Allofmp3.com to launch iTunes competitor

ARS Technica reports the legal (?) Russian MP3 download site Allofmp3.com is planning to launch an iTunes competitor called allTunes.

Although still in beta form, allTunes (the name of which, I'm sure, bears only a coincidental resemblance to iTunes) allows users to scan the Allofmp3.com database, download and purchase songs, and play them. Sound familiar?

For those who haven't heard much about it, Allofmp3.com is a Russian site offering music downloads for much lower prices and optionally higher quality than are available elsewhere. A song downloaded from Allofmp3.com might cost 9¢ for a bit rate of 192Kb/s, with a price of US$1.50 for the whole album. In comparison, iTMS would cost 99¢ at lower-quality 128Kb/s, and the whole album would be priced at US$9.99.