I ran across a very well written review of ALLOFMP3.com. The review covers the services offered and solidly concludes with quite a bit on the legality issue (they even have short interviews with ALLOFMP3.com and the Russian Organization for Multimedia & Digital Systems (ROMS)). As I've already said, I'm a user and am fully convinced they are legal. Here is more fuel on the fire that might change your mind.

http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3info.htm

I received this article via the InfoSec News mailing list (excellent mailing list BTW). It takes a unique look at why open source software (i.e. Linux) is inherently more secure. It's not the same old tired argument of many eyes freely looking at and modify open source code versus the fewer eyes of proprietary code. It covers several more, IMHO, valid arguments, including the modular nature of Unixish OSes, the nearly ritualistic habit of not using root for non-administrative tasks, and the transparency of the Unixish open source OSes.

It's a good, short read.

http://theregister.co.uk/content/55/36033.html

Hello all.

As you can see by the title this is my first post on 3cx.org. My name is Bryan and I am currently working in the United States Air Force as a Network Infrastructure Technician (basically a glorified wire monkey). I'll be pretty much posting about whatever happens to be pissing me off at the time. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am the ranting king. I will also be posting various Windows stuff here and there. I'm also a pretty avid video game player so I will probably be posting about various news in the gaming industry as well. On one other note, the stupidest trend going around message boards is the whole First Post thing. If you are actually proud enough that you have nothing better to do then hit the refresh button for hours on end just so you can be the first person to reply to a thread then you are a moron. I look forward to hearing everyone's comments on my future posts [kir's note: everyone = six regular visitors]. Have a nice day.

ALLOFMP3.com is a very affordable music download site run out of Russia. They charge only $0.01 per megabyte downloaded and accept credit card or paypal. They have a massive catalog and some of the coolest features you'll find anywhere. My favorite feature (besides the price) is their Online Encoding (OE).

When selecting a song available through OE (which most of their catalog is), you'll be prompted to choose your desired format and quality level. Formats include MP3, OGG, WMA, and MPC. Recently they've added AAC (Apple's shite - .m4a) and one or more of the lossless formats (lossless is currently only available on a limited number of tracks). Personally, I like downloading in the MP3 format at 256Kbps using the LAME codec for standard listening. If I'm going to burn a CD from the downloaded music, I download in MP3 format using the 'insane' LAME codec quality setting.

Now, as great as I think this service is, I've always questioned the legality of it. They clearly state that they are legal, but I always wanted a better explaination as to why they're legal and how the Russian system works. I've done some research into their legality and found a little info, but today I came across something that cleared it up quite nicely. Reading this has firmly convinced me they are legal and should be for some time to come.

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