How to Convert Millions of BitTorrent Users to Qtrax
Written by enigmax on January 28, 2008If you’re interested in file-sharing, you can’t have failed to have heard about Qtrax, the ‘new’, ‘legal’ P2P platform for downloading as many music tracks as you like. Here’s how to easily convert millions of BitTorrent users to Qtrax users in a few simple steps.
My RSS reader is filled with Qtrax articles. Dozens of them. I want to write about BitTorrent but everyone is banging on about Qtrax, so I guess it’s only right to follow the crowd. From the look of the lovely flashy Qtrax website it seems they have everything sewn up. So, surely it’s time TorrentFreak considered a rebranding exercise to become ‘QtraxFreak’ - after all, free, legal P2P is what everyone wants, right?
Qtrax should’ve gone live today and it hasn’t, effectively ruining our chances of riding along with the Qtrax launch-day media hype, becoming QtraxFreak and converting the entire BitTorrent collective from one free service to another. Damn. Plan B.
My understanding of Qtrax, limited as it is - and, to be fair, I don’t think many of the news stories about it today are based on any sort of live test - is that it’s essentially a DRM-infested Gnutella client which converts everything you download to Windows Media DRM format - making it a sort of Dr. Frankenstein’s LimeWire, but in a bad way.
Now, please tell me if I’m wrong, as I obviously haven’t tested the service, but aren’t the files you download just like all the the others on the Gnutella network? You know the sort - they call them ‘Scene releases’ and ‘home rips’, identical to the ones you can see on LimeWire. I mean, Qtrax aren’t guaranteeing a ‘pure’ copy are they? If they are, all well and good but I can’t see it myself, something doesn’t sit right.
From their ‘legal’ page:
LTDnetwork Inc is not responsible for any content such as audio, video, text or any other file owned by users of the Qtrax/Qtraxmax software.
Is Qtrax really offering to dress up pirate MP3s from Gnutella and give them to Qtrax users, paid for by advertisers? Maybe they’ve got some sort of ‘walled-garden’ inside the Gnutella network, accessible only by Qtrax users with non-pirate copies?
..
Sorry, I just drifted off then. Got a bit carried away dreaming of getting a 64K KaZaA-quality, advertizing-supported mono rip of Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’, labeled up as an audiobook entitled ‘How to End Piracy Overnight’ and listening to it with sparkling Windows Media DRM. All authorized by the RIAA. Oh boy.
Ok, ok, ok, I’m being negative. I like BitTorrent and yes, that makes me biased but I have strange feelings about Qtrax and they aren’t good. Warner Music, one of the supposed partners of Qtrax said in a statement that it “has not authorized the use of our content on Qtrax’s recently announced service.”
Also, Universal Music Group and EMI Group both confirmed that they have no licensing deals with Qtrax. It’s probably not that significant that a Sony spokesman said: “Sony BMG can confirm it has not signed a deal with Qtrax for the ad-supported service”. I know, just because they say they don’t have a deal, doesn’t make it so. After all, the music companies always lie, don’t they?
I concede, I might be completely wrong about Qtrax. They probably didn’t launch today because of some minor last minute cosmetic issue with the skin on the client, and as everyone is in a meeting in Peru today, they can’t inform the masses by way of a news update on their website. Or maybe they’re adding that last minute code that somehow enables anti-piracy organizations to differentiate between Qtrax and LimeWire users on the Gnutella network.
And maybe the Big Four are probably just being coy until Qtrax really launches tomorrow by which time someone will have taken www.qtraxfreak.com. Damn.
Previously: Torrentz Shuts Down Torrent’Em For Copyright Infringement
Next: Rapidshare To Be Forced to Shut Down Following Court Defeat?
102 Responses
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#60
odd, i had songbird installed, then installed qtrax, uninstalled qtrax and my songbird was left untouched.
Fuck QTRAX.
I’m not gonna use it.
Only Open-Source for me.
They were advertising it on the radio the other day. The Djs were giving out the address.
When did SongBird decide to rebrand itself QTrax?
http://www.qtraxfreak.com/ is already used :D
my opinion, qtrax smells fishy
i think its trick of the MPAA maybe they are logging all the IPs of the users and then gonna do with it something
[quote]We will immediately terminate your use of Qtrax which we believe, in our sole discretion, is being used to violate copyrighted works, ….
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[/quote]
what the fuck is that?
Correct me if i`m wrong: they can terminate your account anytime, and spin it that way that YOU are responsible for “illegal” sharing?
PS I realy don`t care if it`s free or not, if it comes with DRM i`m not using it.
DRM=No thanx!
Great, so we may all pay for and contribute our bandwidth so that we can be spoon fed with advertising and Digital Restrictions Management infested commercial crap. Meanwhile we’ll probably be spied upon for the benefit of personalized ads and to see if, God forbid, we do not have any evil, ripped music or movies on our HD’s. Yeah a great idea. I just love to give my privacy away…
wtf & Edwin have quoted the bit I found yesterday while scouring their Legal Disclaimer. Now, I’m no legal-eagle, but as far as I can tell, the disclaimer is on very shaky ground.
Another prime example of how lost the corporate fucks are. They can try all the window dressing they want, it’s still DRM and slavery at the corporate trough.
This won’t last six months, short of alot of funding from a major label, and it’s way too “out of the box” for them, no doubt. :rolleyes:
QTRax is a pile of shit.
Once again, a load of BULLSHIT has been posted to torrentfreak.
Nice going guys.
How Ghey is THAT? Qtrax is GHEY!
I really, really wanna log into a service just so’s I can play my mp3s.
Ain’t gonna work.
DRM’s for tards. And we all know it.
All I can say is: “Someone wasted a lot of time and energy on a utility noone will ever use. And I agree… Why was this even posted?
I’ll stick to my DRM-free FLAC files from private trackers, thank you very much.
Qtrax is nothing new. A few years back - it came out of nowhere. Got into hot water over some violation and then disappeared again. I’m not saying that this is going to happen again but I remember its first run and it wasn’t all that…
DRM - Pffft.. you can keep that shit.
Not going near it.
fuck DRM, nobody wants it, not now not ever if this is the best alternative to piracy they can come up with then……..
have fun strangleing your bussiness
lmao the song in the ad for Qtrax is called a beautiful lie? hinting anything? hahah, they prob just made millions off the ads hosting no music but saying they are hosting. Then they will ditch it. Btw how do you register!!
What a joke. Another in the long line of joke software evolved in the last decade. Only a naive youngster would involve himself in something like this,
experienced file sharing community like
some of the BT users would never consider this. DRM is a bad word.
This being posted on this site, unnecessary to most. Anything that challenges bit torrent will in all probability be a larger scale version of BT. And never drm.
bring it torrents top in my books
We reserve the right at all times to monitor, review, retain and/or disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.
Again from the Disclaimer Under Disclosure of information…. Don’t even download it….. If you do, keep in mind the phrase “GOVERNMENTAL REQUEST” All I got to say is they better have a f***ing warrant. This smells like entrapment to me. What, is file sharing an act of terrorism?
media defender aka Qtrax????
99% percent secure of scam
qtrax is a regular scam.
NO FILES are offered.
Don’t waste your time.
peace,
G
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