I've had people telling me about AllOfMp3 for ages but I'd never really checked it out until Nik Cubrilovic posted the news about their new service "allTunes" on TechCrunch a couple of days ago. This morning I've spent an hour checking it out and holy crap I'm blown away.
Imagine iTunes but based in Russia. Imagine that you can search through the 40,000 albums they have, preview any track, then click and download high bitrate mp3s for around $1-1.50 per album or about 9 cents per track.
Is it legal? According to Nik:
The reason the prices are so low is because AllOFMP3 and allTunes operate in Russia, where they claim they are complying with local copyright law and paying royalties back to artists and labels. The legality of the service is questionable, but they have been in operation for years now with no seeming threat to their existance.
Forget eDonkey. Forget XDCC. This is the smack for music. Cheap, no DRM, and high quality. You can preview and a full album will pull down in minutes.
Thank you Mother Russia! Now I finally understand the cold war! The Yanks were right to be worried about them after all. Imagine this kind of service but for TV. For DVDs. Imagine being able to pay $1 for a SEASON of your favourite TV show. For an entire DVD.
You need to go direct your allofmp3.com account to add to your balance. They still take all the normal credit cards. Alltunes and allofmp3.com are the same thing as far as I can tell. I just added $10 at allofmp3 and it showed up in my alltunes browser in seconds.
Posted by: John | Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 09:25 AM
hi just started using alltunes, can you only listen to a certain amount of a song before you buy?and im having a nitemare getting credit on my account, if some1 could help me it would appreciated. :D
Posted by: Jack | Monday, December 11, 2006 at 05:17 AM
Log in at allofmp3 and click on the Balance link.
Then click on refill balance. You need Visa or MC. Your new balance will be reflected in your Alltunes browser that you have under the same username and password.
Posted by: John | Monday, December 11, 2006 at 06:59 AM
Hi, I have tried for over a week to add to my .20 balance on AllofMp3s.com- A red line of text saying " we are sorry, but credit card payment is not available at this time" appears everytime. I wrote in for help and they confirmed it was down, but didn't say when it would be back up.
Anyone else getting this error? Is there another way to add to your balance? I tried Gift Cert- same thing.
Thanks!
Posted by: jen | Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 05:52 AM
i got mine going to the 'xrost.biz' website and bought some ecredit, i then used it on alltunes and it worked sound!
Posted by: Jack | Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 12:23 AM
Has anyone used Click and Buy to fund your Xrost card? I did it in early Dec and no fees but now it appears there is a fee of 3.9%? It seems that is the only way to fund and xrost card?
Posted by: GCC | Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 05:21 AM
That 3.9% 'fee' is most likely added by your credit card company, not xrost. Many cards charge a currency conversion fee for non-US $$$ purchases. I have not been charged any fee's by xrost, although occassionally the amount charged (say $10) comes thru as $10.20, or even $9.65, depending if the exchange rate changes from the time I purchased to the time it posted.
Posted by: Jeff | Sunday, January 07, 2007 at 03:36 PM
Hi
I can't seem to use Mastercard or Visa, only Diners (which costs $99 a year so I don't have one) or JCB which is not available in Canada. Help. Anyone know how I can refill my allTunes balance??
Posted by: Sue | Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 07:46 AM
If you're in the USA and haven't been able to refill your AllTunes balance, Just do what I did:
From the Balance page, scroll to the bottom and click on the "Purchase Gift Certificate" button. On the next screen, Click on the "AllTunes Payment" button. You'll reach an AllTunes login page so login and chuckle at the "pay by credit card" option because you've tried that countless times and it never works.
Then, click on the "Add Money by Credit Card" button anyway and chuckle again at the "select amount" options, because they haven't worked either. Again, click the "Confirm Payment" button anyway.
You'll arrive at a page displaying your basic (name, email, amount, order #, etc.) transaction info and the following message:
===========================================
Credit or Debit card
On the next step you'll be transferred to the site of processing company E-centru (www.e-centru.com).
All products and services, displayed in the Internet-shop Alltunes.com, are accepted for payment via VISA/Mastercard by "TELETRANSINFO" SRL, address 69/1 Stefan cel Mare Blrd., Chisinau, Moldova, through a protected URL https://secure.e-centru.com. For security purposes, the card numbers are not kept by the company.
Please, be careful during typing information about your credit card. All typed data will be transferred using SSL connection 3.0 (to protect the data and prevent and guarantee its safety)."
============================================
Enter your billing information and click "Pay Now". Go to www.AllofMP3.com, login, click your "Balance" tab, scroll to the bottom, and you'll see "Your Current Gift Certificates". Click on the "status" link and send yourself the gift certificate by entering your email address.
You can either wait for the email or navigate back to the "gift certificate" (from the balance page)and copy & paste the URL to the gift certificate. You'll then need to "activate" and "apply" the gift certificate to your account, which can be done from the "Balance" page.
