by
Mark Evans
on Thu 19 Oct 2006 07:50 AM EDT |
Permanent Link
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Cosmos
If you thought the Recording Industry Association of America's legal battle against people who downloaded music for free was vicious, you ain't seen nothing yet when it comes to the war being waged against Russian's AllofMP3.com, which lets people buy CDs for $1 to $2. In the latest skirmish, Visa International has suspended its credit card service to AllofMP3, which in turn has decided to embrace an ad-supported business model that will see it give away music for free. If you've been using AllofMP3's service, you should cash in your credits soon because the company will also adopt technology that will force its users to play downloaded music on AllofMP3's software. And you'll only be able to play it on one computer at a time. The question of whether AllofMP3 is legitimate hinges on how Russian's copyright laws are interpreted. AllofMP3 claims it's operating by the law of the land by handing over 15% of its revenue to the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society. The music industry, which is still fighting the free phenomena seven years after Napster appeared on the scene, refutes this idea. Of course, AllofMP3's future could hinge on whether Russia wants to get into the World Trade Organization. If the WTO insists on AllofMP3's shutdown as part of Russia's admittance into the WTO, the little music service that could may be no more pretty soon.