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Qtrax Peer-to-Peer Service Signs with EMI

LTDnetwork`s Qtrax, just like Napster and BitTorrent, is launching its peer-to-peer services again, only this time it is legal. Qtrax and his predecessors offered peer-to-peer music sharing for Internet users and were the pioneers of the pirate online music community. Qtrax announced that a deal with EMI Music was signed to bring online music to paying users.

The new service will also offer free music for download, but will be accompanied with ad-support. The free songs will be available in ".mpq" format that is only playable for a limited number of times and will only work on the computer that initiated the first download. The service works in a way that once a user downloads one of the free tracks, click-to-buy advertising accompanies the user`s download and listening process.

"Qtrax is going to offer the consumer a pretty cool way to sample and discover music in a way that P2P users are used to," said Ken Parks, EMI`s senior vice president for strategy and business development. "The difference is, you`ll be presented with stuff that is cleared in a way that respects copyright yet preserving that `free` experience. You`ll not be asked to pay until you want to pull the trigger, so it`s a pretty friendly place to explore and discover music."