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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."
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
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
My work here is dung.
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.
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?
So, that means that I'll be buying
Oh, and on an unrelated note ThePirateBay is back up again.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
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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I like the idea. I will likely subscribe. As soon as I put my hands on .mpq to .mp3 converter.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
wow this sounds like the only p2p system more annoying than kazaa!
-- lol pwned
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
Always chack for the CDDA logo when buying CDs, as if they follow the CDDA standard it won't b0rk up when playing on older players or your PC. Also disable autorun, unless you like their crap hidden in your PC.
h2g2bob
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.
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. 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."
You can buy a universal audio format converter for $5 at RadioShack. Apparently a loophole in the DMCA allows the sale of this product.
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.