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Spot on you are. I guess it would not be as much fun if we had transparency. The birdies are whispering so who knows.
~~CS~~
And the clownish grinning and cackling was revolting as well. They need some type of PR handling if they ever want their roadshow to harvest investors.
I have little trouble understanding why North American money sources have gone dry for these guys. Allan is a fairly adept talker, and I can see how his quick banter may fool the occasional retail investor, but no private equity group will fall for this crap once they conduct 15 minutes of due diligence.
And while granted, Fox Business News has the worst ratings of any CATV business network and can't be expected to deliver product indicative of serious journalistic conduct, but how can you put those clowns in front of a camera and NOT ask relevant questions about the innumerable lawsuits and judgments they or BLLN are currently liable for? That is sloppy, pure and simple. Not journalism, that is for damn sure.
By the way CrazyMon, I'm pretty sure his name is "Lance J. O. Ford"... Fits to a T, I should say.
Stock Price is Relevant
Since Qtax can't get their audience numbers up, their business model continues not to work (merchandise and tickets? please...)and we are on the life support mode. From the beginning it became obvious this story would paint a huge succession of misstep after misstep - IMHO. The last few weeks have cemented that we are dead in the water with the rollout of a platform that may have worked 7 years ago.
Anyone can be a cheerleader, always the easiest path, but those of us who think for ourselves and no longer trust the "whisperers" are one step closer than those who don't. Highly IN DEBT, illiquid companies are not for the light-hearted. Have a good weekend.
I believe you are mistaken, ddbann2.
I ran this by my attorney in Winnipeg, and he said basically, as long as it doesn’t require DRM bypass, making a backup is now legal for any digital product so long as you own the source material.
In your case you are bypassing DRM AND you do not own the source material.
There are way easier ways to steal music than by using Qtrax!
To Q-tunes and Kengreg:
Kengreg, you posted this- Silverlight plays nice on the I-pad/I-pod
this could be interesting yet the linked article fails to mention the iPod or iPhone Silverlight compatibility, thus casting serious doubt on your proposition. I doubt consumers are playing $500 to $900 for an iPad to listen to music.
Q-tunes, well, wow...just wow...
Thanks for that, aacdude & crazymon. I was under the impression that MS was losing its enthusiasm for Silverlight and putting it's energy into HTML5. I think reading this gave me that impression: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-our-strategy-with-silverlight-has-shifted/7834
Too bad Qtrax is hitched up to a platform that currently has a miniscule mobile user base.
With that said, I think you're right about Win7 phones. Until you've used one, one may not appreciate how cool they are. The deal with Nokia also has serious possibilities. Redmond may be late to the party, but at least they're doing more than just copying iOS.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/11/exclusive-nokias-windows-phone-7-concept-revealed/
more of the same here:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/03/qtrax-offers-free-music-downloads-in-a-silverlight-player/
Sounds like those "down under" tend to get hosed in the music scene. And it also sounds like no tech savvy music fans are going to flock to DRM crippled Qtrax.
Aacdude, if you have a moment, could you share what you think of Silverlight? I'm not entirely certain I grasp the entire concept- is this a competitor to HTML5? Why can't we just have browsers for goodness sake? I suspect Qtrax uses it as its client merely for the DRM control, and unlike media player, it doesn't seem as picky as to what platform it runs on, but I'm just guessing.
In any case, I'd be interested in any commentary you may have on the subject. At least it isn't flash, I suppose...
First of all, Q-tunes, my compliments on a well-written post. It seems like jail has had a rehabilitative effect on you and it is refreshing to read a discussion about issues relevant to the topic at hand. Now, of course, I disagree with nearly everything you've said, but I am not "bug-eyed" with rage...
I'm sitting at airport gate and my time is limited, so you'll be pleased to know my response will be brief.
the iPhone hasn't even been available for 7 months in China and since the initial rollout, the largest carrier in China has jumped aboard and Apple is selling every iPhone4 they can make in China. Asians are reportedly the largest segment of buyers of "old" iphones, ie those coming off contract in US. It's just now starting to ramp, and man it is ramping HARD.
