Qtrax

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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (June 2008)

Qtrax

Developer(s)	LTDnetwork Inc.[1]
Stable release	1.0 / April 15, 2009
Operating system	Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Type	Media player, Peer-to-peer Network
Website	Qtrax - Homepage

Qtrax is an advertiser-supported free and legal P2P music download service based in New York. The service is purely advertising supported and there are no registration fees or download fees.^[2][3]

Contents 1 Description 2 Client 3 Contracts 4 Criticism 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Description

The service was announced at the 2008 Midem conference, with the company claiming to have the support of the music industry especially the big four music companies: EMI, SonyBMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.^[4][5] However, all four companies had stated that no deals had been inked at the time, although some earlier deals were still in existence with some of the major labels and publishers. Since Midem, deals have been made and announced with all of the companies for music rights and publishing.

Qtrax currently offers millions of songs which can be downloaded and played as often as the consumer wants as long as they are connected to the internet. However, downloads are currently only available in the US but other countries are expected to be available with the release of version 1.1.

The files utilize Microsoft's Windows Media digital rights management technology, restricting usage of files. Music downloaded from Qtrax can only be played within the Qtrax client and cannot be transferred to a portable media device.

[edit] Client

The Qtrax client is based on Songbird, a GPL combination of a media player and a web browser. Songbird itself is based on components from the Mozilla project.^[6] A version for Mac OS X was scheduled to be released on March 18, 2008. However, the Mac OS X version remains unreleased and the Qtrax beta download page no longer mentions a specific release date.

[edit] Contracts

As of March 20, 2009, Qtrax signed contracts all major record companies. The following is a list of the currently signed contracts:

• EMI Music Publishing^[3]
• finetunes^{[citation needed]}
• Sony/ATV Music Publishing^{[citation needed]}
• TVT Records^[7]

On Tuesday 6 May 2008, UMG (Universal Music Group), the largest of the record labels, signed a deal with Qtrax.^[8] Qtrax has stated that the entire catalogue of songs from artists under the Universal label will be available on Qtrax.^[9]

[edit] Criticism

On March 18, 2008, Italian digital music website MusicBlob^[10] found that apparently several CD compilations of the Ultra Rare Trax series, a pirate CD series circulated on CD during the 1990s and dedicated to artists such as KLF, Kraftwerk, Duran Duran and others, are listed in the Qtrax catalogue as if they were legitimate releases.

The reaction of users has been largely critical^{[citation needed]} due to the website gaining advertising revenue, but only offering minimal services.

Although as of April 28, 2009 the service is only offered to US residents, the text on some of the site's pages appears to be awkwardly translated into English (for example, the How It Works page).

For some time, Qtrax player version 1.1 has been advertised as coming in April 2009. As of June 2009, the player is still unavailable for download, although it is now stated on the Qtrax web site under the company corporate information that on or before July 6 the music cataloge will be more than doubled and a global launch will occur on July 22, 2009 in six countires.

[edit] See also

• SpiralFrog
• imeem
• Ruckus Network
• Spotify

[edit] References

• TechCrunch - Free legal P2P Music Downloads
• Another online music service steps into the on-deck circle
• Mashable - Qtrax To Finally Launch
• mp3.com - Qtrax goes legit with EMI deal

[edit] External links

• Qtrax website