Allofmp3 on the slide?

Thanks a million to music industry corporate lawyers. Today the BBC announced that two US based credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, will no longer allow transactions with Russian music service allofmp3.com.

Although there may be a way around it, many British music lovers will drift away from the site. Britain is (was?) the largest market for this service - not surprising since they offered DRM-free content from a massive library at modes cost.

So thanks music gurus, a service consumers voted for is now closed down. Who wins?

No prizes for guessing. Can anyone think of another business which takes so much action against its customers?

Pause for a shameless plug for our own MP3 ripping service www.mp3bymail.com.

Anti-DRM Brigade in Multi-City Protest

Consumers are often unenthusiastic about digital protections, but one group
is diabolically opposed to it. DefectiveByDesign, a group that first grabbed
attention in June, has targeted the use of DRM protections by companies like
Apple. On Tuesday 3rd October, Defective coordinated a series of protests in cities
around the world, including Lisbon, Tel-Aviv, Los Angeles, Dallas, and
Milan. The group proclaimed the occasion "Defeating DRM Day," and asked its
supporters to raise awareness both online and off.

The group, which points to DRM as a shackle on digital freedoms, is hoping
to discourage companies from using protections in future technologies. "DRM
is more than a nuisance," Defective by Design declared in a recent
statement. "The film and music industry are setting the agenda to increase
their control," the manifesto continued. The group has urged consumers to
stay away from products like "Blu-ray and HD-DVD, iTunes, Windows Media
Player, Zune, and Amazon Unbox." Meanwhile, digital music and media fans are
often aware of the issue, and actively avoid DRM-protected content - not by
staging protests, but by simply avoiding assets like paid downloads. Pricing
is also a factor, though major labels are starting to experiment with
MP3-based downloads, something unthinkable even one year ago.