Qtrax: 25 million songs in mp3 for free
iTunes better look out because a new music service will soon offer millions of songs for free. New York-based Qtrax is launching a beta application that will aggregate up to 25 million songs from peer-to-peer networks. Of course the old saying of, “there is no free lunch”, applies here and users will have to endure ads to listen to their songs. The service works by centralizing music from P2P sites and then reoffering the songs with some extra DRM attached. Songs are downloaded to the listener’s computer, but they can only be played back inside of the Qtrax ad-supported player. The player expands to fill the user’s screen, but don’t fret because you can still surf the web with a Mozilla-based browser inside of the player.
For those of you old enough to remember the dot-bomb days, think of the Qtrax player as a music version of the much loathed NetZero web browser. While a full-screen player plastered with ads will probably turn off many people, we believe this could bring new life to your unwanted laptops and desktops. Just download and play the songs on the spare computer while you continue working on your primary machine. The company promises to share ad revenue with the song owners and claims that deals have been made with the four major record labels: Universal Music, Sony-BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI. Interestingly enough, those labels haven’t yet confirmed any plans. According to the Qtrax website, a PC beta program will be available at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Wow, this looks more than promising!
Source: TG Daily
Comments(36)
Sounds like hot trash. spam with mp3s hoooraay
coooool !!!
No one is going to use this.
they will crack this program
Incredibly lame and absolutely doomed
easy odds bet
I don’t understand why these people get away with downloading from p2p and reselling the content. these organizations try to pan p2p and at the same time it’s fueling this corporate machine with content they so eagerly want to resell to us…
like in fightclub. selling the fat right back to the rich white ladies.
not so fast…
they don’t have an agreement with Warner, UMG, EMI, probably it’s even not going online:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/01/warner-were-not-working-with-free-music-service-qtrax-wmg.html
well just think of the Qtrax lite players that will be made lol, it has potential lol well maybe not. i personally think people should be able to rip their own cds without drm. if they pay for a song be able to do what the hell they want with it and not be restricted to one device and so on. DRM is a joke and should be stopped and this Qtrax idea is equally as bad, i should be able to use the media player i want not some ad-ware. thats what these companies forget when people get music they do what they want with it not have some pre-determined rules!
I don’t get why this is posted here, I didn’t know anyone from here would be willing to watch ads or w/e while listening to music. I figured most of us just downloaded it
Looks like crap – bad bad bad logo, they will never be able to brand better than iTunes.
Since there are people who still believe that AOL is the sum total of the internet and not just an annoyingly “robust” isp, I’m sure there will be people who will be thrilled to use this. And no, they don’t live under rocks, they just happen to be in their 80s and 90s. lol!
My Dad is 82 and he and his equally senior buddies just love the internet – at least what they’ve seen of it. They cannot quite grasp that AOL is just a gateway to bigger things. And forget standard p2p! This Qtrax sounds like a good system for the elderly and less computer literate to use as a search engine to free legal downloads. And the equally entertaining aspect – for them – of clicking on the winky blinky flashing ads!
@Matt, because Martin wants to see a world full of ads and ‘free’ products…to me it sounds like a nightmare, but to each his own…
I love it when people make judgments about something they’ve never even used (and who gives a crap whether the logo is great or not, really?). I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve had a go with it. It’s unlikely I’d use it as my primary browser but I’m definitely curious to see whether this is any good or not.
No agreement with any major , no program to download…
25 million songs my ass.
Looks like this is going to be THE “Vaporware 2008″.
I don`t care about it anyway.
They want to sell music again?
Well , lets start with selling CD`s that have no stupid copy protection.
Cause with all the MP3 players , there is an actual reason for ripping CD`s.
1. nobody on this site can possibly care abbout this
2. it will get cracked, reverse-engineered, and turned into something more useful in 1 week, 1 month and 2 months respectively.
3. anybody that isn’t smart enough to go to a public tracker and get their music for free but just smart enough to go to itunes will completely ignore this. I’m not sure who they are marketing to.
4. try some of these sites: jamendo, magnatune
5. shoutcast, anyone?
bizarre. i could understand it if they were streaming music with ads, but free DOWNLOADS!?
even with DRM, if their catalogue were even half as big as its supposed to be, that would be incentive enough for someone to crack the DRM, and then the record companies would be legally sanctioning a p2p site worse than napster.
the labels arent on board yet, id be very surprised if this ever launches, and even if it does, itll be a disaster… but interesting post anyways…
ITunes all the way…Its cheap enough
I’ll think I’ll just stick with piracy – its seems to be easier and safer.
