Zik.ca To Offer Streaming Music
Francophone music service Zik.ca will offer a streaming music subscription service on April 4th.
The Archambault.ca subsidiary will offer over 12 million songs to its subscribers, including a large repertoire of french music. No details as to the rates have been published yet.
Free Music From iCoke
Specially marked 591 mL Coke products in Canada include a code redeemable for free music downloads from iTunes.
These codes expire on May 31st, 2012 and are limited to 10 per week. Click here for additional details.
Cloud Services & PVRs At Risk ?
Ottawa professor Micheal Geist has posted an interesting entry on his blog about the potential risks for Cloud services and the usage of personal video recorders in Canada after the passing of Bill C-11.
Apparently telecommunication giants Rogers and Shaw and voiced some concerns about provision 31.1 (5) in Bill C-11 :
Subject to subsection (6), a person who, for the purpose of allowing the telecommunication of a work or other subject-matter through the Internet or another digital network, provides digital memory in which another person stores the work or other subject-matter does not, by virtue of that act alone, infringe copyright in the work or other subject-matter.
Concerned about the vagueness of this provision, the Liberal Party Of Canada had attempted to introduce an amendment in committee but failed.
On March the 26th, the House Of Commons will be in session and the amended version of Bill C-11 will likely pass through its third reading shortly after.
Sony Music Unlimited Expands Into Canada
Sony Music Unlimited is now available to Canadians.
This subscription based service offers music streaming to computers, Android powered phones/tablets and numerous Sony devices, including the newer Bravia brand televisions & Blu-ray players and Playstation 3 systems.
For $3.99 a month a subscriber can listen to millions of tracks online though personalized music channels and sync their music library with Sony Music Unlimited‘s cloud service. And additional services, like customizable playlists, are available to Premium subscribers. But the latter appears to be inaccessible at the moment so I was unable to confirm the rates for their Premium services.
I will update this information a.s.a.p.
Zip Delays Online Streaming
It appears there is a strong market in regards to film rentals in Canada. So much so that it appears that Zip.ca might be prioritizing their kiosks over online streaming.
In an article in the Ottawa Business Journal printed on March 13th, Rob Hall, the founder of Zip.ca, stated that he had delayed his company’s plans to offer rentals via streaming beyond this year, favouring the further expansion of kiosks.
Zip.ca‘s red coloured kiosks are currently expanding through Metro/Food Basic grocery stores in Ontario and offer rentals at $1 per older release per day and $2 per new release per day.
The kiosks were test marketed in the Ottawa area and Nova Scotia, the latter in Sobeys grocery stores, with great success. And sales remain strong with former Blockbuster Canada customers and people who use their internet sparingly.
In Canada it is still rather expensive to stream films online because of internet usage capping so many Canadians will continue to rent DVDs and Blu-Ray discs for years to come.
High Definition films in 720p are generally over 3 gigabytes in size while standard definition films are over 1.5 gigabytes in size. And many Canadians have had their internet usage capped dramatically recently.
Having rented from them in the past, I’m hoping to have one of their kiosks in my neighbourhood soon.
Few Changes To Bill C-11
Bill C-11 appears to have passed through the committee review almost as is.
The amendments proposed by the entertainment industry in regards to a levy on mp3 players and additional limitations on fair dealing and user generated content have been rejected.
Also rejected were the calls for the identification of internet users and the introduction of RIAA style prosecutions to Canada that could have resulted in the prosecution of social networking sites like Facebook and search engines like Google
The prosecution of sites and services that “provide a service primarily for the purpose of enabling acts of copyright infringement” may still be a possibility. But this is expected to go through further processes. And whether website blocking will be part of these processes is unknown.
Unfortunately, the technological protection measure provisions remain intact.
This means private copying will remain limited to material that has not been copy protected and individuals will not be able to obtain equipment or software that enables them to view films from other regions.
Canadians are able to view Region 0 DVDs, Region 1 DVDs and Region A Blu-Ray discs on their store bought equipment. But unfortunately some films are not released in those region codes.
Blu-Ray regional coding may have resulted in better access to Asian films. But many European films appear to stay off Canadian shelves because of their lack of popularity in the states.
Academy Award nominated films and film festival winners do get through but the lesser known titles and some older films, concerts and music video compilations are generally placed in limbo in North America.
Hopefully these films will make their way onto online services like iTunes and Netflix in the future. But I think it is rather ridiculous to demand Canadian consumers purchase DVDs and Blu-ray discs from North American distributors that either refuse to carry films or delay their release for years.
Blu-ray discs and DVDs released in North America have always been my first choice. Importing from Europe is expensive because of the shipping and handling so I’d rather purchase them locally. But how can I purchase something that is not available here ?
Where are many of the Louis De Funes films ? Where are the Region 0 or Region 1 versions of a-ha‘s “Headlines and Deadlines
I’m sure I am not alone in being frustrated by a lack of selection of foreign, non-Hollywood film and music DVDs and Blu-Ray discs in Canada. And the technological protection measure provisions isolates the Canadian consumer from this material, which is unacceptable.