EMI Launches Advertising-Supported P2P Service

SirClicksalot writes to tell us that EMI is launching the first ad-supported peer-to-peer music downloading service called Qtrax. With Qtrax users will have two tiers of membership available to them, which EMI hopes will draw in a large segment of users to try it out and graduate many of them to stay on with a monthly fee or purchase music permanently. From the article "In the ad-supported, free tier, users will be able to search the network for specific tracks, and those tracks registered with Qtrax will be made available for download in Qtrax's proprietary ".mpq" file format. Users will then be able to play the downloaded .mpq file in full-fidelity sound quality for a pre-defined number of times. Each time a consumer plays a track, the Qtrax player will also offer fans click-to-buy purchase options, as well as the opportunity to upgrade to a premium subscription service for a flat monthly fee."

iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

From Qtrax's page of benefits [qtrax.com]:

DRM! You pay nothing because our DRM technology ensures artists receive royalties each time you play their song.

Here we have an innovative use of DRM such that it is restricting the decrypting of a particular file to ensure that the user is viewing ads or clicking ads to visit websites that then, in turn, pay the artists.

Why is this better than iTunes? Because with iTunes, the money comes directly out of your pocket but you're still forced to decrypt those files you're buying. The primary difference is that iTunes gives you the sense that you'll always be able to play that song after you've paid for it, but does anyone have this in writing?

I'm not sure but I would wager that the "Premium" tier service for Qtrax operates in much the same way as iTunes ... with the music you pay for still being encrypted in mpq. I'll probably give the free tier of Qtrax a try ... because it's free but I'm still going to buy media format discs. Why? Because I'm not depended on a particular company's product to decrypt that disc ... at least not yet.

Having been in bands that only play the local scene, this new "P2P2A" just looks like another level of penetration preventing bands from "making it big." For a second there, it looked like the internet & P2P networks would allow starting bands to release their stuff for anyone if they so chose (something that used to require signing a label). Now, you have to be signed on a label and it has to be the right label with deals worked with iTunes or Qtrax to make your music available. If consumers are moved to use primarily one of these two programs for their music, how will they ever be exposed to bands on indie labels or bands not on labels at all?

What I'm trying to say is ... it used to be about the music.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

Well given my recent troubles to decrypt an EMI copy protected CD i'm not sure where to go for music that I can listen to in the manner I choose.

Seriously I use to pirate alot of music then I decided one day that it wasn't right and I should pay for the music I listen to. So I went out and purchased a couple of new CD's and I get rewarded with CD's that don't play in some CD players or as with the case with the last CD I bought, cannot play it on my computer or store the music on my computer. I can run the Macromedia player thing that comes with it but that it turns out is just playing .wma files hidden in a second session on the cd. It was one hell of a lot easier to simply download the music, why do I feel punished for trying to do the 'right' thing.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

you obviously have some strange ideas about what a good player should be

Or perhaps he just appreciates the ease that keyboard shortcuts bring? With a media player that understands the media keys on my keyboard, I can pause/stop/start/etc my music no matter what app has focus. That might not be useful to you, but it certainly is to me.

Look up mplayer. You won't like it: but I do.

You're right, I don't like mplayer. I used to use xmms a lot, but have since switched to WMP.

But that's beside the point; thanks to the proprietary "mpq" format, it doesn't matter what player you like, or he likes or I like - we can't use it.

More to the point, I can't listen to the music on my iRiver. That's a big enough deal to make this a complete non-starter for me.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

I'm not sure but I would wager that the "Premium" tier service for Qtrax operates in much the same way as iTunes

From the article itself:
"The premium subscription service tier uses Microsoft's Janus DRM technology, which allows consumers to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to music in the Qtrax network. Subscribers will also have the ability to transfer content to Windows Media enabled portable devices for as long as the subscription stays active."

In other words: only supported by Windows Media portable players or Window itself, only plays as long as you pay your monthly fee, non-transferable to different formats.

As in, worse than iTunes.

Nothing to see here folks - just another showpiece online music store from the music industry so that they can show how "pirates are hurting even sales of music in digital format" while they lobby for wider copyright protection, mandatory DRM on everything and tougher penalties for non-commercial copyrigh infringement.