This will be hacked in less then a week
on the legal page http://www.qtrax.com/legal.php it says the whole of the Gnutella network will be avalible and there just trusting people to only download certain things lol and if your caught downloading something you shouldnt its $5 a go
quotes:
We have no control over the information and data being disseminated or contained on any Gnutella network. You are ultimately responsible for the material you choose to upload, download and share with others. You will be personally liable for downloading and/or sharing infringing materials or copyrighted works.
We are, however, conscious of the legal issues involving sharing of certain types of files and ultimately these issues will be decided by the Courts or an Act of Parliament/Congress.
In the mean time, however, we expect all users of QTRAX/QTRAXMAX to comply with applicable laws, to respect the moral and legal rights of copyright authors and owners, and to use the Gnutella network in a responsible and law abiding way. While ideas are not fully protectable (only the expression of ideas), users who do share their own ideas with others expect others not to steal their protected works. THEREFORE, DO NOT STEAL FILE TYPES WHICH YOU DO NOT HAVE A LAWFUL RIGHT TO OWN OR USE.
We will immediately terminate your use of QTRAX/QTRAXMAX which we believe, in our sole discretion, is being used to violate copyrighted works, disseminate viruses, worms, Trojans and the like, disseminated illegally obtained files, child pornography, and all such file types prohibited by law, transmit or is otherwise connected with any spam or other unsolicited bulk email, defamatory or offensive contents contained in the files, propaganda and the like and you may be liable to damages by reason of such wrongful conduct.
If actual damages cannot be reasonably calculated then you agree to pay us liquidated damages of $5 for each piece of file type disseminated illegally, spam or unsolicited bulk email transmitted from or otherwise connected with you, otherwise you agree to pay us actual damages, to the extent such actual damages can be reasonably calculated.
Any information collected by us is used to communicate with you in order to tailor our products and services to your effectively. We also use your contact details to inform you of any updates to QTRAX/QTRAXMAX, and for the purpose of targeting advertising on behalf of our advertisers. You agree to accept receipt of banner and pop-up advertising only when using the Qtrax/Qtraxmax application in return for using our free QTRAX/QTRAXMAX file sharing software.
basicly that says to me ,,, there giving us a app to browse and d/l from the Gnutella network that will be plastered with adds and pop ups and that there be monitering us to hopefully catch someone downloading something they shouldnt so they can claim $5 a go, no doubt when dumb people fisrt sign up and share there folder full of pirated tunes there gonna get stung
yet you make it sound like a good thing martin
Yeah sounds like a bunch of bologna. QSUCKS!!!
If Amazon had MP3`s for 99 Cents a piece that would be ok.
Up until now , one of the biggest problems is the selection.
I`ve checked out some download pages to see what they have.
If you`re not looking for the Top10 , there is always stuff missing.
They got to have a COMPLETE catalog.
Just look up a group that is a little lesser known , and you might be lucky to find their latest album.
That doesn`t work , the catalog has to be complete.
All the music from an artist , all the recordings , remixes , you name it…
Just giving away music doesn`t work , cause then nobody values it anymore.
And then , whats with music overall anyway.
Where are the real stars and the real talents.
The music of the last few years just sucked it up.
If i have to listen to another 20 year old with an acoustic guitar , wanting to tell me about life…..screw those dooshbags.
I wouldn`t want to own a record label.
Yeah , they tried to screw over people. Artists and customers.
They flooded the market with boy groups and other windbags.
Thats another reason why todays music sucks and nobody wants to pay for it.
The labels didn`t serve one of their most important purposes. Selection.
Finding and selecting real talents. Talents with a lasting substance. Not just trendy windbags who are good for a fast buck.
That selection is important. And it`s tedious work.
Just go to MySpace Music and listen at random to 10 musicians that nobody knows.
If you make it to 10 , you probably don`t want to listen to music for a while.
Cause what you`ve heard was so terrible that you almost lost faith in music.
There are people who should have never picked up a musical instrument , and the public needs to be protected from them.
The music business is supposed to be brutal , so we wont be bothered with crap.
Thats the way it should work.