Hurry though, 'cause you never know when this method will get blocked, too.
See you at AllTunes!
Posted by: Scottitude | Sunday, February 04, 2007 at 08:17 AM
tried to folow your instructions but it takes me to chronopay which doesn't accept mc or visa just diners, and not to e-centru. can't figure out what i'm doing wrong in anything. help!
Posted by: CAHILL | Tuesday, February 06, 2007 at 03:21 PM
CAHILL, you are not doing anything wrong. I followed Scottitude's instructions to the letter as well, and I am directed to the Chronopay site as well, with the same results as always. Does anyone in the U.S. have a work around to the Credit Card companies' illegal restraint on trade?
Posted by: BSinNash | Saturday, February 10, 2007 at 02:36 AM
Until ALlTunes is back, try out GoMusic.RU not quite the selection but very good prices.
Posted by: Jeff | Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 01:53 PM
I've just added a gift certificate using a mastercard successfully. The URL I got sent by email didn't work but eventually I found the Payment Methods link, right at the top of the page on AllOfMP3.com, which allowed me to put in the Claim Code (not the certificate ID in the emailed URL!) which added the amount to my balance. At last, some more credit, that won't last long then! cheers all
Posted by: Matty | Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 03:57 AM
now can't pay by xrost. anyone got any ideas why. do ya reckon this will be permanent
Posted by: Paul | Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 10:17 PM
I go to alltunes.com. you can now pay with mastercard at that site. It works just fine
Posted by: Rick | Friday, February 23, 2007 at 08:02 AM
Nope. I have tried everything and I still can't replenish my balance. Hence, no more downloads. Alltunes' site takes me back to Chronopay and they only accept JCB--no Mastercard option to be found. Allmp3.com site's CC option is disabled and the site is also experiencing some major slow download time. I give up. I suppose alltunes is dead. Perhaps there is some litigation pending that we don't know about and legality issues we weren't aware of ???
Posted by: Arali | Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 08:29 AM
I just tried and it does not work yet my coworker who sits right next to me can make a payment with visa and/or mastercard. We both followed the exact same click path. It looks like they allow you to pay with CC based on your login. I just had him buy me a GC with my CC.
Posted by: Warthog | Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 03:16 AM
How weird is that? I saw a statement at the bottom of the chronopay page that stated it would record your IP address for fraud. I don't know what that means, but perhaps that is why some of us can't pay?
Posted by: Arali | Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 05:50 AM
I want to give this site a try for my ipod. Anyone know which site I should use? Is Alltunes the ipod version? Also all I know about itune formats is AAC, can I use any of the others at allofmp3? Thanks!
Posted by: Helen | Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Hey all I wanted to share with you something I did that worked for me refilling my balance... So far a coworker of mine has tryed it and some one else who has visited my site has to both reporting it didnt work for them but I am still liking more input because it seems this method is the only way it will alow me to refill my balance.
basicaly in a nut shell if i try to refill via allofmp3.com it doesnt work but if I go through a proxy it went through and brough me the e-trust or what ever the name is... I would love input on this to know if it works for anyone else this way...
anyways if you need more specific instructions you can see them here
http://blog.lilpenguins.com/article/16/alltunes-refiling-balances-for-us
hope it works for ya guys.
-Chris
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 12:58 PM
Try mp3sugar instead of alltunes/allofmp3, it accepts visa and mastercard and all the usual. Pretty sure it's legal. Prices are just as good as alltunes, music selection seems pretty good too. Quality.
Posted by: Adam | Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 01:30 PM
Some relief for alltunes and allofmp3 payments:
Sign up for a JCB credit card:
http://www.jcbusa.com/card_how2apply.html
The qualifications to apply for a JCB Credit Card(s) are:
1. Residential Status:
1. must be U.S. citizen or resident (Permanent resident or Valid Visa status), AND
2. must reside in the following states: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii
2. Age:must be 18 years old or older
Posted by: mugs | Monday, March 26, 2007 at 08:15 AM
Useless as the payment processing page has now been disabled completely.
Posted by: Arali | Tuesday, April 03, 2007 at 04:41 AM
I've been trying for days to refill my balance as well. Nothing works, not CC, not alltunes site/payment processing site, nothing. Knowing there're all these problems, do I really want to give them any more money in any case? I guess I'll have to find another music source. At least I know now it's not just me. I was starting to take it personally!
Posted by: Doodle | Saturday, April 07, 2007 at 07:57 AM
the RIAA is trying their best to shut down the Russian music industry. This is why everyone is having problems refilling alltunes balances. The RIAA is threatening lawsuits for internet backbone carriers and all of the ISPs. This is why you get page time out errors. The internet boys are not passing the traffic. On top of that the RIAA has been working with all the major credit cards. VISA, MC, etc. are no longer processing transactions with alltunes. The RIAA wants to make sure you have no choice but to purchase their over priced music.
Posted by: Erik the Geek | Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 10:12 AM