Canadian iTunes Music Store Opens 479
Trillan writes "After appearing on December 1st, iTunes music store Canada is now officially open. Price is only $0.99 CDN (about $0.83 US) per song, so it's less expensive than the US store. This is probably fair since our CDs are usually cheaper here, too, at least on the west coast."
Possible? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Possible? (Score:3, Insightful)
why bother... (Score:4, Informative)
Besides, you couldn't by $10 of land anywhere in Canada (even in Winnipeg). Even $10 US--especially since at the rate the US dollar is tanking it'll be at par with the Canadian dollar in a year and with the peso by the end of the decade if the trend were to continue that long.
BTW...this is how Canadians get HBO--they get a PO box in Montana and order DirecTV. Can't see why the same strategy in reverse wouldn't work for USians lookin' for cheap iTunes.
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Possible? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Informative)
"The iTunes Music Store in Canada works with the Canadian dollar, and purchase and download of songs requires a valid credit card with a billing address in Canada."
Which is fine for me, but not for Americans..
Business opportunity (Score:2, Interesting)
2. Have a credit card.
3. Set up website (totally automated, eh) offering to buy people iTunes songs at cost plus 5%.
4. Advertise service in USA
5. Profit!
Of course I'm probably missing some DRM reason why this won't work. Not that I care.
Re:Business opportunity (Score:2)
Re:Possible? (Score:2, Funny)
Let's use our American mentalitly and just say we can use it. If they don't let us use it we'll just call them a bunch of flammatory names, say stuff like "WHATEVER, AMERICA JR!" and "OUR ARMY COULD KICK YOUR ARMY'S ASS!" (all in a really loud voice, of course).
Yup.. the good ol' American way.
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Informative)
If only I could return all my music bought under the US account for a refund and re-purchase at the lower currency price.
Getting a Canadian CC isn't as easy as it was to get an American one. In the US your (my?) bank card also functions as a debit card from visa/mastercard. So merely having a bank card generally means you can buy stuff online because it functions as a visa/mastercard. Not so in Canada. Your bank card is not affiliated with a credit card company, instead it is part of the Interac network, which allows you to make purchases with it everywhere that accepts Interac (which is everywhere (except Tim Hortons)). So you would need to procure a Canadian billing address, a Canadian bank account, then a Canadian credit card.
good luck
Re:Possible? (Score:2)
Re:Possible? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Possible? (Score:3, Informative)
For non-Canadian Slashdotters... Canadian Tire is a chain of stores here in Canada that specialises in automobile parts and hardware. Its hugely popular and one of the few homegrown stores here that have fought off the onslaught of US box stores.
They have a loyalty program of sorts, where they give you "Canadian Tire Money" for a % of your purchase (something like 2%?). This is one of the oldest loyalty programs in Canada, as I can remember my dad having Canadian Tire $ in th
Re:Possible? (Score:3, Informative)
Price per album? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Price per album? (Score:2, Funny)
If so, will we call them 'looney (i)Tunes'?
Re:Price per album? (Score:2, Informative)
Only album for sale at the moment... (Score:5, Funny)
Take off!
Re:Only album for sale at the moment... (Score:5, Funny)
Hey Hosers! What the heck is a vertigo anyway?
I think that's what you get when you've had too much molsen, eh.
Or when you've gone toe-to-toe with Tie Domi and your touque is the only thing that's upright.
This is our iTunes commercial, so like buy our album and stuff, eh. We also have a custom iPod specially made for the great white north. It's completely white. Buy that too. We get kickbacks so we can get more beer.
Our time is up. Good day, eh!
And it's actually called... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Only album for sale at the moment... (Score:2, Funny)
Ironically the album is available in the US store, but not the Canadian one.
About time (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:About time (Score:3, Informative)
Re:About time (Score:5, Funny)
Re:About time (Score:5, Funny)
Re:About time (Score:3, Funny)
You really need to upgrade. I keep my apartment toasty warm with an Athlon.
Re:About time (Score:3, Funny)
Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:3)
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:2, Interesting)
The only case in which I see iTunes being able to be able to use the not get sued philosphy is with audio books (which are illegal)
For iTunes to be successfull in Canada it will have to emphasice that artists are getting a fair share , since otherwise people will just continue to legally download music without paying for it.
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:2)
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:2)
Yep, well said.
That story is trying to invoke fear that the influence of copy control in America is bleeding across the US border, and tries to legitimate corrupt American lawmakers by claiming a 'better' alternative to sharing music online. Any country that willingingly makes information a permanent form of property has no concept of the word freedom.
Thankfully there are nation
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, I will chalk that bit of insight up there with the infamous, "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
If you think the fact that iTunes is one of the few "legal" places to download music is the reason for its success in the United States, you might be right. Fortunately for them, it isn't.
Some things to ponder...
Via your Canadian "free" channels, how hard is it to find a COMPLETE album, with all of the correct song and album information, converted consistently well to digital file format, complete with album cover art embedded? Because on iTunes it is easy-as-fucking-pie.*
There is something to be said for being able to fire up iTunes, type in "Old Hundredth," sample the recordings available, find one I like, and buy it AND have it on my hard drive in a matter of 60 seconds.
