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Music Media Businesses The Internet

Napster Canada Launched 206

Posted by timothy from the bare-naked-ladies-avenged dept.
PunchMonkey writes "Just days after the Napster UK launch, Napster Canada is now online. Tracks start at CDN$1.19 and albums at CDN$9.95. Interactive streaming is also available for the first time in Canada for CDN$9.95 a month. Napster is the the third online music service to be launched in Canada (following PureTracks and ArchambaultZik), not including the branded Puretracks sites Sympatico Music Store and PureTracks from Telus." (Be prepared for a trio of rejection notices if you're neither running nor spoofing IE under Windows.)
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Napster Canada Launched More

Napster Canada Launched

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  • CDN$1.19? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by smonner ( 468465 ) * on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:55PM (#9262874)
    Why would you start a new music service with higher prices than the existing competition? A lot of PureTracks' songs (though admittedly not all) are CDN$0.99. They must really be relying on name-brand recognition, though I doubt they are going to get much beyond "but, but, songs were free on Napster!" Still, nice to see competition, even if only of the inept kind. Now if they would just let me have my songs on both my home and work computers at the same time...

    • Re:CDN$1.19? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by wo1verin3 ( 473094 )
      a) Take a look at the selection of tracks available, Napster clearly beats them

      b) The unlimited download subscription is $9.95cdn (compared to $9.95USD for USA) which is kinda cool for canucks.

    • Re:CDN$1.19? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Bricklets ( 703061 )
      What I have a hard time understanding is why the inconsistency in pricing. The Internet is worldwide. It's not any harder or doesn't take any longer if I access Napster from the US or the UK. There are no physical mediums to transport, no physical distances that stand between you and your music. I would think in theory Napster shouldn't price the music any differently for each country. Yeah, yeah, I know that there are different royalities to be paid in each country, etc, etc, etc, but I think this just hig

  • uh oh, it's the plastics! (Score:4, Funny)

    by B3ryllium ( 571199 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:56PM (#9262881) Homepage
    Napster used to be so cool, but now it hangs out with the plastics and makes fun of regular people.

    What happened, Napster, what happened?

  • Cheap! (Score:5, Informative)

    by darth_MALL ( 657218 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:57PM (#9262885)
    $1.19 Can works out to 0.86 USD. Cheaper than the US non-subscriber version. Still not cheap enuff if you ask me.

  • Why pay? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hunterx11 ( 778171 ) <hunterx11@g[ ]l.com ['mai' in gap]> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:57PM (#9262890) Homepage Journal
    Now IANAL and IANAC, but I thought that music downloading (though not sharing) was legal in Canada.

    • Downloading seems legal; uploading might not be (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Saucepan ( 12098 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:07PM (#9262995)
      Downloading is apparently legal in Canada, but uploading might not be.

      Canadians are currently permitted to borrow a friend's CD and make copies for personal, non-commercial use. However they are not allowed to make a copy for someone else. It is widely believed that this allows downloading but not uploading.

      The CRIA [www.cria.ca] has launched John Doe lawsuits against uploaders but recently suffered a legal setback when a judge ruled that they had failed to provide sufficient evidence of a copyright violation to subpoena the identities of some anonymous uploaders. However, members of the federal government have promised new legislation to close what they call "legal loopholes". That may just have been election year pandering. We'll have to wait and see.

      In any case there are many Canadians who would willingly pay a reasonable amount per song to purchase music via download in order to get known quality, selection, and lack of liability. I would be one of them except that I refuse to pay money for DRM-encumbered files -- if I pay to buy something, I expect to own it.

      • Re:Downloading seems legal; uploading might not be (Score:5, Informative)

        by Chess_the_cat ( 653159 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:21PM (#9263094) Homepage
        Uploading was ruled legal in a later decision. The judge equated it to putting a photocopier in a library. Just because you put the material in your shared folder doesn't mean you are actively distributing it.

