BigDavyG

Evening all

First off, this is not spam - I've been posting on here for a while now and this is a genuine question.

Back in the UK I used kazaa for all my mp3 downloading needs and for whole albums I found some bloke on ebay who would stick 50 albums on a dvd for the princely sum of a fiver.
Obviously in the US both these are non-starters (the ebay bloke vanished anyway) so I've been investigating alternative methods. I've come across a few russian sites which seem to take advantage of non-existant russian copyright laws such as http://MusicMp3.Ru. They charge about 50 cents per album.
First thing, is it legal to download music from these sites in the US.
Secondly, has anyone used these sites before - obviously I'm a bit wary of giving some russian criminals my credit card info but I've been unable to find any bad reviews on the net following a brief search.

Any opinions welcome

Eskimo

I think you answered your own question .. I also believe that you should pay for the music you wish to listen to

BigDavyG

To be honest the only reason I found it is because I'm trying to get hold of a remix to a new royksopp track which hasn't been released yet, and when it is its going to be available on 12 inch only.
Besides, you do pay for downloads from this site

Big D

Friend of mine has used on of those sites successfully

however while the site is legal as its hosted in Russia the US laws should in theory still apply. So its naughty, and in general i disapprove!

anotherlimey

According to Russian copyright law he is paying; I believe in Russia, the seller only pays a subscription every year, not royalties on the sale.

It all the commies fault.

BigDavyG

Cheers.
I hope your "friend" enjoyed his downloads

Eskimo

I never thought about it like that .. I guess there must be some sort of US law that applies though ?

Manc

even at 50p a download, he's still paying for it no?

Eskimo

yeah - but I'm sure that if you are in the US then US copywrite applies.. cool loophole if not

Big D

yeah but that money will go nowhere near the record company or artist, and the rusky sites do not have the copyright to allow the download

anotherlimey

To be honest I have no idea; but this isn't the only Russian site that does this, the first was all4mp3s or allmp3s or something along those lines.

BigDavyG

Yep, there are a few of them but I think this is the most popular one right now.
If you pay the ruskies surely its irrelevant what they do with the cash or how they distribute it - if you can prove that you paid then isn't that you safe under US law ??

Manc

that's their problem, when you buy a CD at Virgin Megastore you don't concern yourself with where the money goes after the sale, so what's the difference?

anotherlimey

AllofMP3.com were the subject of a lawuit:

http://moskalyuk.com/blog/allofmp3co...it-for-now/475

I think if you don't live in Russia you're not supposed to be downloading from their site.

Eskimo

thats theft