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Danish Court Orders AllofMP3 Blocked

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

October 27, 2006, 11:00 AM

A Danish court has ruled that an Internet provider must block access to AllofMP3.com, the controversial Russian online music store within the country. The ruling is a victory for the recording industry and IFPI, whose Danish arm filed the case in July of this year.

The music site's days appear to be numbered as both Visa and MasterCard have now banned the site from taking credit cards, and a ruling in Germany along with court cases in Russia, Italy, and the UK are putting the site on the defensive.

"This judgment is one more step along the road to getting this rogue site closed down," said IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy. "Allofmp3.com illegally offers for sale copies of music that it has no right to reproduce or distribute."

The site claims to be licensed by Russian-based ROMS, although the industry says that the group has no right to license copyrighted content. In fact, ROMS has been expelled from an international copyright confederation, IFPI noted.

"We warmly welcome the enforcement courts' decision," IFPI Denmark chairman Jens-Otta Paludan said. " With this judicial decision we can, at last, bring one of the most provoking pirate services' activities in this country to an efficient standstill."

AllofMP3 could not be reached for comment, although it earlier had defended itself by saying that it attempted to work with the labels but they have so far refused.

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By anmol.2k4

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 8:05 AM

Marxism views liberal democracy as an unrealistic utopia. This is because they believe that in a capitalist state all "independent" media and most political parties are controlled by capitalists and one either needs large financial resources or to be supported by the bourgeoisie to win an election. According to Marx, "Universal suffrage (i.e. parliamentary elections) is an opportunity citizens of a country get every four years to decide who among the ruling classes will misrepresent them in parliament."

Democracy is dictatorship of the Rich/Ruling class.
Accept the fact and pay.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 30, 2006 - 9:47 AM

You can state our system of government is flawed all you want.

Most of us realize this.

Most of us also realize the alternatives are worse, or at best, un-realistic.

Instead of stating the obvious, try something new...like suggesting something better, perhaps?

Good luck with that...

Score: 0

By Kompressor

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 7:37 PM

If my ISP blocks AllofMP3.com, I'm going to block my ISP and get a different one.

Score: 0

By techie_G33k

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 8:46 PM

Screw that site. Pay for something that you don't legally have a right too? Hell there domain should be revoked by ICANN and they should be shutdown as far as I see it. If you pay, pay for something like iTunes, Yahoo, etc. I know you don't have free reign of the music like you do with there site but heck it's all legal...you can get illegal songs anywhere for FREE!

Score: 0

By Tene

edited Oct 28, 2006 - 2:32 PM

I'm afraid the US state of ... sorry, I mean, country: Russia, isn't bound by the same laws and regulation as your own.

Of course (I love this study) a mere 33% of adults develop abstract thinking (Dasen, 1994), so don't feel too hard on yourself :)

Score: 0

By Stormprobe

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 12:56 PM

33%? Sounds about right.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 4:31 PM

Holy crap... that study is freaking terrifying...

Score: 0

By Practice

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 10:47 AM

Let me see, I can get music from allofmp3.com for $.015 per song with no DRM in any bit rate and format I want (MP3, WMA, OGG, MPC, AAC etc.), or I can get music from iTunes for $0.99 per song in Apple format, with DRM, and in a lower bitrate. Tough decision.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Oct 28, 2006 - 4:30 PM

His point is:

You can get illegal (or at the very least, unethical) music for free. Why pay for it?

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 9:28 PM

Maybe because it's not illegal?

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 1:57 AM

...

That's what this whole debate is about, which is why I added "(or at the very least, unethical)."

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 30, 2006 - 9:43 AM

Depends on your specific brand of ethics.

While I will continue to obey the laws of the country in which I live, I will do my best to make sure the Music Industry doesn't see a dime from me except via shows and merch.

I'll buy the overpriced T-shirt. I'll pay the ridiculous ticket prices. But I won't pay for something that's been broadcast over the public airwaves.

That means that without quasi-legal services like AllofMP3, I don't buy music.

That's fine with me.

In my world, Artists are paid for shows and performances, not mass-produced copies.

Can artists survive on performances?

Definitely, if they're any good.

Some of the best entertainers of our time made millions from their live shows.

My Ethics are just fine. IMHO, the music played over the air, or on the CD is advertising for the live show, with no real value other than making folks want to go see them perform these tunes live.

The fact the some folks can be HUGE fans of a group and never have gone to see a show? It's absurd. I boggles the mind.

IMHO, you cannot experience good music fully until you see it being performed live. The mass-produced copies carry no more value than a commercial on TV.