        • Please mod parent down: incorrect (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Rumor ( 99829 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @07:31PM (#9263630)
          I'm sorry, Chess, but you're referring to the same case as Saucepan, and the judge did not rule that uploading is legal. He expressed that it was similar to placing a photocopying machine in a library, yes, in an allusion to a recent Supreme Court of Canada case (CCH vs. Law Society of Upper Canada) but this opinion was purely obiter dicta, meaning that it does not have binding force. This case was tossed by the judge on evidentiary merits, or the lack thereof, so no new legal precedent has been set.

          At present, the law still suggests that uploading is a violation of copyright with no exemption under the Private Copying provision.
      • But you're not buying it. You're paying for the right to have a copy of it to listen to - and not make copies of it.

        Read here [museum.tv]

        and here [howstuffworks.com]

        Don't get me wrong... I think some major reforms are needed in the music industry. I'd rather pay my money directly to the band if I have to pay for the music I listen to.
    • Maybe for the convenience of not having to go through 10 files to get one that works, that has proper tags in place, that have recording volumes that are the same from song to song, for the consistent ripping quality etc.

      Of course napster.ca offers all of these for a price but their files won't play on my iPOD so I am stuck waiting for iTunes Canada if that ever happens...
    • maybe alot of Canadians, ones who don't spend time on slashdot, think it's just as illegal here as in the states.

      i remember some puretracks adds where their pitch was that we should buy from them instead of 'illegally' downloading so that we don't get sued.
      • It's worth mentioning the content of this commerical.

        A kid is sitting at his computer, ostensibly downloading music, when a hazmat team shows up in full radiation gear, picks him up with some sort of metal implement (salad tongs?) and puts him in their big ol' van. Voiceover says something like: "When you download music, you're also downloading spyware, viruses and pornography. Want to download music legally? Head to www.puretracks.com."

        FUD, plain and simple. I only got porn and *two* viruses when I

  • $9.95? Used CDs still cheaper (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CaptainPinko ( 753849 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:57PM (#9262891)
    And I can get a physical copy with pretty linear notes to go with it.
    • Thats only USD $7.30.

      And I can get a physical copy with pretty linear notes to go with it.

      Thats the main reason I buy albums. First off the sound quality is higher, and second you have a physical copy with lyrics, pictures, etc. After I know I like the music (from downloading it) then I purchase it.

      • I've boughten majour label CDs such as Pearl Jam's vs. for as little as $5 CDN. Considering that at most places you can brin in CDs you don't want anymore for credit it becomes even cheaper. You'll bump into interesting people into music too and you can pick-up real bargains, indie-label, and out of print albums. I don't know how else you'd get a copy of Soundgarden's "Screaming Life/Fopp" EP

        For anyone in the London, ON region may I recommend you check out Dr. Disc [drdisc.com] or City Lights-- which is also a great

        • Right, used is definitely the way to go. Lots of used stores around here are much more than $5 CDN and more like $12 USD which is total crap. Many stores sell the both new and used and only offer a slight discount for used cds. However there are a few good places where you can get cds for under $5 USD used that have good selection.

          BTW, I'd suggest gemm [gemm.com] for that soundgarden ep screaming life/fopp [gemm.com]. You can find most anything you're looking for there, not always the lowest prices, but many used vendors an

        • I don't know how else you'd get a copy of Soundgarden's "Screaming Life/Fopp" EP
          I found a vinyl copy for ~$5 many years back at a tiny used CD store. Found a lot of interesting vinyl there, actually. I recommend used CD stores as well.

  • I got an idea (Score:3, Funny)

    by Stevyn ( 691306 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:58PM (#9262899)
    I'm going to start my own music service selling songs downloaded off napster. I'll switch back and forth buying them from the US and Canada depending on the exchange rates. Here's how it will go:

    1. Buy songs from canada or us
    2. Sell to american's or canadians for a penny less
    3. Profit!
    • I had this idea of using spare bands in the electromagnetic spectrum to broadcast new tunes and videos, thus allowing people to record them onto magnetic tape, but it seems the broadcasting companies got there first.

