Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
 http://cebooks.blogspot.com 

Russian iVod(ka)
On a Russian Site, Cheap Songs With a Backbeat of Illegality
Rising consumer popularity is turning AllofMP3.com, a music downloading service based in Moscow, into a global Internet success story, but with a catch. The site may well be illegal.
Operating through what music industry lobbyists say is a loophole in Russia's copyright law, AllofMP3.com offers a vast catalog of music that includes artists not normally authorized for sale online — like the Beatles and Metallica — at a fraction of the cost of services like the iTunes Music Store owned by Apple Computer.
The songs are sold by the megabyte instead of individually, and an album of 10 songs or so on AllofMP3 can cost the equivalent of less than $1, compared with 99 cents a song on iTunes. And unlike songs purchased on iTunes and other commercial services, songs downloaded with AllofMP3's software can be copied without restrictions.
AllofMP3 asserts its legality by citing a license issued by a royalty collecting society, the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society, known as R.O.M.S. for its Russian initials.
In most countries, the collecting societies that receive royalty payments for the sale or use of artistic works need reciprocal agreements with overseas copyright holders, according to agencies that represent rights holders.
According to Russia's 1993 copyright law, however, collecting societies are permitted to act on behalf of rights holders who have not authorized them to do so...

posted by Jerry permanent link