What is ironic to me is the new windows phones are actually superb, something fresh, unlike android copies of iphone, and even these devices aren't compatible with Qtrax.
It seems obvious the market and the media distribution world in general has decided AK is akin to the "boy who cried wolf". One too many "embarrassing setbacks" to take seriously...
You must realize it is your and Wayne's failure to appreciate the recent Qtrax milestones that spark the ad hominem attacks.
Recall for 3 plus years AK has promised us downloadable music, unfettered by DRM, compatible with portable devices as well as other operating systems, all brilliantly delivered by a P2P network with anti-malware filters built-in.
And guess what?
They freakin' DELIVERED!
Except, if one were to pick nits…
For the DRM part…. the portability... the other OS compatibility…. the P2P network…
Other than those niggles, they've DONE it! Kudos are in order!
I hear next week is going to be HUGE.
Hello again, friends.
I'm on self-imposed exile from these forums, but had to drop in today to check in.
The family member (not by blood!) who got me into this investment was sharing the great news about Qtrax being "on line". He's been in this stock for years before even I, and is a registered user. So, I said, show me how it works. He logged on (system took his user name and password and correctly identified him) and then he started going up and down the catalog. I pointed at a song for him to download, which he attempted to do by hitting the yellow download button. Nothing happened. The only thing he could do was add the song to some type of Qtrax online playlist. We tried again with newer, "featured" music. Nada. His laptop is some older Dell running XP, fwiw, with Windows Media Player up to date. The Qtrax playlist has no functionality at all, from what we could determine.
So, iQuispy, as far as I can tell, you're right (again). No music nor downloads from what we tried.
I shall not stick around for the inevitable fighting, but thought that this may be useful data for some of you.
I'm anticipating a fun week, too.
Some of us have been consistently on for nearly half a decade now.
Some of us have NEVER been right yet, but will always fall for the same trick.
Q-Tunes, a couple of discussion points and questions if I may:
I'd say it's not likely, but given you're talking about Sony, a company that has a sordid recent history of product, distribution, and image miscalculations, nothing can be ruled out. It certainly isn't something that is going to happen soon.
Talking about Music Unlimited, Sony CEO Ephraim says “If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes? Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that’s the format right now.” And apparently “right now” means for the next few years. He admits that while Apple has cornered this music streaming for the moment, he notes that “publishers are being held ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold.”
If Sony were to actually pull its content from iTunes, it’s difficult to say which company would suffer more. ITunes inarguably needs Sony’s content (which includes the likes of Billy Joel, all Glee titles, and MGMT), but it’s safe to assume that Music Unlimited’s subscription plan and lack of mobile integration isn’t going to gain widespread appeal. In short, it’s a little too late to challenge iTunes at its own game.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/is-sony-threatening-to-pull-its-music-content-from-itunes/
And we've all heard this one before. First Amazon was going to crush iTunes. Then Walmart. Then streaming services.
Apple/iTunes is the "big dog" now. There is no denying that. But all businesses have cycles-- nothing lasts forever.
And now that AK has Apple in his crosshairs and has 30 spankin' new Dells, they're likely toast.
It is even MORE entertaining to imagine folks still believe in BLLN, "the little engine that couldn't". Heck, the Qtrax website contains all of seven words and they couldn't even punctuate correctly!
Itunes IS struggling, though. It only accounts for 70% of WORLDWIDE digital music sales and has been the #1 music vendor in the US since April, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Store
iTunes sales tally hits 10 billion in Feb. 2010.
That means that, on average, more than 46 songs have been purchased on iTunes every single second, since the store launched on April 28, 2003.
And interestingly enough, iTunes continues to operate just above break even. Why? Well, obviously, the purpose of iTunes is to fuel purchases of iPods, iPhones, Macs, and iPads. How is this working for Apple?
