GoMusic
Encyclopedia
GoMusic is a Russian music download
site. The site offers a variety of music, special collections, as well as audiobooks in both Russian and English. Songs are priced per song, with prices from 9 to 19 cents; audiobooks range
from around $1.60 through $5.00 USD. The site design and display is highly similar to MP3Search.ru along with current database collection numbers; in fact users with a GoMusic account that try to sign into the Mp3Search.ru login page are told that their account is a part of the GoMusic network.
The site provides songs in MP3
format. The songs lack any digital rights management
and thus are compatible with any MP3 player including the popular iPod
, Zune
, and Creative Zen
. A majority of the songs are in the VBR
format. The bit rate, along with album year and sometimes the genre, is stated in the header information for all albums.
GoMusic users can purchase and download an entire album or list of songs in one click for 10% off. According to the Terms of Use , a purchased song may be downloaded only once. The Archive feature allows for a second download of a song. If the second download is not sufficient, a song may also be repurchased. Members can also submit album requests to the site's support desk.
Members must have sufficient funds paid into their GoMusic account in order to purchase music. Members may acquire funds by paying into their account with Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit cards or TelPay
. Its interesting to note that GoMusic will only allow a payment of less than 30 USD on the first payment into the member's account. Afterwards, it is mandatory for at least 20$ USD payments or higher. This has led some users to complain on how they will not be able to purchase single or a few albums without carrying an extraneous debit on their credit card, which may compound depending on interest rates or value of currency.
At the end of 2008, GoMusic's website changed both aesthetically and functionally. New scripts were added to simplify the download process, especially when buying full albums. For a few months prior to this, all options to pay with a debit or credit card dropped off the site, allowing only users to use the telepay method. When credit card funding came back after the site re-design, the minimum amount to replenish the account went from $20.00 USD to $30.00 USD, and adding 3 more pricing tiers above $30.00 as well.
In June 2009, adding funds to your account no longer re-directs to a website outside of the site. The option to add funds and enter your credit card information is now an input page on the main site.
Information other than the music catalog which is available to site visitors is quite sparse, with only the Terms of Service, the Copyright information and a form for support requests.
According to the site's Copyright Agreement, the site is legal, at least in Russia, in accordance with the "Noncommercial Partnership "Federation of Authors and Rightsholders for Collective Management of Copyright in Interactive Regime." However, similar to AllOfMP3.com, the legality of the site is questionable. The argument over whether MP3 download sites in Russia is legal continues, with viewpoints from both sides.
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
site. The site offers a variety of music, special collections, as well as audiobooks in both Russian and English. Songs are priced per song, with prices from 9 to 19 cents; audiobooks range
from around $1.60 through $5.00 USD. The site design and display is highly similar to MP3Search.ru along with current database collection numbers; in fact users with a GoMusic account that try to sign into the Mp3Search.ru login page are told that their account is a part of the GoMusic network.
The site provides songs in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format. The songs lack any digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
and thus are compatible with any MP3 player including the popular iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
, and Creative Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
. A majority of the songs are in the VBR
VBR
VBR may refer to:* Variable bitrate, in telecommunications and computing, when the bitrate used in sound or video encoding is not held constant* Volume Boot Record, in computer disks, a type of boot sector that contains code for bootstrapping programs...
format. The bit rate, along with album year and sometimes the genre, is stated in the header information for all albums.
GoMusic users can purchase and download an entire album or list of songs in one click for 10% off. According to the Terms of Use , a purchased song may be downloaded only once. The Archive feature allows for a second download of a song. If the second download is not sufficient, a song may also be repurchased. Members can also submit album requests to the site's support desk.
Members must have sufficient funds paid into their GoMusic account in order to purchase music. Members may acquire funds by paying into their account with Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit cards or TelPay
TelPay
TelPay Incorporated is Canada's largest independent electronic payment processor, serving hundreds of financial institutions and thousands of businesses and consumers. Last year, TelPay moved 21 million payments worth $12 billion...
. Its interesting to note that GoMusic will only allow a payment of less than 30 USD on the first payment into the member's account. Afterwards, it is mandatory for at least 20$ USD payments or higher. This has led some users to complain on how they will not be able to purchase single or a few albums without carrying an extraneous debit on their credit card, which may compound depending on interest rates or value of currency.
At the end of 2008, GoMusic's website changed both aesthetically and functionally. New scripts were added to simplify the download process, especially when buying full albums. For a few months prior to this, all options to pay with a debit or credit card dropped off the site, allowing only users to use the telepay method. When credit card funding came back after the site re-design, the minimum amount to replenish the account went from $20.00 USD to $30.00 USD, and adding 3 more pricing tiers above $30.00 as well.
In June 2009, adding funds to your account no longer re-directs to a website outside of the site. The option to add funds and enter your credit card information is now an input page on the main site.
Information other than the music catalog which is available to site visitors is quite sparse, with only the Terms of Service, the Copyright information and a form for support requests.
According to the site's Copyright Agreement, the site is legal, at least in Russia, in accordance with the "Noncommercial Partnership "Federation of Authors and Rightsholders for Collective Management of Copyright in Interactive Regime." However, similar to AllOfMP3.com, the legality of the site is questionable. The argument over whether MP3 download sites in Russia is legal continues, with viewpoints from both sides.