[solaris]

Dating back to 1981, I have always bought enormous amounts of records: 7", 12" and LP's.

When the CD came around in the last half of the 80's, I (like everyone else) went out and bought almost all the same music on that medium also.

Later I bought virtually all of it once more - now on different compilations: both by single artists and various artists.

Somewhere around the millennium the opportunity to listen before buying arose on the internet: Napster and KaZaA appeared on the scene.

I never got to try Napster and my flirt with KaZaA was a short one. Six months or so, until IFPI began their hunt down in my country. I probably wasn't in any real danger though, since I had sharing disabled all the time. This was in late 2002.

At almost that exact time, I came upon a site called www.mp3sfinder.com, which was the first time, I had had the opportunity to hear songs months before they were released in the UK and the USA.

All went well until January 2004, when the administrator probably got tired of the constant pressure from the music industry and closed down the site.

Where to go now? All the online stores in my Scandinavian country were all married to the evil twin of Satan (DRM) and I couldn't get the music I wanted anyway, so I tried all the British and American online shops, that I knew of (which were many!!!) but only Tesco would let someone from another country buy in their store. Now that is discriminating!!!

I got to download 20 or so DRM'ed songs, before I finally gave up. The keys kept getting invalid or run out, so I could neither listen to or burn my legally bought music.

On January 15 2004 I came across an article on the web, written by the same guy that many of you probably saw on YouTube showing people how to download from AllOfMP3 and revealing porn among his former downloads (this was done on purpose by the way).

Anyway: in this article he praised a Russian download site called AllOfMP3. I gave it a try and I haven't looked back since... and now I'm a MemphisMember

But as you can see from one of my other posts, I still buy a lot of physical CD's, so AllOfMP3 has only increased my spending - not decreased it.

solaris

[Acordis]

Similar story here, except I didn't repurchase most of my old vinyl on CD, made do with cassettes taped off my turntable until AOMP3.

A friend of mine recommended AOMP3. At first I thought: Russia = Mafia = very unsound and an easy way to get your credit card ripped off (back in the good old days when you could pay by credit card of course).

I eventually took the plunge just under a year ago and have never looked back. Spent just shy of $ 900 (and STILL no Memphis club invite you noting this AMIN?).

What it did let me do was try different bands and music styles without costing me a fortune. Don't like the music, Ah just "wasted" $2.50 so what. If you had bought the album even off a discount website would probably be 8 times that.

[Taggart]

I actually found this forum before I saw any of the MP3 sites mentioned here.

I'm just learning about how they work.

I live in Canada and I started buying vinyl in the early 70's and replaced everything I could on CD. I kept a few LPs mostly for nostalgia.

About 15 years ago, I could find some CDs that weren't released here that I was interested in by looking in the US.

Most of the CDs I've bought in the last few years have cost between $10 - 20 Canadian. I'm generally against illegal downloads, ala early Napster.

I was a full time musician for 20 years and continue to license the use of production music as a part time pursuit.

So far, I've "auditioned" music that's new to me either on the artist's site or legal sites in North America.

I appreciate the information that's shared here. Thanks guys.

[Kyrigo]

I was just Googling "Forums" and this popped up after a page or two.

[solaris]

Originally Posted by Kyrigo

I was just Googling "Forums" and this popped up after a page or two.

Hi Kyrigo.

What I initially meant was how you guys stumbled upon AllOfMP3.com - not AOM3.org

But good to know that we are one of the top forums on Google, though

solaris

[Gethsemane]

I saw a clip on TechTV when it was still around -- that's how I heard about AllOfMp3.com

[aom3]

Originally Posted by Gethsemane

I saw a clip on TechTV when it was still around -- that's how I heard about AllOfMp3.com

lol kinda funny how America was the one through brought this 'legal battle' upon themselves as they were the ones who publicised it on their own tv networks.

[Mellifluous]

I was searching for pay-for music download sites and just inputted cheap mp3 download. Allofmp3 was near the top of the list. I was sceptical too, you'd be stupid not to be, but it was back when they accepted Paypal payments and I did a test topup with that. Never looked back.

[jaydarl]

I am another one who came about allofmp3 via TechTv's morning show in 2004 back when albums were really cheap. My first Paypal deposit was May 5, 2004. Man, It does not seem like it has been three years.

[strongbad]

I tried several on-line music stores and had been infuriated with all of them because of DRM problems.

I found a website that compared various online music retailers and mentioned allofmp3, almost in passing. I was initially very hesitant to do business with them because of the bad image Russian businesses have. I feared they'd steal my identity or do something bad with my credit card. Once I tried them, there was no going back to anyone else. I especially appreciate the choice in CODECs and bit-rates. They have a great business model, and I've gotten good service from them as well.