No iPod compatability = dead.

Yes, it's yet another online music service whose music won't work on iPods.

In fact, since they're using their own custom DRM and relying on you seeing adverts while you listen (how many people look at the screen while listening to music, then?) it won't work with other portable players, either.

So why are you going to want this, other than for the free version to try out tracks occasionally (and possibly record them to a less encumbered format)?

Re:No iPod compatability = dead.

Won't work on iPod. Won't work on any portable music player. This'll go the way of Circuit City's DIVX [wikipedia.org] and they'll blame piracy for the failure of their inflexible system.

That sure was fast...

Qtrax's proprietary ".mpq" file format

There, out of business before I was able to read to the end of the article.

Wait, so why should we get this?

Let's see... I get a "free" version of this P2P. Said P2P software contains adware and r00ts my system. Therefore, I pay a monthly fee for songs that are so DRM'ed that I can't play them more than a few times? Am I the only one that thinks there's something broken with this?

Re:Wait, so why should we get this?

That was exactly my first thought. After checking some pics on the install guide, my jaw dropped to the floor. This installer replaces tcpip.sys and even advises the user just to click away the warning message Windows pops up because system files are being touched. Install guides like this are ok if I find them on some forum explaining how to install XP Visual Styles by using patched Dlls since I kinda know what I am doing, but coming from a global player like EMI and obviously directed at the unsavvy unwashed mashes... *shudder* I mean, Joe Sixpack will trust these guys!

This is one major point where Microsoft has always been critizised - lax security. And now really big companies undermine even the weak efforts Microsoft has put into their OS because of freaking ad-supported DRM encumbered music... way to go, EMI...

Re:Wait, so why should we get this?

Possible reasons to replace tcpip.sys
- Make their sofware be able to go around your personal firewall to "phone home"
- Make their sofware, outside the control of your personal firewall, be available as a server so that it can be updated/controlled remotelly
- Wrapping, at the TCP stack level, all traffic to and from their software in an encryption layer so that you can't figure out what information is being send over the wire by snooping.
- Increase the (thread/process level) priority of TCP/UDP traffic to and from their software so that your machine is a beter P2P drone.
- Make your machine a drone in their P2P network all the time as long as Windows is running, even if you kill all user space processes and threads.
- Making it harder to read any key material from memory when their software checks with the server to see if you're still allowed to listen to your music.

Re:Wait, so why should we get this?

Possible reasons to replace tcpip.sys...
 
...are all bullshit. Tcpip.sys is an integral (and crucial, at that) part of the OS, made by Microsoft, and no other company should be allowed to touch it. I mean, what if MS releases a patch and rewrites it? You'll be unable to play your legitimately paid music, at least until the DRM guys have their way with it. I won't even go into other, all too obvious security related issues.

No, no, no... This is just a monumentally stupid idea, and its creators are in ugrent need of public redicule, if not a lawsuit by Microsoft.

Permanently?

...or purchase music permanently.

So, that means that I'll be buying .mp3 (or .ogg) with no DRM in them? If not I'm not interested. I refuse to buy the same music over and over again. Give me something that's better than the (illegal) p2p-nets out there and I'll use it.

Oh, and on an unrelated note ThePirateBay [thepiratebay.org] is back up again.

.haeger

Eminently Defeatable

As long as it works with even one sound card for which Open Source drivers exist, this DRM scheme is defeatable, just the same as any other DRM scheme that has ever existed or will ever exist. Every penny spent pursuing what is demonstrably a mathematical impossibility is a penny wasted.

Not gonna work

Hmmm.... so I can either watch ads and download music in a proprietary format that expires after time OR I can pay for a subscription and all of the songs I download are only good for as long as I keep paying each month?!?!?!

FTA:The premium subscription service tier uses Microsoft's Janus DRM technology, which allows consumers to pay a monthly fee for unlimited access to music in the Qtrax network. Subscribers will also have the ability to transfer content to Windows Media enabled portable devices for as long as the subscription stays active.