* Not to be confused with pie-fucking.
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:2)
Re:Dont expect the store to be up for long (Score:2)
Aussie ITMS (Score:4, Interesting)
Australia/NZ now are the last English-speaking countries not to get iTunes so I hope we get it soon (as in the next 6 months).
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:4, Funny)
there's a new zealand now?
Yes, Old Zealand was where they filmed Lord of the Rings. All the towns look medieval so they didn't have to pay too much on the sets.
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:3, Insightful)
potential marketsize-wise, it's a no brainer where the next iTMS has to be: japan.
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:3, Interesting)
The original poster's point was that for the AUS/NZ market, they don't have to translate it.
On the other hand, is the Canadian iTMS available in French?
Ireland (Score:2)
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:4, Informative)
I heard a rumour that Telstra / NineMSN had put up serious obstacles to preventing this from happening, but I've not be able to see it confirmed either way.
Anything reported in the press is insubstantial: David Frith on recent iTunes releases [news.com.au]
Australia's record industry also has a powerful lobby. They almost managed to kill parallel imports, and seem to be able to recruit high profile personalities (eg, Molly Meldrum) to spout the party line.
I'd be interested to know what is really going on. But it's no use expecting to see any journalists dig up the facts, given publications like the Sydney Morning Herald's long-term hostility to the iPod.
(How's this: when publishing a definitive review of MP3 players about a year ago, they omitted all reference to *the* MP3 player! They have to pay lip service to it now it's such a big hit, but most reviews damn it with faint praise. I think Creative must pay them more for their advertising.)
Re:Aussie ITMS (Score:2)
Canadian Credit Card Required. (Score:4, Funny)
Any Canadian out there who wants to be my best friend?
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Fantastic! (Score:3, Interesting)
Now I can buy some Wilco albums for only $9.99 when they are often $20 or $25 CDN in stores.
Take my country, please (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Take my country, please (Score:2)
-psy
Re:Take my country, please (Score:5, Funny)
(Disclaimer: I am Canadian. Yes, we make fun of ourselves.)
Re:Take my country, please (Score:5, Funny)
-psy
Re:Take my country, please (Score:5, Funny)
Buyer beware indeed.
I think you forgot... (Score:3, Insightful)
"No George Bush."
Re:Take my country, please (Score:2, Funny)
Well, we fended you off in 1812 [multied.com]. I suppose we could muster up the strength to help you out this time. Or maybe we will just take a less risky approach and marry you all into Canada [marryanamerican.ca]. What do most American's prefer?
Don't forget tax (Score:5, Informative)
Also, keep in mind, if a can of coke goes for $1 US, the same can will sell in Canada for $1 CAD.
Re:Don't forget tax (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Don't forget tax (Score:2)
The difference is that our Coke machines have those temperature-dependent pricing processors. Since it never gets above 65 degrees American here, the machine charges the lowest possible price.
NAFTA and Free Trade (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, our AACs from Apple are cheaper ($0.84 today).
The most interesting part? IP is not part of NAFTA, if it was, you could buy music in Canada and re-import it to the US. (Actually if IP was part of NAFTA, Apple CANADA could sue the RIAA to force lower prices as the present situation is anti-competitive) {interesting asside, Apple CANADA would have to do it, Apple USA would have no standing, goofy NAFTA dispute resolution}.
INSTEAD, what I think will happen is that the US will force Canada to sign the WIPO and the world gets DMCA like treatment, as opposed to making the US laws more sane.
So, for all those who asked, no you will not be able to re-import the music back into the US... even if you could get Apple to sell it to you at the lower price you would have to declare the purchase and remit duty on the purchase. Ever buy one of the "imported' CDs from the record store... part of the reason they cost more is excise duty.
Bah, somewhat useless however, with the USD sucking lately, we could be back to 1.05Canadian soon, and we would want to buy your cheap music.... better get that trade deficit fixed soon!
Store performance? (Score:3, Informative)
-psy
No local stuff from Quebec? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No local stuff from Quebec? (Score:2)
That's relative (Score:2, Insightful)
That's irrelevant; as someone here once said, $1 is still a $1 here, no matter what it's worth anywhere else.
Re:That's relative (Score:2)
Are you really saying there's no difference between a Canadian dollar, a US dollar, a Euro and a Philippine Peso?
If there's no difference, I've got some Philippine pesos. I'm willing to trade them on par for US dollars. What do you think?
So which would you rather have: 10 million US dollars or 10 million Canadian dollars?
What a deal! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What a deal! (Score:2, Funny)
Re: do you know who your #1 Oil supplier is? (Score:2)
How often do you think you fill up on Canuck Gas?
Re:What a deal! (Score:2)
Hehehehehe ban our beef, we'll stop shipping you grain, eat your funny green money we'll see who starves first.
The above was not meant to be a reasoned analysis of the stability of our two currencies, just a hope that the Chinese will decide to lock their currency against the CDN $ rather than the american one. Also I'd like to have a really nice vid card cost less chocolate bars here.
