[pretzelb]

I'm no audiophile but I am somewhat concerned about getting good sound quality out of my recordings. Since I've almost finished ripping my CDs I'm starting to look at new music and downloading individual songs instead of buying an entire CD is pretty appealing.

With all the choices out there I'm wondering if there is any site or sites that are known for having better quality than others or are the pretty much all the same? I'd hate to start downloading with one only to find that another had superior quality recordings for near the same price.

 

[blessingx]

Last time I checked (its been a while for a couple), these all had decent quality...

Real had 192 AAC
eMusic had --alt-preset standard
AllOfMP3.com had everything up to lossless

 

[tgunner]

How legitimate, and legal is allofmp3.com??

 

[Firam]

Allofmp3.com is illegal. I'm pretty sure they don't pay the artists they use the money to maintain the database.

 

[davidd]

allofmp3.com isn't illegal.

it's not incredibly cheap either (a album in lossless costs just as much as the actual cd does here, and the currency values make it cheap)

it's the only pay download service I see that is worth using as they don't overprice lossy encodings like itunes, napster, etc. you can get music in the format you want, and they don't cripple the files with drm and crap

 

[Firam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidd allofmp3.com isn't illegal.

What? Maybe not in Russia but it is here. How is downloading music without paying the artist legal?

 

[davidd]

they do pay a collecting agency

 

[h-man]

There have been numerous posts debating the (il)legality of allofmp3, and I think the consensus is that they are on dangerous ground and although it is a grey area, probably best avoided if you are being 100% street legal!

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidd allofmp3.com isn't illegal.

I've seen you say that now many times, first at Mistic River, and now here. I have never once seen you provide any credible support for the assertion that allofmp3 is legal. I provided plenty of support to you for the proposition that it is likely illegal. (See this thread for example.) Why do you keep attempting to perpetuate this myth?

 

[gshan]

I can't view any of the misticriver threads and have no experience with buying from them, but I'm curious as to know why the music industry hasn't had allofmp3 shut down if it's illegal? - or had the government easily track down online customers in the US in order to prosecute them?

Shouldn't it be very high priority since allofmp3 is obviously making a lot of money selling music, or is it really legal because they still pay the music industry as mentioned?

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Firam How is downloading music without paying the artist legal?

If legality is determined by if the artist gets any money, an awful lot of music out there on CD, LP, etc. is illegal too.

 

[Firam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx If legality is determined by if the artist gets any money, an awful lot of music out there on CD, LP, etc. is illegal too.

I really have no idea how the music industry works. But the RIAA is always using that argument, that you are ripping off the artist if you download music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gshan I can't view any of the misticriver threads and have no experience with buying from them, but I'm curious as to know why the music industry hasn't had allofmp3 shut down if it's illegal? - or had the government easily track down online customers in the US in order to prosecute them? Shouldn't it be very high priority since allofmp3 is obviously making a lot of money selling music, or is it really legal because they still pay the music industry as mentioned

Allofmp3.com is based in Russia. How I understand it is that there is a loophole in the Russian law. Allofmp3.com uses that loophole and prevents prosecution. If it was based in the US under US law it would be shutdown.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gshan I can't view any of the misticriver threads and have no experience with buying from them, but I'm curious as to know why the music industry hasn't had allofmp3 shut down if it's illegal? - or had the government easily track down online customers in the US in order to prosecute them? Shouldn't it be very high priority since allofmp3 is obviously making a lot of money selling music, or is it really legal because they still pay the music industry as mentioned?

That's a question I can't answer. I long ago stopped trying to attribute any rational motive to anything the music industry does.

I would imagine, however, that it would be extremely difficult for the music industry to shut down a service located in another country, outside of the jurisdiction of the United States courts.

 

[davidd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs I've seen you say that now many times, first at Mistic River, and now here. I have never once seen you provide any credible support for the assertion that allofmp3 is legal. I provided plenty of support to you for the proposition that it is likely illegal. (See this thread for example.) Why do you keep attempting to perpetuate this myth?

it's more of a myth that it's illegal than a myth that it's legal. there are sites that say it's legal and some that say it's illegal. most of the sites saying it's illegal don't really make any points, they just say it's a russian scam pretty much (which it isn't) while most of the sites saying it is legal have what seem to be valid points (examples:this one and this one)

until the US gov't say it is illegal, it's legal to me

 

[Beach123456]

Is there a way to change allofmp3.com to english? I dont read russian.