Yeah... Now that I read further into it, it does look pretty fishy. It seems they get their "Stock" from member's uploads. They request you rip using EAC and encode to 320kbs. They offer nothing more than that. No mention of required encoder, proper settings, etc. Maybe if they offered a pre'configured ripper/encoder I'd believe their quality was what they claim.

How they can claim to offer 380kbs when they are operating from 320kbs source boggles my mind. I know why, they charge by the kilobit... Makes them more money, and most ppl are silly enough to not understand. I suppose if all their songs really are ripped and encoded at 320kbs/lame it would be a good deal. Problem is, I can see that it's easy to go out to Kazaa, download some album they want (from many different ppl) upload it, and they give you credit. Now that album is sold as if it was all virgin encoded. NOT.

I'd certainly have far more respect/belief in this if they asked your to upload WAV or FLAC or something lossless (even if they credited you 1/10th as much). Then at least I know theironline encodes are not just re-encodes.

Seems like if you are gonna use this, you'd want to always dl 320kbs mp3, so that at least you are getting what they started with. If you wanna re-encode do it yourself. (Only reason I can think of to do that would be to use on a flash player)

Anyone else check it out? I'm gonna take a dive in and dl an album or two for a couple bucks to check it out. If it IS decent quality it is a better alternative to Kazaa etc. However it still seems slimy to me. God, I wish the US record companies/RIAA would get their heads out of their asses and simply COPY this site, using high-quality source material. I think they would quickly realize that people will PAY for what is basically a store-front Napster. Just not $.99 for a song they can't use how they want to.

_jeff