    • Re:I got an idea (Score:2, Informative)

      by l0ss ( 632200 )
      Retailers are licensed regionally, as is the media they sell. Although I like the idea of mp3 speculation there are some serious leagl problems (not to mention DRM problems) with it.
    • ...becaus your plan would be illegal part of the time. As far as I know there are not really restrictions on importing music and other content from Canada into the US, but Canada has restrictions on importing foreign content into Canada.

      You could only get around that by buying enough Canadian-produced music in the 'states to sell back to Canadians.

      And you wondered why it's so damn hard to find HBO on TV in Canada and you poor Americans are infliced with so much Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, Jim Carrey etc et

  • Canadian RIAA... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mythosaz ( 572040 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:58PM (#9262902)
    Well, at least they only sue you for about $.72 on the dollar...

  • GAH...where is my Canadian iTunes (Score:5, Insightful)

    by truffle ( 37924 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @05:59PM (#9262907) Homepage
    Come on iTunes get it in gear! I'm still waiting for mac iTunes.

    The leader in online music sales can't seem to sell internationally.

  • why do it? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by millahtime ( 710421 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:00PM (#9262915) Homepage Journal
    Who would someone pay to "rent" a song. If you cancel the service you loose the song. Unless they got a better license than any of the other services (besides iTMS)
    • Why would someone pay to "rent" a movie?
      Why would someone pay to "rent" a car?
      Why would someone pay to "rent" a house?
      Why would someone pay to "rent" beer (I'm pretty sure some of the bars I've been to recollect it once I'm done)?

      • Re:why do it? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by pavon ( 30274 )
        I would have no problem with renting music (aka paying for ad-free radio), if the price was right.

        The problem I have with Napster is that they are not up-front with you about the fact that you are only renting music, not buying it, and they are charging you the same price as if you were buying it, which is absolutely asinine.

        It is as though their business model depends on tricking people into thinking that they are buying music, as noone that I have talked to was even aware that they would not be buying m
    • The word is "lose", not "loose". You "lose" the song. You do not "loose" the song.

    • Roxio Napster has two services: Napster Jukebox, which allows streaming music on demand for a monthly fee, and Napster Light, largely a clone of Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store except for s/m4p/wma/g.

  • Online music prices sometimes can be higher (Score:3, Interesting)

    by prostoalex ( 308614 ) * on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:00PM (#9262917) Homepage Journal
    USA Today recently had this article [theadvertiser.com] on how some albums were cheaper to buy brand new in offline stores than online.

    Basically, any track is sold as 99c (US). Any album on Napster is sold for $10. But then if the album is incomplete, what's being sold is a collection of songs, not album. So if the original CD has 21 songs and costs $13 in the store, but only 20 songs were licensed for online resale to Napster/iTunes, then the product will be a 20-song collection, and cost $19.80 respectively.
    • "USA Today recently had this article on how some albums were cheaper to buy brand new in offline stores than online."

      That's nice, but if there is copy protection on those audio cds, "fair use" does not cover you from the anti-hacking provisions of the DMCA. Thus even if you are not distributing MP3s or whatever you rip them into, they are illegal whereas buying the digital copies - from say, iTunes - is legal. I guess it all depends on what you want to do with the music you purchase. I personally would
  • Does this mean that the only available download artists are Bryan Adams, Alanis Morrisette and Barenaked Ladies while the "Classic Rock" section is filled with Rush and Gordon Lightfoot?

  • wait. canada?! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    interesting that an online music pay service would decide to launch (and obviously spend a lot of resources on this launch, especially when it's so soon after the previously noted UK launch) in of all places, canada. why is this interesting? well, because in canada, file sharing (uploading, i believe) is legal. this means that people are really open about using p2p networks, and they're really popular. what makes napster think that with their drm scheme they can be more popular than the already (legal) fre
  • i was searching through puretracks, and i found the urban (rnb/rap) collection was quite limited, hopefully napster will fill this void

    (and please don't start with the 'rap sucks blah blah blah' arguments)
    • (and please don't start with the 'rap sucks blah blah blah' arguments)
      Why? Who doesn't like hearing some guys complaining about their life and bragging about how "bad" they are? Oke, you can all lower your hands again. It was a rethorical question.

