[NMLUG] legal music downloads?

[lpotts at swcp.com (Leila Potts)]

James Hamilton <jamesh@swcp.com> said:

> I'm curious if anyone knows of a site to download legal (pay for) mainstream
> mp3 or ogg formatted files that don't contain embedded digital rights
> management BS.  If you know of one, do they allow downloads in any format
> except CBR 128kpbs?  I would gladly pay once for the music but I will not
> pay for a drm'd version of anything, since I'm paying they must offer the
> format I want to use.  The apple store, real networks both fall short in this
> area.  I find it incredibly frustrating that the media giants complain that
> folks pirate music yet offer no outlet for the current industry demand. 
> 


My current favorite is www.allofmp3.com.  In addition to being very cost
effective (1 cent per MB downloaded), they also custom encode things for you.
 You have your choice of ogg, mp3, wmv, or aac along with just about every
bitrate imaginable. No restrictions whatsoever. They have a pretty decent
library as well.

BUT (and there always is one) is that it's a Russian site.  The music is 100%
legal in Russia.  Whether it's legal in the US is still up in the air.  It's
slightly more legal than not paying for anything, I guess. However, I don't
think it's been challenged in court (yet).

Leila