But the record labels have turned it around to where they just cater to 12 year olds to make easy money.
The result is what we have today.
Has anyone seen the last MTV Music Video Awards ?
It was like Nickelodeon on acid.
“Just go to MySpace Music and listen at random to 10 musicians that nobody knows.
If you make it to 10 , you probably don`t want to listen to music for a while.
Cause what you`ve heard was so terrible that you almost lost faith in music.”
“If i have to listen to another 20 year old with an acoustic guitar , wanting to tell me about life…..screw those dooshbags.”
Awsome points u made dude.
Somewhere between all those promos, hypes and gimmicks, collectibles, toures and what not, music itself is lost. 
@18 – itunes, cheap? ever worked out how much it costs to fill a modest-sized ipod with music bought on itunes? its a whole lot of money! especially when you consider you can pick up old/classic cds in bargain shops for a lot less, AND you get something physical for your money, WITHOUT DRM…
like 19, ill mostly stick to piracy, and keep buying hard copies of the music that i really like.
@21 – sounds like it could be very very ugly, very quick. when i first read this post, i thought ‘unless they get HUGE advertising revenue, which will surely all be spent on paying royalties, so how are QTrax going to make any money?’ at $5 per illegal file, i think we know now. its like soulseek or something, only a lot worse.
@22 – true, record companies seem to have given up on the A&R side of things. and true myspace has about 20 awful college/high school bands with little in the way of talent and nothing in the way of new ideas… but thats not true of everyone on myspace (obviously), and if youre willing to do the A&R person’s job yourself, and trawl through all the rubbish to find the gems, theyre all the more rewarding and personal when you do find them. im not going to list any examples because tast is totally subjective, but in the past couple of years ive discovered 7 or 8 bands and artists whos music has moved me deeply… its just unfortunate that myspace doesnt do any discerning – perhaps they should kick off bands who get a certain amount of friend request rejections?
and i dont agree that giving music away necessarily devalues it. i dunno, its a moot point, but radiohead made more money out of in rainbows than their previous album, even though most people didnt bother to pay for it.
It is all a big hoax/scam. The claims they made were outright lies. Read about it here: http://www.slyck.com/story1645_Major_Labels_Still_Have_no_Qtrax_Deal
This is a really stupid idea. Whoever uses this just doesnt know how to get the music for free
@ Bish, i dont know how you can compare it to soulseek!
Soulseek rocks! loads of underground music on there , hard to find hip hop albums and dnb mixes that you will have nightmares trying to find elsewhere
If you gonna compare it to trashy p2p then i think Kazza would have been better example
@26 (research your stories) – read your links! the article youve cited points out that “The mainstream media managed to eat up Qtrax’s press releases hook, line and sinker. Headlines championed the first “legal” P2P service, and credited the company with achieving a groundbreaking accomplishment.”
at any rate, no surprises really. ha. just been on the website – you can download their beta player (presumably complete with ads) to listen to your own music! awesome, a full screen media player, with adverts, to play my mp3s! now i dont need itunes, winamp, vlc, windows media player, etc, with their irritating lack of adverts! HOORAY!!!
what are those qtrax people thinking? still, good PR stunt, as long as they dont get sued!
4All who didn’t know: Qtrax has been sort of nuked
No Beta is available, the major labels don’t have a contract with Qtrax
http://www.gulli.com/news/qtrax-ups-wir-haben-doch-2008-01-28/
(Unfortunately German)
@31 – here’s an alternative link “translated”:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=de_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gulli.com%2Fnews%2Fqtrax-ups-wir-haben-doch-2008-01-28%2F
Here’s an article from a few days ago about it:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06252007/business/file_haring_business_peter_lauria.htm
HOAXHOAXHOAXHOAXHOAXHOAX
I will be giving this a try could be something
It’s a spam generator. They have no deals for content and ask a worrying ammount of personal info. Sure, we’re leet and fill in John Doe but the actual John Doe won’t and will be spammed into oblivion.
Strange that rlslog gives these guys a speck of attention. It’s annoying enough i get pagefilling ads for crappy companies when i visit this website, appearing sudden so a misclick will generate you guys income and defraud the advertiser. I don’t need a post here for a spambot being advertised as the next new thing in searching for mp3’s.
Enough with the inappropriate spam and get back to reporting new releases please. Or else just quit…