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."

No iPod compatability = dead.

[iainl]

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)?

That sure was fast...

[Anonymous Coward]

Qtrax's proprietary ".mpq" file format

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

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

[ovoskeuiks]

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.

Eminently Defeatable

[ajs318]

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

[FiveDollarYoBet]

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:No iPod compatability = dead.

[grub]

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.

Not portable == Not useable

[Opportunist]

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.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

[Aidan Steele]

iTMS isn't a P2P application, however. If they were clever about this, they could offer all sorts of incentives: such as credits for uploading lots of data to other subscribers.. they'd certainly cut their costs!

Re:Wait, so why should we get this?

[cyxxon]

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...

Or pipe them through mpq2mp3

[wirefarm]

...as soon as someone writes it.
Probably in a couple of weeks.

Re:That sure was fast...

[Frightening]

Indeed. That sucks so much the virii distibutors won't even bother with this thing.

Half-way, but not enough...

[Attis_The_Bunneh]

As much as I usually side with companies on their efforts to retain profit, this proposal looks like a DOA to me for two reasons. First, the reported use of a modified tcpip.sys file makes the least informed computer user reconsider the download even if they want the premium service. If EMI has to use such an invasive procedure to reduce piracy, then why bother? I say just simply sponsor Shareaza or whatever and be done with it. As much as that sounds crazy, I bet they would see more CD sales from that than this Qtrax idea. The second reason why this is a bad proposal is that it would lead to worse PR for the money they spent to 'develop' this Qtrax scheme. If I were a VP or President of a department I would have already thrown my left shoe at the moron that devised this little gimmick for the wasted money and ire they raised.

All in all, I admit it was a half-way effort, but it wasn't enough. They need to simply consider using an inclusive instead an exclusive method to get people to buy CDs, like buy one get one free of your favorite EMI artist...Or report that their CDs are root kit free, thus not prone to the rootkit viruses or spyware/malware. And even sponsor Shareaza as I said before, even though it sounds crazy I still think the PR from that would be enough to boost CD sales...

-- Bridget

Re:This will only work....

[chowells]

"where consumers care enough about such things"

It's fairly obvious that if a consumer wanted to buy various Beatles tracks, and they're not available from the iTunes store, they do care since they will have to find another source for the material.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

[kj0rn]

Duh...

Way to miss the point.

Embedding the player reduces both our choices. I can't use my player of choice, neither can you use mPlayer.

As for a player that doesn't respond to my multimedia keyboard? No thanks. Not my choice of keyboard, OS, media player, but I'd expect the stop button to errr, stop the fucking song no matter what setup I had.

Re:Wait, so why should we get this?

[Spad]

The question is, just what does the modified tcpip.sys file actually do?

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

[Tim C]

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:Wait, so why should we get this?

[jpop32]

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.

it always gets down to pricing

[zogger]

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.

Making Money Selling Music Without DRM

[doublem]

From:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/23/141620 3&from=rss [slashdot.org]

eMusic sells straight MP3 files.

And they even have the entirety of the Frank Zappa Library.

Re:iTunes FairPlay Vs Qtrax DRM

[arashi no garou]

Sure, it works, but the entire point is that you should NEVER be forced to buy a particular type or brand of hardware to play one or two CDs when, for years, any CD-playing hardware (computers included) could play any CD. As an amateur musician who one day may release my music to the world, you can bet your life I won't go through any RIAA-owned labels. I'd rather give away my music through p2p than let them get one cent (assuming of course that anyone would buy my decidedly non-bubblegum-pop style).

yet another token political maneuver to gain power

[plasmacutter]

The politicians are beginning to see through the lies of these fatcats as far as their other "online services" go, so now they are going to put down another "effort" to reach out to consumers.

This way, they can go back to legislators and say "look, we gave them p2p and they still refused to pay us, look how unreasonable they are, help us get more draconian laws like mandated DRM and drug-law style imprisonment"

good move i guess.. i can't fault them for their consistency, and the sad part is politicians with an agenda against this technology now have another 1 line sound byte to deliver to an uneducated public.