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AllOfMP3

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File:Allofmp3.png
The AllOfMp3.com catalog user interface. "VIP" users are those who have paid for downloading a certain amount of data. This is referred to as a "traffic subscription", even though it is not a recurring charge.

AllOfMP3.com is an online music store based in Russia which was founded in 2000 by Mediaservices, Inc. It has a licensing agreement with the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems, similar to the agreements Russian radio stations have. AllofMP3 states that this agreement allows it to legally distribute music from all artists and all labels.

Unlike some US-based music stores such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, AllOfMP3 charges for the volume of data downloaded, not for individual songs. As of January 15, 2005, the basic price per one gigabyte of music downloaded is 20 United States dollars or .02 cents a megabyte. As a basis of comparison, a typical four minute 128bit song downloaded from iTunes would cost .99 cents, where this same song at the same bitrate would cost .08 cents to download at AllofMP3.com. (This price is often reduced by a complicated system of discounts based on cumulative usage, promotions, and type of payment. These discounts can reduce the effective price of downloads by up to one-third of the original cost.) AllofMP3.com have built a solid reputation for high-quality files and responsive customer service. If you do any a problem with any file downloaded, they immediately credit your account without question. The AllofMP3 website offers Russian and English user interfaces. All functions, except for the buying of songs and full length previews, are available to unregistered users. Registration is free. The store maintains an account balance for each user (and starts off each user with a balance of 20 cents, which will let you buy up to 5 MB of songs). The account can be replenished using various payment methods, including through Xrost.com prepaid cards (which in turn can be funded through Paypal), so that no credit card information has to be revealed to AllofMP3. While a user has a positive balance, he or she can continue downloading music. To do so, the user selects the files for download from the store's catalog.

A user can choose from a variety of audio codecs for audio files, including MP3 and Ogg Vorbis, and, for some files, lossless audio codecs, such as FLAC. AllofMP3 encodes most music now straight from source with its Online Encoding Exclusive service, so gapless albums will provide gapless playback, unlike most other music services. There is no extra charge for using the Online Encoding Exclusive servie. The user can set the codec parameters, including the desired bitrate, ensuring superior quality over other music download services, such as iTunes and Napster. The audio files are then encoded and added to the user's download list. In some cases, a user will have to wait until the files are encoded. They can then be downloaded using a web browser, the Microsoft Windows application allTunes (the look and feel of which is heavily based on iTunes), the older Windows application Allofmp3 Explorer, a download manager, or command-line utilities like wget (the "My Downloads" list offers a "list of links" which can be written to a file and used as input for such tools). Simple download managers for other operating systems (Linux, BSD and Mac OS X) are also available (see external links section at the bottom of this page). Download speeds vary but are typically around 40-120 kbyte/second on broadband connections.

The files are unrestricted, i.e. they do not contain digital rights management information, allowing unrestricted use between multiple computers and [digital audio players]], unlike most other music download services, which limit the use of the music you purchase and the platforms on which you may play it. The website also offers free, full album previews, streamed at a bitrate of 24 kbit/s (roughly equivalent to analog telephone audio quality). These full song previews are only available to users who register for free and can double as a free online jukebox, albeit it at a lower sound quality. Unregistered users have access to 30 second samples.


Legality

AllofMp3 claims that it is legal in Russia and that the music it distributes is licensed.

The legality of AllofMP3 continues to be argued in Russia. According to a report in The Register, a preliminary Moscow City Police investigation resulted in a February 8, 2005 recommendation that AllofMP3 be prosecuted. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) also filed a formal complaint on February 8, 2005. However, IFPI's Russian legal advisor, Vladimir Dragunov, admitted in an interview with The Register that because of the structure of Russian copyright law, successful litigation against AllofMP3 appears unlikely.

In March 2005 the Moscow City Prosecutor's office decided that Russian copyright laws do not cover online distribution of creative works, and refused to bring a criminal suit against AllofMP3 because of the lack of corpus delicti. The copyright holders can still file a civil suit, though. [1]

Critics of AllofMP3 argue that AllofMP3's low cost, support for DRM-free files, and support of multiple formats suggest that the service is not legal. However, US-based online music stores, such as eMusic.com also offer DRM-free files, and a number of US-based download sites offer multiple formats for files. Moreover, arguments based on US copyright law generally do not apply in Russia, which has a different framework for copyright.

Critics sometimes claim that AllofMP3 must be illegal because it distributes music by some artists, such as The Beatles, despite the fact the their publishers haven't granted permission for their music to be distributed online. However, creative works produced before 1973, which includes most of The Beatles' songs, are public domain in Russia.

AllofMP3 has apparently already led to new download sites being offered from Russia, such as MP3Search.ru. AllOfMP3.com points to their license from the Russian Organization for Multimedia & Digital Systems (ROMS), and argues that its activities are legal under Russian law (see the Museekster information under "External links"). In an interview for Museekster.com, representatives of AllOfMP3.com clarified several key subjects such as payments to artists and the legality of the service outside of Russia.

Whether users outside of Russia may lawfully download music from the site is largely dependent upon the law in their own jurisdiction. By analogy, just because cocaine is legal in country A does not mean that it would necessarily be legal to bring it into or create it in country B. The laws of country B must be looked to. Clouding the issue is the relatively new legal status of digitized recordings, and the paucity of case law covering their sale.

In the United States, many supporters of AllOfMP3 have pointed to limited exceptions in US copyright law, most notably 17 U.S.C. § 602(a)(2), which provides a personal use exception to the rule that importation of copyrighted items constitutes infringement. A corresponding exception does not exist in § 602(b), however, which governs whether importation is prohibited. Under § 603, where importation is prohibited, the federal government may seize or forfeit prohibited items "in the same manner as property imported in violation of the customs revenue laws." Thus, it appears possible that "importing" digital files from AllOfMP3.com does not constitute copyright infringement but does constitute a violation of customs law. There is no private right of action for violations of customs law, as there is for copyright law.

Whether downloading can be construed as importation is open to question. Importation is defined as a form of distribution of copies and phonorecords (17 U.S.C. § 602(a)), which are defined as tangible objects (17 U.S.C. § 101), which of course can no more be downloaded than a brick can be. Federal courts in the United States have settled the question of whether unpaid downloading can constitute infringement on the part of the downloader in cases as diverse as Napster, Grokster, Marobie-FL, and Intellectual Reserve: it is infringing on the part of the downloader. However, there have been no rulings in U.S. courts to date regarding the specific legality of purchasing music from allofmp3.com.

Section 45 of the Canadian Copyright Act [2] permits importation of up to two copies of a copyrighted work, for personal use, provided that the copyrighted work was made with the consent of the owner of the copyright in the country where it was made. Before the fall of the Liberal government on January 23, 2006, Bill C-60 [3], was before the House to amend the Canadian Copyright Act.

Audio quality issues

AllOfMP3 has been criticized for its use of transcoding to deliver custom encoded files. Transcoding in audio involves the re-encoding of an already compressed file, and is known to diminish audio quality and introduce compression artifacts; files ordered under AllOfMP3.com's "Online Encoding" service are transcoded to the format of the user's choice. Most listeners cannot hear the encoding artifacts, however some believe that the recompression artifacts can make the audio "grating." iTunes Music Store files, and files from similar US music stores, evoke similar, if not more strenuous, objections. For the last three years, nearly all new tracks to the service have been provided using an "Online Encoding Exclusive" service, which encodes from lossless or uncompressed formats, and does not suffer transcoding issues.

References

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