The download was slow, less than 20kps, but maybe servers are overloaded now with people scrambling to download.

Still can’t preview a song.

After Allofmp3 went down I joined http://www.mp3search.ru/. It’s another Russian site similar to allofmp3. Advantages: it’s up and has some content not found on allofmp3, plus it’s cheaper and by default has a higher bit rate (usually 256K in my experience). Disadvantages: it doesn’t have a sleek interface like Alltunes for downloading so it is a bit more clunky, and I didn’t see any option for choosing your bit rate, although it would be rare I would need more than 256K but might opt for 192K if given the option. Also, it isn’t laid out as well as allofmp3, but the music is there and you can search for it. I downloaded Reget Pro, a download manager, that does a really good job of batch downloads and while it isn’t Alltunes and isn’t integrated into the service, it works well.

When you join, you have to put in $30 to start. I was hesitant about giving out my Credit Card number so I signed up with my Bank for online Visa protection to be on the safe side. However, I’ve read in various places on the web that people have had positive experiences and haven’t heard of anybody getting scammed. This site seems to have been up awhile, and certainly they wouldn’t last very long if they scammed their customers. They appear to be very customer oriented, just like allofmp3, but again I’m a newbie here and time will tell.

I gave my credit card number and got a receipt in my email, which I thought was a good sign. I’ve watched my bank account and have not seen any additional charges. So far I’ve downloaded $20 worth and it’s been a positive experience. I get better bit rates than I did from allofmp3 (which was usually 192K) for cheaper and have found some music I was never able to find on allofmp3, although some music I could find on allofmp3 is not on mp3search.ru.

I’ve been a member of allofmp3 for several months with positive experiences and so far I’ve been a member on mp3search.ru for only a week. If allofmp3 comes back, I’ll definitely use it again because it is really a great site, but now that I’ve tasted mp3search.ru, I’ll use it too, so long as my experience remains positive. Between the two, I have a great diversity of music to choose from, and if I can’t find what I’m looking for one on site I can try the other one.

This morning I tried to order and got the screen where you choose your download bitrate and it was available, so it seemed that all was working again. I didn’t order at the time.

Later, I did try to order and now I’m getting this message:

“Ordering is temporarily not available.
The site is undergoing some technical restructuring.
We work hard to resume the service. We expect to put back all the functions shortly.
Please, accept our appologies for this ongoing disruption.”

So, it seems that it’s still a matter of time before everything works again. At least they are making the effort, so they haven’t been shut down yet.

Ron.