With all this Qtrax nonsense going on lately, the one part of commentary lacking has been about the actual product. Judging from my brief exploration on an obviously hamstrung service -- no streaming, no downloading, slow as heck -- I not convinced Qtrax will turn into a major player (assuming it actually gets off the ground). It seems to be too ugly (Nigel Tufnel would comment with "none more black") and too geeky (the Songbird platform) for the mainstream. Screenshots after the jump.

Jupiter's Mark Mulligan talks of Qtrax's potential in his MIDEM round-up:

Regular readers of this blog will know that I consider Qtrax to have the potential to be a (the?) major player in the ad-supported download space. (Look out for a case study on them in a forthcoming Jupiter report on Next Generation Music Services). They’ve taken a long time to get to this stage, largely due to the running around they’ve been doing behind the scenes with rights holders. Like the more widely known Spiral Frog, Qtrax offers ad supported, free downloads with DRM to restrict number of plays. But what sets Qtrax apart are the ability to search P2P networks to find the music (a recognition that the target consumers need to be found in their natural habitat) and, crucially, it offers portability, but not just portability (which Spiral Frog also offers), but portability to iPods.

Consumers would put up with ugly and geeky if the product worked well and worked with iPods. Mulligan explains how this portability problem will get solved (a "technical breakthrough" says Qtrax) and offers political reasons why Apple will not step in to thwart the hack (label relations and its settlement with the EU).

My skepticism is shared by Mulligan's fellow analyst, Michael Gartenberg. At his blog, Gartenberg approached Qtrax with caution. "If things launches and works technically, I'd love it but call me a little skeptical for now. Especially on the iPod integration. We've seen folks try to do end runs around Fair Play before."

Call us optimistic skeptics. Qtrax's funding (a reported $30 million) alone demand it be taken more seriously than the typical attempt to revolutionize online music.

(Updated: A reader questioned the claims in newspapers that Qtrax had $30 million in funding. I checked Brilliant Technology's 12/31/06 10KSB and the balance sheet shows $32.1 million in additional paid in capital. That is from the proceeds of the company's many stock issuances. It should be noted that Brilliant shows an accumulated deficit of $51 million and a stockholders' deficiency of $19 million, so assets and liabilities come out to about $2.5 million. Pretty ugly stuff.)

Below screen grabs are (1) home page, (2) library page and (3) Rolling Stones page.

[music jobs] New York University is seeking a Department Chair for The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music.