So, I wanted to listen to the new Snow Patrol album...

[andrewducker]

The easiest way to do so is to pop to AllOfMP3.com and download it. I mean, I'd _like_ to download it from a more reputable place, but there's nowhere that will do so in a non-DRM format, so AllOfMP3.com it is.

Anyway, I wander along, find the album, hit download, and bump into the problem - Visa have stopped supporting payments to AllOfMP3.com. However, they are still taking payments from a number of cards providers - just not any ones I have. A quick scan of the website shows they _are_ taking money from Xrost - who do prepaid cards for use on sites where you don't want to be handing over your credit card (or where you want to buy credit for a friend). And while Xrost won't let me pay by Visa either, they do take payment via BT's Click&Buy. Who I have an account with because they provide the payments service for The Independent's archive/premium articles. Oh, and they get the money out of my Bank of Scotland account via Direct Debit.

So the money is now going Me->Bank of Scotland->BT->XROST->AllOfMP3. I'm in Scotland, as is the Bank of Scotland. The BT site appears to be based in the US. Xrost seem to be based in Germany, and AllOfMP3 are of course based in Russia.

Money laundering through three intermediary companies in four countries, to listen to music of (at best) questionable legality. I'm remarkably amused.

Comments

[guyinahat.livejournal.com]

I did exactly the same thing a while back. Just beware - allofmp3 passed on the email addresses I was using with them to some incredibly unpleasant spammers. i started getting 20+ child-rape spams per day till I turned the addresses off.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I just posted you to cyberprof..

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

a] I've reported you to the police. Expect gas masked and gun-toting SWAT teams to crash through the ceiling in a moment

b] CRIME DOES NOT PAY

c] Now make copies of that music and give it to friends, just to compound the fact.

Did you feel like the Man was making it hard for you to buy music?

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

:-)

I have the joy of an MP3 unit with audio in jacks and a record facility, so on the odd occasion I want to buy a track I don't care about the format, just get it, play the bugger and record it out through the headphone jack on the PC into my player unit. As all my mp3s are at 128 anyway, any sound quality issues are effectively nil.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Of course you could have asked if any friends had it that could have dropped it into a shared folder on Messenger for you!

[aberbotimue.livejournal.com]

Unfortunatly, I am going to have to de-freind you. I have to be carful about the sorts I interact with, and this money laudering is a step to far... before i do tho can you still do me a deal on the tactical mistiles.