Well, this is interesting. Russian digital music store of questionable legality AllOfMP3 has just launched Music for Masses, a new Windows app that lets you download and listen to an unlimited number of tracks from their enormous catalog for free. Of course, there's a small catch: The files you download, which are ostensibly 128kbps MP3 files, have a .mp3x extension and are encoded in such a way that they can only be played in the Music for Masses player. As you might guess, the player isn't exactly full-featured, providing only very basic playback functionality--it doesn't even have shuffle! It also requires you to be connected to the internet to listen and contacts AllOfMP3's servers before playing each song. In order to use it you have to have to have an account at AllOfMP3.com, where you can download the .mp3x files by clicking on the "Free mode" tab on the track ordering page. For people who want access to a wide selection of free (as in fell-off-the-back-of-a-truck) music without fussing with P2P apps and who aren't picky about their media player, Music for Masses might be a great choice, but for the rest of us there are better ways to listen (not to mention it won't be long before someone figures out how to configure those .mp3x files to plain old MP3s).[Via P2P Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-18-2006 @ 11:50PM
Russell Heimlich said...
Has anyone tried simply renaming the file extension to .mp3?
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10-19-2006 @ 1:36AM
Mike said...
Also try... Music for the Masses by Depeche Mode!
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10-19-2006 @ 10:43AM
Punchy said...
Try Pandora and save your disk space.
Punchy
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10-19-2006 @ 12:09PM
Mark said...
All the stuff is really cheap, nothing is free, one less thing we need on our computers, eh?
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10-19-2006 @ 12:33PM
Jordan Running said...
Mark: As I wrote above, you have to click on the "Free mode" tab after you've added tracks to your basket. It's all free. DRM'd, but free.
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10-19-2006 @ 7:43PM
Martin said...
Whatever the shortcoming of the Music for the Masses player and 128kbps encoding, it's a great way to preview an entire album before paying $'s for the high bit rate download.
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10-19-2006 @ 8:15PM
Chris said...
Or you could just go to Napster or Rhapsody's website and do the exact same thing except 100% legally.
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10-24-2006 @ 3:25PM
Josh said...
Sure enough, a program called MusicForMe has poppped up online that dumps the mp3x files into plain MP3s. Works perfectly as far as I can tell. Readme included.
http://rapidshare.com/files/529373/musicforme.zip
Enjoy.
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10-31-2006 @ 5:20PM
Crazy Dude said...
MusicForMasses force updates your existing version so the MusicForMe software does not work anymore. Does anyne know anything else that rips the *.mp3x format
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11-07-2006 @ 4:58PM
Jones said...
Hey my friends!
I search for the newest hack for Music for Masses. My Version is 0,66a. Kann you please tell me a link to this hack?
THX
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12-18-2006 @ 12:32AM
Marian said...
Somebody do something for this new 0,67a version! On other blog, someone write down this:
"I'm busy hacking the recent MusicForMasses player update and let me just say, I've found M4M has quite a dirty little secret now. If our friends at AllOfMP3 release another update I'll let you all in, but until then mum's the word. I can say, however, that the secret starts with G and ends with "violation". Tsk tsk, my Russian friends, didn't you learn anything from Alexey?When/If I finish the new hack I'll release it here for all to consume. Until then, enjoy AllOfMP3's lovely selection of purchased music. Fill your account through XROST and you get an extra 10%!"
So, where are you man? Do something! Don't let us down!
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