Last quarter's profit of $6 billion ($6.43 per diluted share) on record revenue of $26.74 billion. This was more than $10 billion higher than the year-ago quarter’s revenues of $15.68 billion and almost twice the year-ago quarter’s profit of $3.38 billion. Apple closed the quarter with $59.7 billion cash on hand, an increase of $8.7 billion since last quarter.
And what about the products? An impressive 4.13 million Macs were sold (a year-over-year increase of 23 percent); 16.24 million iPhones reached customers this quarter (an increase of 86 percent from a year ago); and 19.45 million iPods went out the door. Apple also sold 7.33 million iPads during the quarter, producing enough revenue—$4.61 billion—for the tablet to become the second-largest revenue-producing product line in Apple’s portfolio. All told, Apple has sold over 160 million iOS devices and would have sold more—especially iPhones—if they could have made them quickly enough.
Worldwide, Apple has been on a juggernaut-scale roll, with revenue growth occurring everywhere: the Americas saw a 51 percent increase; Europe saw growth go up 44 percent; Japan increased revenues by 83 percent, and Asia-Pacific dominated all other regions with a 175 percent increase. One of the reasons for that last staggering figure is Apple’s recent focus on China: revenue growth for “greater China” (mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) increased fourfold over the previous year’s figures.
Apple now ranks #2 in the world in market cap, trailing only ExxonMobil.
http://ycharts.com/calculations/rankings/market_cap
I like this kind of struggling.
Of course, AK's brilliance and dogged work ethic will bring Qtrax from the ashes like a phoenix, changing the way the world listens to music. I think I'll short AAPL on Monday.
IQuispy is exactly right. Friday afternoons were generally the times of choice for anomalous BLLN trades. Usually last second, low volume prop ups to keep folks from going crazy over the weekend. I used to remark about this, but grew tired of the insults and accusations of being an Apple plant (ok, to be truthful, the Apple stuff was so outlandish, I have to admit I found it vastly entertaining).
We seem to have a mountain of nothing here, which reminds me of another pinkie much like BLLN.
Anyone want to place bets on whether AK EVER addresses stockholders (i.e. the "owners" of the company) again?
BennyG!
Awesome to see you're back! The BLLN family needs you!
Is your latest PPS prediction going to be more accurate than the ones you made in November '09? Before the Baidu hiccup followed by the "music ingestion" burp?
Maybe you should go contrarian, predict a bust, and this mother will take off like a skyrocket!
KTF!
WFFC!!
..if I had to guess why he is invoking Satan, I'd offer that WR is just about the ONLY non-anonymous poster in here and just about the ONLY one with significant inside experience in the music industry.
Just because he brings info to the board you don't like doesn't mean he isn't credible.
Look on the positive side- a WR post will likely be followed by AKOne flying back in, sort of a Yin/Yang thing I reckon...
As usual, IQuispy, you're missing the big picture:
Straight from the words of our feathered friend AKOne:
Yeah, bro, from you that means so much!
...ummm, ok, Q, I'll bite. Where is the top-secret link? Why is it so cool?
Should I average down? What's up man? Should we finally believe that Qtrax is hitting the long ball?
I really need to know, because Steve Jobs cut me off as he is sick again (pesky liver transplant) and I need a "plan B"...
Hey Lucky-
I apologize if you didn't recognize my colloquialism- "laughed out of court"..
That was merely a metaphor, and I didn't not intend to mislead or misconstrue.
Had I taken the time to be more careful and more literal I would have said that the "Baidu Deal" is only another one of QTRAX'es fantasies that doesn't seem to have value in the real world. The "referrals" Qtrax was "supposedly" to get from Baidu has not been objectively confirmed by anyone (not directly related to Qtrax/BLLN) and whatever quasi-partnership that may exist seems to have little real meaning outside of iHub.
