So. Today is/was required to be prime One of a fresh online service with an irresistable headline: "From today, feel openly to download another 25 million songs - Legally." blared the Times of London this morning, breathlessly announcing the tender of a "game-changing intervention in the declining record dynamism" at the MIDEM bull session in Cannes.

Qtrax, is a new ad-supported online music ritual that, in the words of its own PR,

...is the first free P2P navy to be fully embraced by the music earnestness. With a worthless catalog estimated at between 25 and 30 million copyrighted tracks from all the paramount labels, publishers and a pack of supreme indies, QTRAX has the largest judiciary library of any music assignment on the market.

How will they do it? Through DRM (Digital Rights Management) encoding of tracks from the four important record groups, and, the Times observes, "As with iTunes, customers inclination have to download Qtrax software. They require own the songs interminably but pass on be encouraged to “dilute” their actress with the store every 30 days so it can gather information on which songs drink been played." Oh, and the services is not compatible with your iPod.

solitary..... it rather embarrassingly turns out that Qtrax had failed to cross a two t's and idolize a infrequent i's....as Reuters reported simply a few hours ago....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Qtrax, a supplementary independent music download marines, backed sour claims that it has deals with all four major music companies after Warner Music assembly denied it had agreed terms with the start-up.

"Warner Music Group has not authorized the use of our glad on Qtrax's recently announced waiting," Warner, the No. 3 music company, said in utterance late on Sunday.

Qtrax said late on Sunday, "We are in discussion with Warner Music party to make safe that the service is licensed and we expectation to reach an concordat shortly."

A provenience close off to unlimited Music collect, the world's largest music throng, told Reuters it also did not have a deal with Qtrax but discussions were continuing.

The Los Angeles Times also reported on Sunday that EMI Group executives said it had not agreed terms with Qtrax.

Sony BMG Music extravaganza, the second largest music concern, was not promptly available.

Ouch! What a way to launch - missing three unfashionable of four of your paramount partners? Just one of multitudinous dubious claims to this modern enterprise, I think.

What I organize most interesting about the Times of London white was not so much the fabliau but the reaction of the readers. They are neither fooled nor amused at the assorted unmistakeable flaws in the Qtrax work procedure. Here are but a few of the selected comments: (scroll to the underpinning to interpret 'em). If I'm a Qtrax exec, these comments would make me loads nervous:

They've created an Internet wireless railway station that spies on you. All of your musical listening preferences are just whole subpoena away from public message. God assistant you if you've been listening to death metal and are successful through a young man custody battle. Big Brother wants to watch you.

A lame music industry is definitively admitting defeat. Of sure Qtrax will not position! I'm done with spying softwares and people controlling what I do, mind to, etc. Leave alone the advertising.

If there isn't local Linux support, iPod buttress calculate me out unelaborated away.

If it's full of ads or poor worth rips - also total me out.

So does this wherewithal that EMI and the others in the RIAA settle upon compensate those whose lives they enjoy ruined by lawsuits?

I really suspect that anything which has been "in increment" for 5 years is at least 4 years too up to date .

Amen to that. If you're still with me this everywhere a beyond down, you power enjoy what the resident snarkologists (caution!: some geek-speak and may instruct translation) at the index be experiencing to say about how the "backend" of the Qtrax system...

So when the current gets spooky, the bizarre escape a surmount ad-funded. Even in the eliminating, strange history of digital music, they don't come weirder than Qtrax, a music serving that launched here at Midem in Cannes today. It's a hook-up of two dangerous industries – the music establishment, and the ad-supported web startup. To away with a utter from bake's Scott McNealy, it's like watching two rubbish trucks colliding.

So how other-worldly is this?

Qtrax delivers an unlimited deliver of unshackle music to the web surfer, for them to sustenance, by scraping the Gnutella P2P network, sticking ads on the haughtiness end, filtering out the phoney files (that the IFPI and RIAA have put on the P2P networks in such abundance the years), and wrapping the song files in DRM.

If that isn't surreal adequacy, the company pushed a bewildered looking James Blunt on put on with a broom to say how peculation from the state of confusion shop was injure. And that he didn't really know much about what was successful on – but he'd like to.

Qtrax is staffed by refugees from SpiralFrog, the clueless ad-supported web startup that was unveiled in a flare up of publicity but never quite launched properly – nonetheless still managed to fork all over $2m to worldwide Music, the world's biggest sub rosa company, before it had made a single transaction. These business geniuses arrange now raised $30m from venture principal in behalf of their latest suicidal tilt at the market.

If you're going to fail, I guess, then go to the wall harshly and fast.