AllOfMP3 Offers Cheap Downloads From Abroad

Chances are, if you have been downloading your music legally, you have been doing so through an American-based company's program or website. Apple iTunes, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, MusicMatch, and Napster are names we hear often when it comes to getting your digital music online. The great thing about these music stores is that you get instant gratification - pay for your music and download it within seconds...but now there is an even cheaper way. Click for more.
There are still thousands that prefer to get their music the old fashioned way: Downloading it for free using a peer to peer program such as KaZaa. My assumption is that a free thing is just too good to pass up, even if paying for it is only $0.99.

Understandable, but what if there was a legal way for you to get the same music offered by the big names for pennies on the dollar? I introduce you to AllofMP3.com.

If you've never heard of them, it's because they are a company based in Russia. Don't cry foul just yet, this site is legit. They recently updated their site to include a section in English, and I have performed a thorough inspection. The way that they offer music is brilliant, and allows you, the consumer, to pick from a multitude of songs in just about any format you want. The price? A mere $0.01 per megabyte. Yes, just one penny per megabyte of music. Here's how it works:

1. You sign up for a free account by going through registration. They e-mail you a confirmation link. Click the link, and you are in.
   
2. Choose how you will fund your account. Your options are credit/debit card, Paypal, WebMoney, or gift certificate. If you live in Russia, you can opt to fund your account through direct bank account debit.
   
3. Find a song or album that you want. After selecting to purchase, you are given the option of choosing which type of encoding you want, and at what bitrate. For example, you may choose AAC format encoded at 64 kbps, or you might prefer MP3 format at 128 kbps.
   
4. After choosing your format, go to the My Downloads area and download your music.

This payment and encoding scheme puts you in control of how you spend your money. Compared to iTunes where $10.00 gets you one album, that same amount will get you one gigabyte of music. You choose how to use that gigabyte.

So it sounds great, but what's the catch? Well, AllOfMP3.com is a Russian-based site meant for the people of Russia. Russia's copyright laws are different than those outside of Russia, which allows them to sell music the way they do. My guess is that the RIAA will soon be trying to shut AllofMP3.com down, but they may not be able to. After all, it's a legitimate Russian business. What may happen instead is that the English version of the site could be taken down, leaving only those that read Russian the option of downloading from the service.

Until then, get it while you can.