As for your interesting idea about Baidu continuing to be the pirate rogue, well, wouldn't an agreement with Qtrax be exactly the thing the labels are AGAINST?
Hell, who knows. My attorney's gorgeous wife is Chinese and I asked her to frollick in the the world of Baidu in search of anything Qtrax and she found nothing. No, not world class DD, but the most I felt like wasting I suppose.
Good luck, nothing personal about any of this crap.
Due diligence, Balamidas, is mandatory with this stock. Fabian's 39 week MA can be useful with "real" securities, you know, ones that actually report results and communicate with stockholders. 3 times in the last five years we've seen the 200 day MA crossed with each crossing immediately followed by record low prices.
The Baidu thing has been laughed out of court months ago, and there is absolulely no evidence of any ongoing contracts with labels. After all, they've had zero music for distribution throughout their multiple failed rollouts.
Care to guess how much these guys owe judgement creditors?? I know, it doesn't show up on the charts, but...
Qurious, good friend, respectfully, isn't it time you consider another approach?
Raging against those who merely point out the obvious while this stock still wallows below $0.02 is rather inefficient, wouldn't you say?
IQ's arguments are substantiated by facts. I've yet to hear anything tantamount to a "fact" from any pumper or faithful. And AK/Eagle1 sure isn't letting "the cat out of the bag"...
If Qtrax/BLLN is going to take off, well shucks, please let us know why! I'm jonesing for an Island!
Let's keep it real, bro. It's only $$$$.
Classic work, IQ!
Between the mysterious new posters predicting "breakouts" without any substantive reasoning, and the "buy low / sell high" folks who certainly have never made a cent in BLLN given its trading history, you really have to wonder if this thing has become its own comedy act.
I'm starting to think that the faithful in here ARE BLLN's "Investor Relations"....
Like I said--- comical!
WOW, Qurious, you'd actually engage in intelligent discourse rather than flagging my posts?
I'll be happy to oblige.
If BLLN were to get to $0.1 I'd be out of here so fast you'd likely never miss me.
I'd be happy I got back some of my recognized loss, the rest I'd chalk up to experience and my own stupidity/laziness. I would consider myself the luckiest man on the planet, based on what I've seen from this company. I would also wonder how in the world this POS got to 0.10, but I'd not bother those "believers" in here any more.
There you go, straight from the heart.
Now here is my question to you:
If this turns out to be another P&D and BLLN is subpenny in the next couple of months- will you continue to act like there is nothing amiss and believe the next great thing is on the way, or will you instead begin to engage in skeptical and analytical analysis rather than continue attacks on those with whom you don't agree???
OK, Q, you got mine, now give me yours...
Do you actually KNOW ANYONE who has MADE MONEY in this stock, MH72? That person is more rare than the Yeti, as it is beyond doubt all the longs in here are still way red.
Today's volume was a massive $16,900, and is higher than average daily volume.
If someone with 2,000,000 shares sold at market, care to guess how many nanoseconds it would take for this stock to trade around $0.006 again??
Zero proof indeed
Sums it up very nicely.
How do you know there have been meetings Birdy? Were you actually there? Or, did someone "tell" you about them. Given the history of BLLN and AK making things up, why exactly would you believe them??
As for license arrangements with some labels, sure, I believe that BLLN may have had some form of licensing in place with some of the labels. Whether they are still valid or operating is anyone's guess. It isn't such a big deal in any case. To get the licensing BLLN had to pony up the cash up front. The labels that went for it were likely giddy, given BLLN's track record, as no real launch would be likely thus no need to pay pesky royalties to artists. No brainer for the labels, I'd say.
It is beyond absurd to hear you guys fretting about all the time "wasted" in here by posters you don't agree with. We all know what you REALLY mean is "please don't post facts in here, nor remind us of the company's history. We prefer pumped sunshine..."
Thank you Eagle!
I formally apologize for EVER misconstruing your purpose in here.
