.
Members must have sufficient funds payed into their GoMusic account in order to purchase music. Members may acquire funds by paying into their account with credit cards or telpay. Its interesting to note that GoMusic will only allow a payment of less than 30 USD on the first payment into the member's account. Afterwards, it is mandatory for at least 30 USD payments or higher. This has led somes users to complain on how will not be able to purchase single or a few albums without carrying a extraneous debit on their credit card, which may compound depending on interest rates or value of currency.
Information other than the music catalog which is available to site visitors is quite sparse, with only the Terms of Service, the Copyright information and a form for support requests.
According to the site's Copyright Agreement, the site is legal, at least in Russia, in accordance with the "Noncommercial Partnership "Federation of Authors and Rightsholders for Collective Management of Copyright in Interactive Regime."[2] However, similar to AllOfMP3.com, the legality of the site is questionable. The argument over whether MP3 download sites in Russia is legal continues, with viewpoints from both sides.[3]
Links
References
- ^ Terms of Use, Section 4.3
- ^ Copyright Agreement, www.gomusic.ru
- ^ Rindlesbach, Morgan. "Fifteen cents a song -- is it too good to be true?", Hard News Cafe Utah State University, December 15, 2006