AllofMP3 allows free, ad-supported access to its huge catalog
On Wednesday, the super-popular music store AllofMP3 announced the launch of its “Music for Masses” program. According to it, AllofMP3 users who download the “Music of Masses” program can pick all the songs they wish from the huge AllofMP3 catalog, and listen to them for free. Some restrctions apply:
- they can only listen to them through the provided software (which translates the custom DRM these songs are wrapped with) on one computer
- they must be connected to the Internet during playback—apparently for running login checks, and for refreshing the advertisements since the player will be ad-supported
- if they want to transfer these songs to your MP3 player, they have to pay to get the DRM-free versions.
You can still skip the “Music for Masses” program and keep using AllofMP3 like you’re used to—buying DRM-free music in the format and quality of your choice (everything from MP3 to FLAC) at ridiculously low (read: fair) prices, so you can play them wherever, whenever. You can read a detailed review of AllofMP3 here.
When you pick a track from the AllofMP3 catalog to add to your basket, you can either buy it in its DRM-free version or click the “Free mode” link in the window that pops up to download the “Music For Masses” version. Check the two screenshots below:
Here you can see that the MfM tracks are 128kbps MP3 files.
For the record, both Visa and MasterCard have suspended card service to the site citing copyright concerns (read IHT’s article). If you’re looking for a way to refill your AllofMP3 balance, you can always check XROST’s Prepaid iCards. (You buy an XROST iCard with your Visa or MasterCard, and use the generated PIN number on the AllofMP3 site. It’s fast, easy and it works.)
The “Music for Masses” program is just another way to enjoy the AllofMP3 catalog and only pay if you want to transfer the songs to your MP3 player. Windows users can try the software now, Mac users will have to wait a few more weeks. (We should note that AllofMP3’s servers seem to be a bit heavy-loaded at the moment—have patience if you’re greeted with a “Server Busy” page or a “Network error” message.)
Simply put, we cannot think of an easier and more convenient way to preview music.
UPDATE: We were finally granted access to AllofMP3’s servers and took the MfM app for a test drive.
The UI is a mess but the whole thing is AWESOME.
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Sounds a great deal, but I guess existing copyright issues still stand.
I can never keep track of these things, is allofmp3 illegal or not?
...added by IanS /// November 11th, 2006 at 23:58 PM
Ian, this is the million-dollar question. I would say it’s a grey area.
For one, they claim they pay the needed fees to a collective agency based in Russia. The IFPI replies that this agency isn’t entitled to do this job.
I’m not really interested about it—what I know is that using Allofmp3 (thus making their service successful) sends a message: there is money to be made when providing DRM-free, high-quality music files.
...added by Konstantinos Christidis /// November 12th, 2006 at 02:19 AM