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By Richard Menta 5/16/06 So what is the most popular paid-download in the UK after iTunes? According to XTN Data it is not Napster or MSN Music, but rogue Russian service AllofMP3.com. In a poll of 1000 British music buyers, XTN Data found that AllofMP3.com drew 14% of the market, well behind the 44% of the market held by iTunes, but almost twice that of Napster, which came in third with 8% of the market. Rounding out the top five were Wippit and MSN Music, both at 6%. |
AllofMP3.com certainly offers compelling terms for consumers. Music is available in several formats, none of them encumbered with any form of digital rights management. Tracks are also sold by file size rather than by individual track, meaning lower quality downloads cost less. Presently, a 192Kbps download in the MP3 format costs just slightly over a dime in US currency, much lower than the $0.99 charged per track by other services. AllofMP3.com sells music much cheaper through licensing agreements struck with the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society and the Rightholders Federation for Collective Copyright Management of Works.
The service claims these licenses allow it to sell tracks without the need to acquire direct permission from copyright holders. This didn't pass muster with the IFPI, who calls the licenses insufficient and the service unlawful. The IFPI filed a formal complaint with the Russian authorities to shut the AllofMP3.com down, but Russian authorities refused to intervene based on the Moscow City Prosecutor's office decision last March that existing Russian copyright laws only apply to physical media and not the distribution of online works. That said, a mysterious shutdown of the service last weekend bred speculation that the IFPI did get its way with Russian authorities, but AllofMP3.com was back up and running by Tuesday.
The big question is will AllofMP3.com continue to grow, particularly with US audiences, and will that growth pose a true challenger to iTunes. Without DRM all files purchased on Allof MP3.com can be played on any and all MP3 portables, a claim iTunes doesn't match.
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