  • Cheaper! (Score:4, Informative)

    by dj245 ( 732906 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:05PM (#9262964) Homepage
    It is interesting to note that the Canadians have it cheaper than the US. According to this currency converter [xe.com], 1.19 CAD is .87 USD and 9.99 CAD is 7.23 USD. Perhaps a lack of litigation is to blame?

    • Re:Cheaper! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MKalus ( 72765 )
      Perhaps the fact that *I* get paid in CAN$ and thus pay a higher price?

      I don't make more in CAN$ than you do in USD, so no, it is NOT better for me, I am getting jacked on this (if I would buy anything from there, they don't let me as I don't run Windoze).
  • How many ppl here use US Napster?
    • The other day I was in Radio Shack, and this ten year old was buying a prepaid Napster card for himself! I did ask him "do you lik ethe service" and he said "yeah" - but I didn't get up the nerve to ask him why he used Napster over other services as I hate to belittle ten-year-olds for lapses in judgement.

      So, they have at least one user who spent $20 there.

  • Rejected (Score:4, Insightful)

    by loomis ( 141922 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:06PM (#9262982)
    As the poster mentions, non-ie browsers get rejected by the Telus service.

    "Thank you for visiting Puretracks from TELUS" Currently our website supports Internet Explorer 5.0 and above on the Windows operating system (Win 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / 2003), and is available to Canadian residents only."

    "We value our Mac audience, however the Windows Media player for the Mac platform is not currently compatible with Microsoft protected audio content."

    No mention of other OS users. It still really bothers me that companies are too stupid to write websites that are standards-compliant and work on all platforms.

  • Finally! I can legally download ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by burgburgburg ( 574866 ) <splisken06NO@SPAMemail.com> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:06PM (#9262985)
    Anne Murray
    Gordon Lightfoot
    Rush
    ...
    Celine Dion
    ....
    ......
    Why do I need this again?

  • Odd (Score:2, Funny)

    by localhost00 ( 742440 )
    I am running the real Internet Explorer under XP, yet I still get rejected.

    Something tells me they want JS and Cookies enabled?

  • My version of the kick message (Score:4, Interesting)

    by danigiri ( 310827 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:08PM (#9263006)
    I'm sorry, my wallet is not currently compatible with your store.

    Napster is currently compatible with MS's flag OS's.
    Other OS's are not supported at this time and never will.

    If you are planning on getting me to spend my money on this store, the service will not be compatible and you should discontinue trying to do any business with me. If you will support *my* computer and *my* operating system, please continue.

    Ah, and MS will eat you for lunch, good luck.

  • Yet another iTunes plug (Score:5, Informative)

    by tokachu(k) ( 780007 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:09PM (#9263012) Journal
    0.99 USD = $1.37 CDN

    ...so technically Napster Canada is cheaper than iTunes. But this is assuming you only listen to music on your computer. They charge extra to transfer the song, unlike iTunes, where it's the same price whether you burn it to a CD, transfer it to your iPod, or whatever.

    Napster and the others need to deal with the fact that they've been beaten by Apple.
    • ...so technically Napster Canada is cheaper than iTunes.

      Does Canada even have access to the iTunes music store? I thought it was US only.

    • Mod -1 False (Score:3, Informative)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 )
      From Puretracks.com....

      Beside each song listing there are a few small icons. These icons indicate how you can use the song file once it is downloaded.

      To get more information on usage restrictions for each track, click on the associated icon. A window will appear with information on exactly how you are permitted to use the file once it is downloaded.

      Listen:

      You can listen to your music downloads as many times as you like from the computer that holds the purchased license.

      Burn:

      You can bu

    • Well since pirating music is legal in Canada it's really not that much better of a deal.

  • Russian Napster... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Canabinol ( 184830 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:09PM (#9263013)
    Forget Napster, iTunes, et al.

    The Russian equivalent to iTunes - allofmp3.com [allofmp3.com] - is the way forward for all your music needs!!

