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Qtrax misses launch time - do they actually have a product yet?

28 January 2008 2:39 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 18 comments

Qtrax misses launch time - do they actually have a product yet? It's two hours after the official Qtrax launch time and there's still no sign of a client for download. Since the story of the new P2P based, ad-supported online music service became hot news over the weekend, their website turned into a popular destination. At one point it even featured a message suggesting that visitors come back in 24 hours as the site was unavailable due to high traffic. That was later replaced with a promise for a download to be available at midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST). It's now just past 2AM EST and still no sign of the download. And apparently not quite the same story we, and many other outlets, publicized yesterday.

Although Qtrax is promising downloads from all four major labels - Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony BMG Music, Warner Music Group (WMG), and EMI Group - according to executives from three of the four companies no agreements for their content exists. No one from Sony BMG has commented so far. WMG spokesman Will Tanous told the Silicon Alley Insider that Warner Music Group has not authorized the use of our content on Qtrax’s recently announced service."

UMG has confirmed they're negotiating for the rights to their music with Qtrax, and although contract they previously had with WMG has expired, a Qtrax spokesman said "We are in discussion with Warner Music Group to ensure that the service is licensed and we hope to reach an agreement shortly."

However, it's now nearly 2:30AM EST and there's still no sign of a client to download. It's not quite the kind of start many people were hoping for. It has to make you wonder if there was never a launch planned for today, but rather a PR event orchestrated to draw attention to the company at an important music industry convention.

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    simpsim1 (Member) 28 January 2008 8:35 Send private message to this user   
    Hmmmm... and does it really exist? Time will tell I suppose.
    varnull (AfterDawn Addict) 28 January 2008 8:41 Send private message to this user   
    And do we care?...... nope
    7thsinger (Senior Member) 28 January 2008 8:52 Send private message to this user   
    ^Gonna second that.^ Whoopty sh*t.







    "Sir, i would not harm thee for the world, but thou art standing where i'm about to shoot."
    chaos_zzz (Junior Member) 28 January 2008 9:52 Send private message to this user   
    the site won't even load, i was looking foward this at the end is free and legal
    jookycola (Member) 28 January 2008 10:06 Send private message to this user   
    so howmuch spyware/greyware is the program loaded with though i wonder?

    possibly a trojan or backdoor program that tracks if you go to torrent sites. This just sounds like a way for the RIAA to get inside your computer and spy on you.

    I'll pass till i know it's not the RIAA's new tactic to find people to sue. Besides i can d'load entire discographies, movies, programs, and games from torrent why would i use this to get music? torrent is 1000x's better and not possible RIAA spyware.
    ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 28 January 2008 12:42 Send private message to this user   
    banned4Lf (Inactive) 28 January 2008 14:01 Send private message to this user   
    FYI Peeps..................Warner says Qtrax is basically F.O.S.

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2253695,00.asp
    banned4Lf (Inactive) 28 January 2008 14:04 Send private message to this user   
    Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
    beta is out?
    http://www.qtrax.com/download.php



    Whoa!!! Hold thy horses Zip.

    Not out yet. Available supposedly at "Midnight EST" but I'd bet my ass that ain't gonna happen.
    simpsim1 (Member) 28 January 2008 14:42 Send private message to this user   
    Originally posted by banned4Lf:
    FYI Peeps..................Warner says Qtrax is basically F.O.S.

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2253695,00.asp

    Or even a B.F.F. (Big Fat Fake)???

    Bit early for April Fools I think.
    acefoo (Newbie) 28 January 2008 14:43 Send private message to this user   
    I signed up to recive qtrax news information to my email address and I recived this from them today

    Thank you for your interest in Qtrax, the world's first 100% free
    and legal P2P music service.

    We are pleased to announce the launch of our beta application.

    To download Qtrax now: http://qtrax-cdod-r1.vitalstreamcdn.com/...indows-i686.exe
    ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 28 January 2008 14:48 Send private message to this user   
    So they overstated their readiness and the media lables are sluggish and ill willed as ever.
    simpsim1 (Member) 28 January 2008 14:51 Send private message to this user   
    Originally posted by acefoo:
    I signed up to recive qtrax news information to my email address and I recived this from them today

    Thank you for your interest in Qtrax, the world's first 100% free
    and legal P2P music service.

    We are pleased to announce the launch of our beta application.

    To download Qtrax now: http://qtrax-cdod-r1.vitalstreamcdn.com/...686.exe

    If it's 100% gen, then I think I may have a go with a virtual machine and see what happens.
    geestar20 (AfterDawn Addict) 28 January 2008 15:45 Send private message to this user   
    juanpollo (Newbie) 28 January 2008 15:48 Send private message to this user   
    Originally posted by acefoo:
    I signed up to recive qtrax news information to my email address and I recived this from them today

    Thank you for your interest in Qtrax, the world's first 100% free
    and legal P2P music service.

    We are pleased to announce the launch of our beta application.

    To download Qtrax now: http://qtrax-cdod-r1.vitalstreamcdn.com/...686.exe


    Quick question, is Qtrax supposed to be built around the Mozilla Songbird player?
    simpsim1 (Member) 28 January 2008 16:59 Send private message to this user   
    Quote:
    Quick question, is Qtrax supposed to be built around the Mozilla Songbird player?
    Yeah it is. The site has also mentioned before that you can use a normal firefox browser as well (I imagine a java applet kicks in somewhere) presumably from http://music.qtrax.com as that is where the app sends you anyway.

    Talking about the app itself, I really don't like the look of it. In fact, I will be avoiding this one like the plague, because there's so many legal grey areas to watch out for.

    The app is Java based, uses the gnutella network and has a mozilla base (GPL'd code used). The gnutella part worries me the most, particularly since the user conditions when you sign up for an account specify that not all the content available is "free and legal" and that it is the responsibilty of the user to police his/her own actions when downloading or making available such material.

    Just for a laugh, I signed up for an account, clicked on one of the "week's most downloaded" album titles. Next came a list with all the tracks from said album with a download button next to each track. "Okay" I thought, let's pick one. So I did..... I got a javascript popup widow saying "Downloads coming soon"..... Oh dear!

    Obviously the download link is not readily published for a reason. Qtrax obviously have hyped up their product with promises of "free and legal" ad supported music, but in reality all the major labels they claim to have signed up are denying that any such signing has, or likely will, take place (See Reuters article. Link in an earlier post) and there are still some heavy legality issues. So at best, Qtrax have jumped the gun with the release. At worst they are making false promises deliberately in some sort of marketing ploy.
    juanpollo (Newbie) 28 January 2008 19:27 Send private message to this user   
    Well the client is now available to download, but no success on downloading the actual songs....
    21Q (Senior Member) 28 January 2008 19:53 Send private message to this user   
    Agreed, it would be nice if we can actually download the songs now. This launch is really shaky, and do they even really have these rights? To much is going on at once.
    borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 19 February 2008 23:13 Send private message to this user   
    Could this just b a hoax put on Qtrax? Many may say this is too good to be true.
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