In the end, it’s not so much what MP3Jam does or doesn’t do which prompted this article, it’s more about what the developers fail to do. Mind you, the upgrade price ($9.95) for unlimited downloads does seem pretty reasonable: What is does equate to, in my opinion, is a limited free trial. Limiting the software to only 30 track downloads does not equate to “Free”. Note the faint text at the bottom of the interface, as indicated in the screenshot… “ Tracks available for free download: 30“… and the associated “Upgrade” button. When you install MP3Jam and run the program, you will see the following interface: While the software itself may technically still be free, usage is limited to downloading just 30 tracks, after which a payment is required. I can only assume that MP3Jam is utilizing the advertizing module solely to push its own upgrades… and that brings us on to the second thing… it ain’t exactly free!Įverything on the MP3Jam site suggests that the software and the service it provides are free of charge – the term “free” is used liberally throughout: I installed the latest version of MP3Jam in a virtual environment and, to be fair, there was no sign of any misdeed by Somoto no browser hi-jack, home page changes, no toolbar or anything else I could find associated with Somoto. Whatever Somoto is doing, it is doing it covertly, without the user’s knowledge or permission. To make matters worse, there is absolutely no mention of the Somoto bundling anywhere on the MP3Jam site, nor in the end user license agreement, nor at any time during the installation process. You can read an article regarding Somoto and its implications here: Beware: Solimba and Somoto bundled with freeware. There have been numerous reports of Somoto hi-jacking browsers, installing a toolbar without consent, changing home pages, etc. Firstly, they have since dumped OpenCandy, which most security experts agree is quite harmless, and opted to bundle the more aggressive and somewhat suspect Somoto advertizing module.

Now, it appears, the MP3Jam developers have taken a completely different route. You can catch up with that original review here: MP3Jam: Free & legal music downloads. At that time, the software and the service it provided were free and, although it came bundled with the OpenCandy advertising module, was otherwise clean and my review mostly favorable.

Back in April this year we published a review of a new music download software called MP3Jam.

Mp3jam update