Our Digital Music

Notorious Download Site AllOfMp3 Becomes Mp3Sparks

by bhoughton on July 4th, 2007

AllOfMp3.com was so notorious that it was the subject of trade talks between its native Russia and the U.S. The download site used what it perceived as a loophole in Russian law to sell discount downloads without paying the usual royalties to the artists who created the songs. The U.S. threatened to take the matter to the international trade court until the Russian government promised to shut the site down.

AllOfMp3.com came down recently as promised, but in its place has risen Mp3Sparks.com created by the same Russian operator Media Services and trying to jump through the same loophole in Russian law.

Mp3Sparks.com looks and feels like a traditional download store with fancy graphics, charts and lots of hit albums. But you’ll notice that pricing is a much lower at a mere 20-30 cents per track. And these tracks carry none of the DRM (digital rights management or copy protection) that sometimes keep you from burning them, moving songs freely from device to device or sharing them with your friends.

Tempted to load up your hard drive or iPod with a ton of bargain priced tracks?

Think twice before you do…not only do your favorite artists not get paid properly when you buy at Mp3Sparks but the dubious Russian law that the site operates under has not been tested in the US and would likely not hold up here.

So far, I haven’t heard of anyone getting prosecuted for using Mp3Sparks, but if the US is willing to take on the Russian government over the sit is hard to imagine that little old you and me would stand much of a chance.

POSTED IN: Downloads/P2P