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 7:35 AM

;-)

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 2:33 PM

This is why I don't buy downloadable music. The recording industry has no right to tell a perfectly legitimate web site how much they have to charge consumers to download music. If you are paying $0.99 per track or more to get 128k bitrate music you are getting ripped off.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 4:11 PM

"perfectly legitimate web site" In that the artists or record companies get NOTHING.

It's only legal in Russia, where there are no copyright laws on digital music...

Score: 0

By Jusedawg

edited Nov 16, 2006 - 3:16 AM

Yeah, seems like people have forgotten why copyright law was created in the first place. It had absolutely nothing to do with fans sharing songs. This has been twisted around by the RIAA and the like to make you think what is happening with sharing is a bad thing. I agree selling copies of something that you have not paid for is wrong, but sharing songs with your friends for no monetary gain is perfectly fine.

I have bought over 500 movies,over 400 cds, and countless mp3's yet I still will download some music before I ever buy. If it is good, I purchase the cd or whatever. If it is not I do not. Any songs downloaded that I did not buy and would not have bought in the first place, has no affect on the artist, RIAA, or anyone else except for the fact that I learned their s*** sucks without buying it first.

RIAA is really pissed off because they have lost control of distribution more than songs being shared. They don't like people being able to find out that 90% of most cd's suck with only one good song on them. Very rarely do you find a cd that almost all the songs are good.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 2:28 AM

AllofMP3.com has offered 15% of their sales to record companies but the record companies have refused to accept it because they are being a**holes and saying 15% of AllofMP3.com's sales is not enough.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Oct 28, 2006 - 4:21 PM

A retailer doesn't get to set the price they will pay to the vendor for their product. Who's the a**hole?

You don't have to agree with the pricing, but they can charge whatever the hell they want for their property.

It's up to us, the consumer, to not stand up for the outrageous prices by not buying them. Notice: I didn't say by stealing...

If you want to play with fire, that's up to you, but IMO breaking the law to send a message to someone isn't the greatest idea ever; especially since there are much better, legal methods.

Score: 0

By Jusedawg

edited Nov 16, 2006 - 2:16 AM

That is exactly what consumers are doing by downloading from various places like ALLOFMP3. They are obviously willing to pay for it legally if the prices were right. It's also not the consumers responsibility to research every website to find out if they are doing their backend legally or not. I am willing to bet everyone here has bought something illegal and did not realize it such as some item on eBay or whatever.

Score: 0

By smarterthanyou

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 7:59 PM

Currently Toshiba's HD-A1 HD-DVD player has a manufacturer suggested retail price of $499.99. Even so, Best Buy or Circuit City for example has every right to sell the player to consumers for $199.99 if they choose to. This means that record companies can tell AllofMP3.com to pay them 25% of any sales they make but record companies cannot tell AllofMP3.com to charge consumers a specific amount.

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Oct 29, 2006 - 10:57 PM

Huh? The retailer (Best Buy, in your example) can sell an item for whatever they want, but they still have to pay the manufacturer (Toshiba) whatever they set the whole-sale price at. It is NOT a percentage of Best Buy's retail price. It's whatever the heck Toshiba wants for it.

Score: 0

By notomat

posted Oct 29, 2006 - 9:31 PM

C'mon! Please read the post before you reply.

"A retailer doesn't get to set the price they will pay to the vendor for their product."

Best Buy MAY have the right to charge consumers $199.99 if they choose to, but they don't have the right to decide what they pay to Toshiba.

Waste of time.

Score: 0

By Jusedawg

edited Nov 16, 2006 - 2:29 AM

Yes, but you guys are comparing apples and oranges. You are right in saying that a product such as a DVD player or whatever has a minimum it can be sold at because that is what the store paid for it from the manufacturer, but when it comes to selling a copy of a song, their is no overhead cost for making a new digital copy to sell. A better comparison would be say a cd. Best Buy can purchase the cd for a certain price and then resell it at that price or higher to make a profit. When talking about digital sales, they can sell them at any price they want it would be profit. RIAA is just too greedy to comprimise on price unless you are selling them at $0.99 or greater a track.

So for example, they may sell 1 million copies of a cd for a high price and lots of overhead when they could sell the cd electronically for a fraction of that price and sell hundreds of millions with little to no overhead. It all comes down to control in the end and really has nothing to do with monetary value at all.

The dark con of man

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 4:18 PM

...and it's a beautiful thing.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 8:09 PM

That is so arguable that the argument has already been beaten into the ground.

...over and over and over and over and over and over and...

