With so many new digital music services available in 2008, it was very easy for MusicTank to stage not one but four Think Tank debates on the digital domain this Autumn.
However, some present at the Think Tanks refused to be excited by the legitimate services now on offer asking the all important question: when will there be a legal music service that offers what the illegal services offer, ie a licenced P2P network, funded by advertising, subscription or a levy on your ISP fees.
For 21 minutes in January we thought such a service was here, when the owners of QTrax announced they were launching a legal P2P network with all the majors on board half way through Midem 08. But, alas, it transpired no majors were, in fact, on board, and while most have subsequently signed up, more recently some have questioned just how true a P2P experience the ad-funded currently-in-beta Q-Trax offers (mainly because of the Windows DRM in employs).
Which means in answer to those P2P-fans' question, when will there be a legal music service that offers what the illegal services offer? Hmm, dunno. But it wasn't in 2008, that's for certain.