Qurious is definitely going to profit by listening to you and not me. After all, his cost basis, is likely more that $0.05/share, and dog on tootin', we're in spittin' distance to that!!
To Lucky, to QLess, and to you Eagle, again my most sincere apologies. You guys were spot on, I was, like you say, "wrong"... I humblingly bow to your prowess.
GO QTRAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You totally called it, Chewy.
BLLN is back and is is going to be HUGE.
Do some TA on today's movement: Check out that 10:30 trade for $300.00 worth at today's high. That is POWERFUL stuff! Chart just screams EXPLODE.
Another 600% or so and I'll be in the black. I am so stoked we can start talking Vegas again.
So, any of the faithful care to explain why the stock tanked again today, losing nearly 1/5 of its market cap?
I look forward to hearing how this is no big deal, because I'm starting to worry.
I'll look equally forward to hearing how a positive day means really cool, secret things are going on behind the scenes!
This is cool.
Lucky-
I do not make things up, unlike many of the faithful or worse, the manipulators.
However, your question IS a valid one, and I had to scratch my head trying to remember where I heard that tidbit.
Turns out I owe the board an apology- I misspoke, using Robin's name when I meant Jay Berman. Jay was the one who reportedly had to smooth things between AK and the labels. In any case, I regret my error. Here is my source:
"
For those who wish the view the whole article:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-10395016-261.html
Note to the Ostriches: Ignore the part in the article that says:
I'm sure what the author MEANT was:"QTRAX is going to be huge--AK and the dream team will change the way the world listens to music!"
In other news, it seems that BLLN has lost all of that recent price appreciation and is once again trading sub-penny. Given how important the recent price movement was to some regular posters, I can only conclude that this means BLLN is actually toast. After all, you can't have it both ways. If you get excited about upward movement on pitiful volume, then you must be devastated with downward tracks on pitiful volume. Anything other interpretation would be, of course, totally hypocritical.
Germy, which point of AACdude's specific question to you asking for FACTS did you misunderstand? If you don't have facts, and you don't have qualifications, what other than hurt feelings are you bringing to the table?
C'mon, ladies, please tell us what great things are coming down the pike vis a vis Qtrax! Surely if you are brave enough to criticize and make up motives for the folks in here you should be listening to, then you MUST have the backbone to tell us what you think we're in store for in 2011.
Surely you must have some specific ideas how this thing is going to work??
Undoubtedly you must have seen the pieces of the puzzle explaining how $3+ million in debt will be paid down, a brand new tech model unleashed (without Technology head Chris Roe, who bailed on AK), and AK will somehow gain back the confidence of the labels who reportedly recently wouldn't even talk to him without Robin's intermediation.
Without question you now have facts and substance supporting that these beliefs are actually possible rather than yet another trip down AK's fantastical rabbit hole??
Right?!?
So good, let's hear it.
In the meantime, why not take a look at today's chart for BLLN:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BLLN.PK+Interactive#chart1:symbol=blln.pk;range=1d;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
Notice how around 1,000 shares caused the end of day bump from 0.00925 to 0.0120? $10 worth of stock, guys. Representing 30% of today's price movement. Please don't tell me you believe this is "real" or means anything. Seriously. Please tell me you recognize this stock is completely manipulated. LOOK AT THE CHART.
I'll be back on Planet Earth if anyone would like to respond...
Wow, that list was one of the more amusing things I've seen in here in a while. Did you catch that list of ancient crap, circa 2006-2007? The first 3 devices haven't been available for years, and the "smartphone" list is equally aged, with virtually none of this crap available for sale. I did appreciate the reference to Spiralfrog, though!
Getting back to your point, AACdude, I am confused why he even posted the list of obsolete playback devices when the original argument was that having an extra device (like an iPod) was redundant?
Lucky, I'm NOT the one flagging your posts. Perhaps you're flagging mine? In any case, I love it when you and especially Qurious post. Glad you're out of jail. Now stay calm and keep the ad hominems to a minimum!