Services like this will never work. Their formats aren't compatible with iPODs and their proprietary formats and 'listen as long as you subscribe' business models are just plain stupid.

How about a service where it's fifty cents to download a song, you can choose what format you want it in and it doesn't expire.
How about letting me download it and listen to it first to see if I like it. If I don't pony up the two quarters it expires in a week.
How about making an online store that doesn't require iTunes, Windows Media Player or any of the other bloatware mp3 players out there.
How about putting together an online music store that people will actually use, until then me and everybody else I know of is just going to keep pirating.

signature goes here

Re:Not gonna work

Like Magnatune? [magnatune.com] ;)

Sorry to bang on about it and okay, I know the selection isn't the best but it's not bad at all. You can try entire albums before you buy, download in whatever format (MP3, OGG, WAV, Flac, etc), albums costs $6.00 each (you can pay more if you want), it doesn't need any proprietary player, the downloads work with any MP3 player.

Oh and you can give 3 copies of your download to friends legally. And the help is way better than anything else out there for music.

And yes, I do use it. In fact, it's the only place I get music these days because I'm tired of being treated like a potential criminal ("pirate") and paying for the privilege.

Yeah, Cool.

I like the idea. I will likely subscribe. As soon as I put my hands on .mpq to .mp3 converter.

Not portable == Not useable

So I have that file on my computer. And then... I can listen to it every time I'm on my computer. Ok.

I can do that already with internet radio. For free. Now, again, why should I pay for that service? I didn't quite get that part, but maybe I'm just too dumb to see the insightful, grandious idea that marketing spun there.

nice system!

wow this sounds like the only p2p system more annoying than kazaa!

Finally!

Finally we have a service that combines the advertisements we love with the digital rights management software that keeps our music safely encoded! Bonus feature: we get to enjoy the advertisements all over again when our favorite song expires!

-Z

It's *NEW*!

"Working with Qtrax is just one way EMI is actively supporting emerging business models, technologies and platforms to deliver music to fans," said David Munns, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music North America.

So is "emerging" newspeak for "10-year-old"?

EMI takes one step forward, two steps back...

It appears that EMI has seen that P2P can be a legitimate medium for which to distribute music to consumers, but it still has a lot to learn:

The premium subscription service tier uses Microsoft's Janus DRM technology...for unlimited access to music in the Qtrax network. Subscribers will also have the ability to transfer content to Windows Media enabled portable devices for as long as the subscription stays active.

1) You don't ever own the music. It's being licensed, and as soon as you cancel your subscription, the DRM will stop the music from playing.

2) You can't burn the music to a CD, still the most common method for playing music.

3) You can't play the music on any portable device that doesn't support Windows Media, meaning iPod owners can't transfer the music to their iPods.

EMI doesn't seem to understand that consumers want to take their music with them, not leave it on the computer. The #1 portable music player right now is the CD player, and iPod is #2. You can't have a viable competitor in the market if you cut off the top two music players, parading your DRM agenda. This service won't fly.

Tiscali has shut down it's online JukeBox

On a related note (and a story I just submitted to /.) Tiscali have just shutdown their JukeBox online music streaming service. Their reasons are given here Tiscali Jukebox switch off Q & A [tiscali.co.uk]. From the article:
"Why have you decided to shut down the service today? Because after going online in total accordance with the music industry and having it launched officially, thus letting our users access it with the characteristics we tested and fine-tuned, today the music industry forwards unexpected demands."
and
"Clearly, major labels do not understand the business potential that is behind a service like Tiscali Juke Box which, by acknowledging and paying the rights for all songs being listened to in streaming mode, allows the safeguard of the rights of the industry and the artists."

it always gets down to pricing

Every single one of these entertainmnet media schemes is relevant to them trying to find a way to keep making the same sort of money per copy they were back when making copies for redistribtion was expensive. Now that it has dropped to the incredibly cheap level, they will not lower prices to reflect this. Ever single one of these steps seeks to somehow keep a similar pricing level when it is not needed, they need drastically lowered prices to hold market now. And that's the problem, they simply will NOT lower prices down to a level that technological advances dictate as more fair pricing.