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Canadian iTunes Music Store Opens
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."
Is it possible for Americans (USA) to buy songs from Canada's iTunes?
Wonder if these will still be $10+.....
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
About time. I don't see why it took this long. Was there some massive tech barriers, that restrained the opening, or was it Canadas version of the RIAA?
Under the Canadian Copywrite Law, "personal copying" is permitted. This means I can download all the music I could ever want. The only drawback is a small tax on every cd purchased. thats ok though, i dont buy cd's often.
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
reality is though foreign currency fees will cost you more then 16ish cents you will save on the dollar, unless you buy ALOT at once (say 100+ at least before you would make it worth your time to do it)
Please Apple. Please.
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).
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Now I can buy some Wilco albums for only $9.99 when they are often $20 or $25 CDN in stores.
Random is the New Order.
I find it interesting that Canadians right now enjoy more 'freedom' wrt music sharing/copying etc. We are allowed to 'share' our music with friends in exchange for a small tax on CDRs and MP3 players.
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!
Bad spellers of the world untie!
1. Be a Canadian.
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.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
when the Internet is designed to be international
You have totally misunderstood the international concept of the internet. Actually, you have totally misunderstood the concept of the internet.
The internet's primary function is NOT commerce.
The internet's primary role is to share information. And that has always worked quite well, both locally and internationally. Internet-based commerce is a secondary part of the system and, as long as globalization isn't fully-implemented, will rarely be international.
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.
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