This was in an email Qtrax sent to users yesterday:

Just download and install the new Qtrax player, and you're on your way to a brand new music library featuring your favorite tracks. Check the "Search only available tracks" box to find tracks that are available now, but come back often because we are adding more tunes every day.

It is unclear what is new about the new version of the player (it may be the playlist sharing function). After installing the player and browsing around for about 20 minutes, I could see little had changed. Qtrax is still the same, clunky player and confusing experience it has always been. Of all the music services I've spent time with, Qtrax is the worst. I didn't think it would be possible, but Qtrax is actually worse than iMesh. The improved catalog means little ...few people are that hard up for free music.

Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, take heed. If the words "download" and "DRM" are in the business plan, toss it aside. Labels, I wouldn't pencil into the forecast much Qtrax revenue outside of advances. There is potential in ad-supported music services, but not here. What I see in Qtrax and SpiralFrog are services that fail because they would rather exist as vastly inferior versions of popular services (P2P and iTunes, respectively) than try to stake their claim to a new product category. Imeem and last.fm have the right idea, and I anticipate MySpace music will be on the right track as well. Smartly designed streaming services are far better than DRM-stricken, download-based services. With ISP-based services on the distant horizon, Qtrax, in its current form, is already DOA.

[music jobs] Boosey & Hawkes is looking for a Royalty Tracker.