The Bite in the Apple Is About To Get Bigger


q-trax.JPGEither a desperate attempt to stabilize the record industry's crippled economy or a crafty RIAA-concocted, Dreamweaver-designed, peer-to-peer-disguised trap intended to seize mp3 embezzlers - you decide. But as of midnight tonight (EST), a new file-sharing program is being introduced to the record-thieving public that is designed, not to combat the relentless custom of illegal downloading that has left the industry with virtually no pragmatism, but to assist it through concession.

In layman terms, the premise of Qtrax is simple: in exchange for
low profile advertising being littered all throughout the program,
users who utilize the service will have access to over 25 million
songs. For free. No memberships. No fees. No limits. All with the
blessing of the 4 major record labels (EMI, Sony, Universal, Warner).
And, according to their skillfully worded disclaimer, it's 100% legal
(provided you don't steal works you're not legally allowed to own or
use and understand that you are solely responsible for any copyrighted
material you choose to download).

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Some will take this as the
final nail hammered in the coffin of an already comatose record
industry. Others will count it as an embrace of change and a catalyst
for a future industry revolution. And still others will consider it a
catch-22 and accept that illegal-turned-legal downloading is an
unavoidable battle not to be won or lost. As Queen Mary J. Blige sees it, "it is what it is...accept it for now, until someone stands up and says, 'okay, let's pull the plug on this'".

[QTrax]

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