    You pay 1 cent a megabyte so $10 gets you a gigabyte of mp3 download - and you can pay using Paypal in case you're worried about your Credit Card getting stolen by a shady Russkie...

    Cheap, cheerful and legal (at least in the eyes of Russian law) and they have a great selection (better than iTunes as it includes European chart music also).

    • Re:Russian Napster... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rduke15 ( 721841 ) <rduke15@gm[ ].com ['ail' in gap]> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:47PM (#9263280)
      allofmp3.com would be almost perfect: non-protected mp3, at the bitrate of your choice, for an unbeatable price.

      The only problem is that it doesn't look like being very "legal", despite whate the site pretends.

      In fact, my problem is not whether it is technically legal or not. It is that the money certainly doesn't go to the artists. So it's just the same as non-legal.

      What we want is high-quality non-DRM files, and knowing that the artists get their share from what we pay of it. But the companies don't seem to understand that, so it will continue to be P2P, allofmp3.com, et al.
      • "In fact, my problem is not whether it is technically legal or not. It is that the money certainly doesn't go to the artists. So it's just the same as non-legal."

        No no no, you're getting this all wrong. If you get SUED, you can point to www.allofmp3.com and say, "See? Legal! Fsck off!" They tell you it's not legal, and you get all wide-eyed and say, "Holy shit, are you serious! My goodness, now what the hell am I supposed to do?"

        The RIAA lawyers look uncomfortably around at your frank admission of

        • [legal ... not legal ...] The RIAA lawyers

          Good point, I guess.

          But for me, I have the luck of not living in America. Among other advantages, I can afford to not give a damn about your RIAA. :-)

      • Forget what the (Allofmp3.com) says. There are other sites claiming it is legal. And they give a much better description of why.

        [Museekster] http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3faq.htm#Is%20All ofmp3%20legal?

        I do have to agreee with you regarding the rate of payment though - it seems awfully low in USD. Maybe it's OK when converted to Rubles?
    • I'm more scared of Paypal ripping me off

  • I will purchase music online: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by big_groo ( 237634 ) <groovis AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:18PM (#9263074) Homepage
    IF (and only if)
    1. No restrictions on what I do with it.(any player)
    2. I can use the OS of my choice (Slackware)
    3. The price more accurately reflects the production/distribution costs.
    4. There has to be something worth purchasing.

    In other words...never.

    • I would suggest bleep.com [bleep.com]. It meets all you're requirements (assuming # 4 includes what is available).
    • "1. No restrictions on what I do with it.(any player)"

      I think people should be more flexible on this. All you really want to do is listen to the music, right? So is it really so wrong to accept some limitations that do not effect that in exchange for the advantages of online music?

      "3. The price more accurately reflects the production/distribution costs."

      Thats a bit difficult to calculate, considering intellectual property requires a near zero marginal cost and a (relatively) large capital investment.

  • Browser detection? (Score:4, Funny)

    by AdrianFletcher666 ( 783207 ) <AdrianFletcher666@btinternet.com> on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:21PM (#9263093)
    Apparently I am running Windows XP on a mac... I had no idea.
    Thank you for visiting Sympaticomusicstore.puretracks.com

    Currently our website supports Internet Explorer 5.0 and above on the
    Windows operating system (Win 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP / 2003),
    and is available to Canadian residents only.

    We value our Mac audience, however the Windows Media player for the Mac
    platform is not currently compatible with Microsoft protected audio content.
    Puretracks is currently working to make our service available to Mac users.
    • If you are not in Canada, maybe they are using a method of checking IPs... That could explain it, since the quote from their site clearly says that only Canadian residents are allowed...

      Either that, or yet another wacky side effect of the /. affect!

  • Hey wtf, the Dayglo Abortions in a Napster Ad? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by smcavoy ( 114157 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:22PM (#9263105)
    I really wasn't expecting hear that tune whilst watching the flash animation.
    I would've thought they would've been more picky about who uses their songs (i.e. a company that is in bed with all the big evil record companies).
  • Napster price comparison:
    (at current exchange rate)

    Napster Canada: $1.19 Canadian = $0.87 US
    Napster USA: $0.99 US
    Napster UK: 0.99 GBP = $1.80 US

    Why do us Brits get such a raw deal? I guess music prices have always been this unfair. I was going to say that hopefully when some more services launch, competition will bring the price down, but this is the RIAA we are talking about...

