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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."
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)?
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Qtrax's proprietary ".mpq" file format
There, out of business before I was able to read to the end of the article.
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.
.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.
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
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.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
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.
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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!
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...
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.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
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.
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.