allofmp3
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AllofMP3 promises to resume service
It looks like the long, litigious saga of AllofMP3 is about to take yet another turn, with the company is now promising to resume its music download service following a recent Russian court ruling in its favor. While it apparently isn't quite ready to get all that specific, the company has posted a brief notice on its official blog saying that it expects to resume the service in the "foreseeable future," and that it's doing its best to ensure that "users can use their accounts, top up balance and order music." Of course, AllofMP3 has hardly left all its legal troubles behind it, so there's no telling what may happen between now and the intended re-launch. Either way, we're pretty sure this won't be the last we hear from the company.[Via The Inquirer]
Case dismissed for AllofMP3 founder Kvasov
It looks like AllofMP3 founder Denis Kvasov will be evading any time in the gulag, at least for the moment. If you'll recall, EMI, Universal, and Warner Music filed suits against the highly dubious MP3-portal's founder after launching a whirlwind attack resulting in Mastercard and Visa pulling their services for the Russian-based site, and the eventual collapse of the pretty-much-illegal download service. The suit sought damages from the "entrepreneur" to the tune of 15 million rubles (about $590,700 US), but according to reports, a Cheryomushky District Court judge threw out the case against Kvasov, stating that a legal loophole allowing AllofMP3's particular kind of online music distribution continued through 2006 -- one year after Kvasov left the company. Of course, two more cases are pending against the mogul, so it seems likely we'll be hearing a lot more on this in the coming days and weeks.
AllofMP3's Denis Kvasov facing jail time
Here's a message for all the young ones out there: crime doesn't pay, not even for Russian semi-legal music semi-pirates. Or at least that's the way things are looking for Denis Kvasov, former owner of AllofMP3.com. Though the site was shut down earlier this month, Kvasov is still on the hook damages to EMI, Warner and Universal, to the tune of 15 million rubles ($590,715 US), and could face three years in jail as well. The amount seems a bit light, considering the RIAA's $750 to $30,000 per song demands here in the States, but legality of the AllofMP3 service is still in question, since under Russian law the site was ostensibly playing by the rules and paying "copyright fees" to all the right organizations. Of course, consumers don't have to look far to find Alltunes and MP3Sparks, virtual clones of AllofMP3, and Alltunes recently won a court case against a Russian agent of Visa that had cut off payments for the online store, so record labels have to be asking themselves how much progress they've really made in fighting this gray market hydra.
AllOfMP3.com finally shut down, replacement already launched
It never looked like those crazy semi-pirates over at AllOfMP3.com would stick around long, and indeed, after a couple years of legal struggles, the site has finally had its plug pulled. Despite the site supposedly barring Russia from WTO entry, and high profile lawsuits filed on behalf of the record labels, it's not clear at this point whether AllOfMP3 was shut down due to an internal decision or an external mandate. Unfortunately for copyright holders, the MediaServices folks behind AllOfMP3 aren't exactly changing directions: they've merely opened up a practical mirror image of AllOfMP3.com over at MP3Sparks.com, and are keeping up with their nefarious ways.
Record labels rub it in, sue AllOfMP3.com
Despite our occasional disregard for intellectual property rights and junk like that, mixed with our general dislike for the "screw the artists" ethics of the RIAA, it's hard to argue with the illegality of AllOfMP3.com. Plus, with with the blatant lawlessness of its operations possibly even keeping Russia out of the WTO, it seems like Russia has plenty of incentive to shore up this operation, and apparently they're attempting to do just that. That's why we're a bit surprised to see a group of labels finally filing an actual lawsuit against AllOfMP3, since they've already pretty much won: Visa and MasterCard are disallowing payments to the service, and most international governments are on their side. Plus, the lawsuit is being filed in New York, which, at least the last time we checked, didn't have a whole lot of legal authority over in Russia. All the same, you've gotta give up respect for the labels' systematic and brutal defense of their aging business model -- at least they're hardcore about it.[Via Techdirt]
MusicForMe cracks AllOfMP3's DRM, hilarity ensues
These sure are good times to be a music-lovin' semi-scofflaw. What with the widely available PlaysForSure and FairPlay workarounds that have cropped up of late, and now this quickly compromised Music for Masses app from AllOfMP3, if you're not getting your music for free, or at least loading it on the device of your choosing, you're not trying hard enough. Apparently AllOfMP3, the shadester digital music retailer from Russia, recently released an app called "Music for the Masses," which allows you to listen to any track in their library free of charge. The proprietary .mp3x DRMed files proved to be quite hackable, and a couple weeks later we have a solution in the cleverly-named form of "MusicForMe" for procuring any 128kbps MP3 of your choosing absolutely free of charge. Of course, it's hard to argue "fair use" here, since the hack basically amounts to stealing from a thief, but in case your personal moral code isn't as squeamish as ours is when it comes to these sort of things, those MP3 are yours for the taking.[Warning: RAR link][Via Download Squad]UPDATE: Tipster Cary says Music for Masses has been patched by AllOfMP3 and the update is forced on login. Both previous MusicForMe versions have been kilt.