    I think I'll be sticking to independant labels and 2nd hand LPs :-)
  • (Be prepared for a trio of rejection notices if you're neither running nor spoofing IE under Windows.)

    Funny thing about that; I fired up Safari under OS X, set the user agent to IE6Win, and then went in to the site. I think the reason they reject other browsers is that I was somehow able to bypass bits of their DRM and listen to their tracks. However, I quickly realised there was no content I was actually interested in that they were selling, so I haven't been back since. They may have since corrected

  • Report on changes to the Canadian Copyright Act (Score:3, Informative)

    by emaveneau ( 552950 ) * on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:27PM (#9263143)

    Recently (May 12) the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage issued a report on proposed changes to the Copyright Act [parl.gc.ca], whose relevant recommendation [parl.gc.ca] is as follows:

    RECOMMENDATION 3

    The Committee recommends that the Copyright Act be amended to provide that Internet service providers (ISPs) can be subject to liability for copyrighted material on their facilities. The Committee notes, however, that ISPs should be exempt from liability if they act as true "intermediaries," without actual or constructive knowledge of the transmitted content, and where they meet certain prescribed conditions. ISPs should be required to comply with a "notice and takedown" scheme that is compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with additional prescribed procedures to address other infringements.

    If you overlook the last vague line, the proposed changes to Copyright Act seem harmless to those who do not download, but those who do, may become customers of Napster et al.

    The Act would force ISPs to cut off access for uploaders after they have been identified by the CIRA. But the report does not specifically address the disclosure of customers' information (to the CIRA), nor does it address the download v.s. upload meme.

    The vagueness of the report is replicated by media [www.cbc.ca] reports [thestar.com] which further mention WIPO treaties, P2P and anti-circumvention devices, all of which are not specifically addressed in the report.

    The EFC [www.efc.ca] has not, AFAIK, commented on the report and the Toronto member of Parliament [sarmitebulte.ca] who chaired the committee, hasn't yet responded to my inquiries (will P2P or anti-circumvention be left legal?).

    • I remember this being brought up about 6 months ago (I think it was just a statement by someone in the gov't rather than a recommendation at that point).

      Oh, and you're probably talking about the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) rather than the CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority).
  • I got burned by a music download service once and until they offer DRM free options I will NEVER buy. In the middle of a download I tripped on the power cord to my cable modem. The store claimed I had purchased even though I had half a file. I phoned and was told that I was screwed. If I goto a store and the power fails in the middle of ringing the goods in neither the store or I lose money / product once power is restored. If that happens online - foosh away goes your money. If your HDD crashes or you h

    • until they offer DRM free options I will NEVER buy.

      You can buy files in MP3, Ogg Vorbis, or select other formats from this site run from Russia [allofmp3.com]. The downloads are licensed through a music rights organization and contain no digital restrictions management encoding.

      No, I don't work for
      allofmp3.com - where music downloads YOU!

  • upload/download is legal (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @06:40PM (#9263231)
    Uploading and downloading of mp3's via p2p is legal in canada, see:

    http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/itemid172. ht ml

    Why pay for something when it's already free? They aren't going to sell ice to this Inuit.

  • Allofmp3.com Still Cheaper, Better (Score:3, Informative)

    by Fearan ( 600696 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @07:03PM (#9263415)
    At about $0.05 ($0.01/mb) per 192Kbps (OGG,MP3,WMA) or less for 128Kbps encodes per song, Allofmp3.com is still better than any of the pay-to-download music services. And also, no OS restrictions or browser restrictions, although the auto-downloader program is only available to Win32 systems. I still love being to download the songs on my Linux box and pay by Paypal. http://www.allofmp3.com Seriously, give it a try. I find it's better than using KaZaA or any other P2P system even though I have to pay a few cents per song.

