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AllofMP3.com, a Russian online music service accused of skirting copyright law, has shut down but may be back in business elsewhere on the Internet, authorities said yesterday.
The Web site gained attention for selling digital albums cheaply -- less than $2 each in some instances -- far below the $9.99 typically charged by authorized services like iTunes.
The Web site gained attention for selling digital albums cheaply -- less than $2 each in some instances -- far below the $9.99 typically charged by authorized services like iTunes.
Representatives for the major record labels had accused AllofMP3.com of music piracy. But the site's operator, Mediaservices, based in Moscow, said the Web site had been licensed by a Russian royalty collection agency known as ROMS.
Russian authorities had pledged to work on reining in the site as a condition of entry to the World Trade Organization. The office of the United States trade representative welcomed the site's apparent demise, but expressed concern yesterday that its practices might be in use on other Web sites based in Russia.
One of those other sites: MP3Sparks, which, according to [I]Wired[/I], is using the same "we pay money to the Russian Licensing Societies" argument that its deceased sister site did and accepting AllOfMP3 usernames and passwords--it's even carrying over unused AllOfMP3 credits, in case you have a buck or two in your account and you desperately need [I]Now 24[/I] for your July 4 barbecue. Russian authorities had pledged to work on reining in the site as a condition of entry to the World Trade Organization. The office of the United States trade representative welcomed the site's apparent demise, but expressed concern yesterday that its practices might be in use on other Web sites based in Russia.
Russian Online Music Service Closes [NYT]
DRM Whack-a-Mole: All of MP3.com Finally Shut Down (Or is it?) [Gadget Lab]
[IMG]http://feeds.gawker.com/~a/idolator/full?i=3wePsf[/IMG]
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