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MP3Advance
Read our critical review and see how MP3Advance stacks up
MP3Advance Review
 
Downloading music has become a popular past-time with people the world over. With the birth of internet radio and download sites such as Napster and iTunes, the methods of downloading your favorite tunes have continued to grow and grow.
 
P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing is a popular method of sharing files online and many programs, such as Kazaa and eDonkey make the most of this new technique. Unfortunately, these free programs are not without their own problems.

Mp3advance is a file-sharing program much like Kazaa and eDonkey, save for a few important factors. First of all, with mp3advance.com, there is a regular membership fee, ranging from $14.95 - $24.95, dependant on various subscription plans. Some file-sharing programs charge a per-download fee but not mp3advance.com. For one low price, they grant access what is claimed to be the “largest mp3 collection ever.” Additionally, they offer a free mp3 ripper/player, free virus protection, VIP technical report and so much more. It sounds like a great deal, right? Join us as we take a closer took at mp3advance.com.

While the mp3advance website may seem aesthetically pleasing at first glance, it doesn’t take long before someone is prompted to stop and take a closer look at this company. Do they stand behind their advertisement? Do they seem on the up and up? Naturally, before making any kind of investment, these are questions that we will want to investigate. While it may look good on the surface, there are many things that might very well want to make us rethink using a program, like mp3advance.com.

As a first impression, the graphics and interactive FX on this website are impressive. Lots of words and images blink, pictures change rapidly and hi-tech lines zip up and down along the surface. Right off the bat, it makes people think that it’s happening and it’s hi-tech, just waiting to be found. “Search over a billion files,” is advertised and, considering how showy this site is, it definitely looks like a site that has a lot going on. Unfortunately, it should be said now that, despite all those bells and whistles, it appears that they are overcompensating for definite lacks in other areas. For instance… Price. Looking all around the main page, there is no mention of the cost of this service. Instead, you find 3 links - one under search, one under download, and the final under burn - every one of which leads to the exact same sign up page. Information is a rare commodity here.

And you had best hope that, should you start having problems connecting, or suffering from some other dilemma, you can figure it out on your own. Clicking on the technical support pages reveals that they are unavailable, offering users no alternatives but to figure troubles out on their own or, simply, to move on to other pages and hope that it will eventually pan out.

By the time you reach the third page of this website, attention is drawn to a picture of an mp3 player with the words “Free Bonus” above it. Of course, to the side, it states that you can get instant access right away and, as a special bonus, you will also receive a free desktop mp3 player. Much like other parts of mp3advance, things appear very misleading. While the main page discusses how a person can download all the music and movies they would like, after supplying your email address to them, you are taken to a separate page where you learn that, in order to get the codecs needed to play downloaded movies, you have to pay an additional $14.95. Then for another fee, this time of $9.95, you can make backups of your DVDs to CDs.

Overall, this entire website seems very vague and contradictory - There is little if any information available, giving potential clients plenty of reasons to be wary and to steer clear. Beyond that, there are also many other companies with similar offers available, quite often with better prices, who are more than willing to be up front with their prices and not rely upon a host of extra charges. In the end, mp3advantage seems to be at a severe disadvantage until they rework their marketing technique.

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