  • What I plan to tell those I support... (Score:3, Informative)

    by danharan ( 714822 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @07:08PM (#9263457) Journal
    The "legal" download services require you to use an unsafe browser, and you don't even own the songs in a format you can use anywhere.


    Until the companies offer a good deal for consumers, it's tempting to use free services like Kazaa. However these services have a lot of problems: they install "spyware" and often crash computers. If you download such programs, you are asking for trouble.

    There is however one legal way of getting music: copy your friends CDs. I have a whole bunch of them you can borrow so you can make copies for personal use.


    If this is useful for you, feel free to use it. If enough of us geeks send this type of message to those we support, the corporate pachiderms might eventually get it. And if one day one of those companies lets us download mp3s with a standards-compliant browser, we should recommend everyone use that service. Until then, I'm not buying Cds.
  • Maybe I'm out to lunch here, but has anybody thought of trying to buy tracks from Canada in the USA with an anonymous proxy that resides in the US? Get CAD tracks for less than the US counterparts...
  • Did anybody else watch their little flash movie about canada... http://napster.ca/flash.html I'm seriously pissed off, beavers biting people, hick looking guys drinking beer in almost every scene, leaf fan with stanley cup rioting, pick up truck skidding around (as if drunk, shows people drinking beer before and after) etc.. I am seriously appalled at this blatant stereo typical - hell I dont even think these are stereotypes, its just extremely messed up and I'm VERY insulted over this... meh, no way in h
    • In all fairness, I do believe he's doing donuts in a parking lot, not nessicarily drunk... more pure redneck than anything.

      But that's not much help, it's a pretty insulting intro!
    • The guy is not drunk, he is a loser doing parking lot doughnuts in the winter, but still...

      That intro is seriously whack.

      If you're an American and thinking "what's the big deal", imagine a similar intro on napster.com where they had a bunch of drunk KKK members dancing around a fire, a bald eagle attacking school children, and a prostitute using the American Flag as toilet paper, all while palying a song "I am proud to be an American", and you'd see where we're coming from...

  • CDN = CAD (Score:2, Informative)

    by hampton ( 209113 )
    There's no such currency as "CDN". The Canadian Dollar is "CAD".
  • Great, I have a choice between WMA, WMA or WMA. Oh joy and I have to be running windows to use the service. I don't even have an X86 PC. Back to P2p?

    What is the hold up with iTMS? Is the industry in Canada deliberately favoring WMA based services and locking out iTMS? It would seem so.

  • Open music (Score:4, Informative)

    by Dwonis ( 52652 ) * on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @08:12PM (#9263880)
    (Be prepared for a trio of rejection notices if you're neither running nor spoofing IE under Windows.)

    Yet another reason why Magnatune [magnatune.com] might be worth looking at again. Magnatune has greatly increased its selection since it started up (e.g. it actually has some music I like now), so if you haven't taken a look in the last few months, you might want to look at it again.

  • obligatory eMusic plug (Score:4, Informative)

    by Groucho ( 1038 ) on Wednesday May 26, 2004 @08:13PM (#9263885)

    eMusic gives you tracks for 22 cents each - Lame VBR encoded MP3s - and of course there's no copy protection. And they have great independent labels like Matador, Kill Rock Stars, 5 Rue Christine, Thrill Jockey, Mille Plateaux, Schematic, etc. plus a shitload of jazz and classical. I have the 90 songs a month for 20 bucks deal - you can buy more if your downloads run out before the month is up.

    I refuse to buy into this dollar a song for inferior closed formats with DRM deal. eMusic may not be perfect but it's the closest thing going.

    eMusic [emusic.com]

  • Canadian Animation

    Wow!
    How can iTunes ever hope to compete with the likes of that?

  • Who cares (Score:2, Interesting)

    by future assassin ( 639396 )
    >albums at CDN$9.95 I get full album cd's at local pawn shops for $2.50-4 CDN.
  • Thursday night on PBS's Frontline: "The Way the Music Died. How the recording industry is threatened by Internet piracy and corporate greed".

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