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 30, 2006 - 9:21 AM

Sorry, forgot to intalicise the porition I wasreferring to:

...where there are no copyright laws on digital music...

...and it's a beautiful thing.

Score: 0

By tankist

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 2:04 PM

different mobs fighting for control and while they at it some bribe courts and governments... news?

Score: 0

By Slimberg

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 1:13 PM

this is rediculous... the cartels are mad as HELL right now and the make matters worse... they cant get the site down... But damn, i used my Visa... guess i cant add any more to my account...

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Oct 27, 2006 - 1:49 PM

Emailed 'em.

Response:
Oct 23 (4 days ago)

sales@mediaservices.ru to me

1. If you have problem with payment card of VISA:

We’ll inform you when the Visa payment will become available and
we’re sorry, our payment system is not accepting credit card payments at the moment.

You can add money to your balance on the site of our partner allTunes.com
via credit card ( MasterCard, Diners, JCB, Maestro, Solo, Switch, STB) and Xrost.

Please use this link http://alltunes.com/payment/refill.shtml
About via Xrost payments:
You need to purchase a prepaid icard of desired value at Xrost.biz web site. After successful payment you can find your icard details (pin code and claim id) on the Orders page of Xrost.biz site and then redeem this icard on the balance page of our site: http://www.alltunes.com/payment/refill_xrost.shtml?

2. If you have question about alltunes PIN- Code:

Check up Balance Section in allTunes (You need to download fat client of alltunes: http://alltunes.com/en-download.shtml) and you’ll see/activate your pincode there or please login alltunes-> section Balance-> Activate Pincode: http://www.alltunes.com/...nt/refill_pincode.shtml?


Haven't verified yet, but it looks like, by jumping through the xrost hoop, you can still use VISA.

The US can try all it wants to control how other countries use it's IP, but the net is a wonderful tool that the US, thankfully, does not yet have complete control over.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 4:12 PM

Anyone here foolish enough to give their VISA details to the Russian Mafia???

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 4:17 PM

Nope.

I am taking a risk here by assuming you're not a complete moron and trying to insinuate that xrost is run by the Russian Mafia. Such a conclusion would not only be impossible to back up, and therefore completely without merit, but it would also go against the personal experiences of thousands (if not millions) of users.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 5:41 PM

Not saying that xrost are run by the Russian Mafia, but in any poor (by western standards) country, corruption is VERY high, back handers with credit card handling staff is pretty common, and card fraud is BIG buisness in Eastern Europe...

Score: 0

By dhjdhj

posted Oct 30, 2006 - 9:15 AM

That's the credit card company's problem, not mine! Just don't use a DEBIT card!

Score: 0

By CMSTech

posted Oct 30, 2006 - 10:53 AM

Why not? You are just as protected with a debit card as you are with a standard credit card.

From http://usa.visa.com/pers...nce/debit.html#anchor_3

"Debit cards have the same security protections like as credit cards. Just like credit card cards, debit cards have Zero Liability* fraud protection and dispute resolution options."

Score: 0

By joeshmoe7

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 12:02 PM

Yeah because there's hardly any corruption here at home (USA). Nope nothing to see here! YAY!

Score: 0

By Second Shadow

edited Oct 28, 2006 - 1:37 PM

Plus, identity theft is almost nonexistent THERE in the US ...

/sarcasm off

LMAO

Score: 0

By wincement

edited Oct 28, 2006 - 4:23 PM

You're being sarcastic, but compared to other countries, identity theft really isn't that bad in the U.S.

Most of the cases in the U.S. are because the victim was an absolute moron.

Score: 0

By Jusedawg

posted Nov 16, 2006 - 3:20 AM

lol, The US has one of the highest in the world. Don't let the public statistics fool you. I work for one of the credit bureaus and it's much higher than you think. : )

Score: 0

By I'm Batman

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 2:16 PM

And if they ever did you can kiss to the end of free press as we know it. All it takes is more and more restrictions until someday (maybe a long long time from now), there will emerge new forms of networking to rival the internet. Wouldn't that be an age to live in. ^_^

Score: 0

By Jusedawg

posted Nov 16, 2006 - 3:29 AM

yeah, funny how none of this is going to matter anymore when Iran, Korea or the like starts WWIII and blows up the world. : )

You won't here anyone whining about copyright then. lol

People would actually start dealing with what really matters in life; staying alive.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Oct 27, 2006 - 4:18 PM

You mean like a ton of connected BBS systems?

/sarcasm

Score: 0

By fewt

posted Oct 28, 2006 - 7:49 AM

Maybe I should work on file area code.. :-/

Score: 0