If you’re into the digital music, you basically have two options:

1. Steal it.
2. Pay about $.99/song from a service like iTunes or Yahoo! Music.

Maybe it’s just me, but $.99/song is just wrong. An album of 12 songs would cost nearly $12, but you don’t even get the benefit of the physical disc or album art! How is that fair to the consumer? Stealing, the alternative, isn’t fair to the artists, who create the music and deserve to be compensated for their hard work. These were the only two options - until AllofMP3 came around to save the world.

Imagine paying only $.02/MB for an MP3. For a four-and-a-half minute song, you’d probably pay something like $.10. At that rate, you could get an entire album for about $1.50. Sounds good, right? Hellz yeah, of course it does! Let’s compare the math right quick: $.99 per song via iTunes or similar service, or about $1.50 for an entire album via AllofMP3. Hmm…

So you’re probably saying, “Yeah right. That can’t be legal.” Well, it is. The service is based in Russia and is completely legit over there. But what about the States? Well, AllofMP3 doesn’t have any specific provisions for the States but the way I see it is like this: if I buy a physical CD (or anything for that matter) from another country because it’s cheaper over there (as many people do), that’s essentially the same thing as buying an electronic copy online. For the US government to say that purchasing music from overseas is wrong because it’s affordable and convenient, they’d have to say that purchasing anything from overseas is wrong, which we all know would never happen because big businesses like Sony and WalMart thrive on imports. That’s the way I see it, anyway.

If you’re wary of using the service, don’t; but if you’re not willing to pay $.99 per song, nor are you willing to out-and-out steal the music via P2P software like Limewire, then give AllofMP3 a try. You can select what bitrate you’d like your music to come in (I prefer 160kbps Constant), what folder to save the music to, how the filename should be formatted, and all that jazz. Take a tour of AllofMP3’s huge catalogue and see for yourself.

Those who are concerned that the artists aren’t getting their fair share - go to their live shows. Buy their merchandise at their concerts. Spread the word about your favorite bands and encourage others to go to their concerts as well. It’s a well-known theory that most bands make more money from touring than they do from CD sales. In fact, most bands never make real money in CD sales, making touring all that much more important.