Download site Qtrax pushes on despite setbacks

At the beginning of this week the long-awaited Qtrax was supposed to finally launch. The peer-to-peer downloading site has boasted legal means for music lovers to access their favorite artists. With an advertised catalogue of over 25,000,000 songs and a partnership with four major record labels (EMI, Warner, Sony/BGM and Universal Music Group), Qtrax seemingly had the potential seriously rival iTunes in 2008.

Unfortunately, the too-good-to-be-true MP3 source is proving to be just that. First off, these alleged cooperatives with the recording companies are turning out to be a marketing farce, seeing as that all four of them have denied any sort of involvement with Qtrax. This also begins to reveal the site's biggest attraction, free—and, more importantly, legal—downloading, as a form of false advertising.

The music provider has responded to such reports with a press release stating that the site is still pushing forward. In fact, Qtrax is continuing full speed ahead, now claiming that as of April 15 the site will boast software that will enable the server's downloaded tracks to be transferred on to an iPod, side jumping Apple’s Fairplay DRM. But, for the record, similar companies have made the same claim. None have actually been able to deliver the goods.

Still, despite the media slam that Qtrax has been getting, and the fact that the server has yet to yield any music, the company stands. When Qtrax CEO, Allan Klepfisz, was asked if he was worried about getting slapped with some major lawsuits, he merely stated that “nobody has threatened us with a thing.”

Related links:
Qtrax.com
Advertising Age:Music-Download Sites Seek Marketers' Money
Paste:Napster jumps on the MP3 train

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