I live in the United States of Canada. (Score:2, Funny)
I live in the United States of Canada [mithuro.com]. Do I qaulify?
must meet these requirements. (Score:2, Funny)
itunes is great and all but... (Score:4, Informative)
it's great that they're opening these new outlets and all but they're lacking in some basics.
screenshot available here (Score:5, Funny)
Can you spot the subtle differences [mac.com]?
~jeff
A better screenshot available here... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:A better screenshot available here... (Score:3, Informative)
Does it really require the iTunes client to access (Score:2)
Not all music available? (Score:2)
Arbitrage Opportunity? (Score:2)
Son of a! (Score:2)
Gol' darned Canadian socialized music industry!
New store, same problems (Score:5, Insightful)
And just like the US store, I'm sure it'll feature:
A lot of pop artists;
A good selection of works by earlier groups in various genres;
Not a whole lot of imports; and
A lot of partial albums for major singers, because some corporate asshat out there thinks that's good marketing.
I used to download lots of music from Napster in college. Burned it CD, played the hell out of it. But I didn't keep most of those mp3s, and today with a steady job and a little different viewpoint, I'm willing to pay money for good copies and to support artists I like. So I checked out iTunes and loved it. I've spent about $80 there in the first month.
But when I run across artists like Enigma (whose albums have been chopped to hell) and Genesis (none of the most notable songs from the Peter Gabriel era are available), what do I do? I load up my p2p and start searching.
I don't blame iTunes. I commend them for doing the best they can to bring fire to the music industry cavemen. I admire what they're doing, but if the music makers want me as a consumer, they're going to have to deal with me on my level.
iRATE Radio - Free and Legal Music (Score:3, Interesting)
Many unsigned and independent artists provide free downloads of their music as a way to promote themselves. Of course the hard part for you is to find this music at all, let alone find the music that you're going to like without actually downloading and listening to it all.
iRATE Radio [sourceforge.net] solves this problem for you. It is a collaborative filtering MP3 downloader and player. It is Free Software, licensed under the GNU GPL.
iRATE's central server has a database of about 50,000 MP3 tracks available from a number of music hosting services such as the Internet Underground Music Archives [iuma.com]. The iRATE client fetches a few URLs from the server, downloads the tracks, and then plays them for you.
As you listen to each track, you rate it according to your preferences. The client then uploads your ratings to the server, which then correlates them with ratings submitted by other users. Future track recommendations will be based on these correllations. Basically what that means is that if you and I like the same music, then iRATE will download for you all the same music that I rated highly.
iRATE Radio is very close to its 0.4 release, which offers many improvements over the current 0.3 release. We can use your help in testing the upcoming release. If you want to help, please download one of the unstable builds [sourceforge.net]. Subscribe to the mailing list and submit bug reports via the sourceforge bug report form.
There is a new distribution page at www.irateradio.com [irateradio.com] that is aimed at the non-technical user. Downloading from there gets you the 0.3 release right now, but soon the 0.4 release will be available there.
iRATE Radio is written in Java and welcomes contributions from new developers.
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2)
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:5, Informative)
This is why it takes Apple so long to roll out in each country -- they must negotiate rights for each market, one by one.
To purchase from the Canadian iTMS, you must have a credit card with a Canadian address.
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2)
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2)
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2)
Re:but will Apple allow.. (Score:2)
if you could just pick and buy from anywhere, don't you think europeans would have skipped waiting for the european iTMS and instead, just purchase from the U.S. iTMS?
Re:Is there a point? (Score:2, Informative)
Canadian music... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Canadian music... (Score:2)
Re:Is there a point? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is there a point? (Score:5, Insightful)
A bit of a side rant: Is anyone else out there really annoyed that corporations militantly defend their right to source work and materials from wherever's cheapest, but fight tooth and nail to prevent consumers from buying goods from wherever's cheapest? When I try to sell my labor, I have to compete in a global market, but they get to price their music on a country by country basis.
Re:Is there a point? (Score:2)
Re:Is there a point? (Score:3, Informative)
Your efficiency argument is circular because it's only valid in an inefficient market, where producers enjoy non-market controls. In a free market, purchasers can arbitrage away artificial pricing distinctions. This leads to greater market efficiency. Canadians who pur
Re:Is there a point? (Score:5, Insightful)
Distribution rights (Score:3, Insightful)
But, and this is crucial, those companies don't hold the rights to distribute those songs in Canada, or the UK, or Spain, or any other country but the US. So in order to sell the songs to Canadians (or in the UK, or in Spain) they have to negotiated the distribution rights with the people who do hold the rights in each of those countries.
Hence each country needs its own store, with dis
Re:Fairness (Score:2, Informative)
There are also different levies, taxes, and other costs that differ from country to country. Get over it. For once we _DIDN'T_ get screwed. Kind of nice.
Re:Fairness (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:can i get an account... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:EU Status? (Score:2)
Re:No Foo Fighters! (Score:3, Insightful)
In all liklihood, the problem is that the local Candian rights holder for the Foo Fighters hasn't signed on with Apple Canada yet.