Netflix To Hike Rates ?
It appears that Netflix may be raising their monthly subscription fees to $8.99 soon for new members.
Current members will continue to be able to pay $7.99 until May 2016 and the company claims the hike is necessary to add more content to their service.
Google Play Music Comes To Canada
Google Play Music is now available to Canadians.
Canadians can now purchase music from this service and store their music library online in a cloud that can be accessed from computers and Android devices. But users of this service will of course be required to confirm their eligibility by using a credit card or debit card and will be required to install software on their computers and Android devices to access their library, Google Play music purchases and Google Play music subscription.
The price of individual track downloads range from $1.29 to $1.50 on this service whilst their music subscription service costs $9.99 per month ($7.99 prior to June 30th, 2014).
The initial set-up is relatively pain free though I suspect some individuals with low upload speeds will find it a bit time consuming.
Basically the Google Play music software scans your library for items Google doesn’t already have in their catalogue to download from your computer for your cloud and if you happen to have a significant number of these recordings the setup process may take some time.
Of the 2700 or so mp3 and iTunes recordings I have in my player ready directory, the directory where I store my very favourite music for easy transfer to my mp3 player, it recognised about 700. And the program didn’t accept a hundred or so DRM protected recordings so the process took about less than an hour using the highest bandwidth setting.
This means that people with a low upload rate will need to give the program time to download their recordings. But they shouldn’t have a problem doing something else while this happens in the background on a four core computer. And I listen to obscure French recordings so this can account for a large portion of the recordings that were not recognised.
I should also note that most of my recordings have a bit rate of 320 and the average mp3 has a considerably lower rate of 192 or 256. Google Play will likely recognise more of those 192 or 256 bit rate recordings and take less time to download the remaining lower rate recordings.
Errors in cataloguing were rare in my case. I had issues with a David Foster recording and a duplicate entry for Bjork’s catalogue, both of which included characters that were replaced with Asian fonts. But the rest of my library appears fine. And like on iTunes purchases are automatically added to the cloud when purchased on Google Play.
I will of course be testing the Android software on my tablet over the next few days and posting an entry if I encounter any issues.
Gift Card Offers
Mac’s Convenience Stores in the province of Ontario are offering 15% of $50 iTunes cards up to May 25th, 2013. Please consult your local Mac’s store for details and note that a contest for $50 iTunes gift cards can be found by clicking here.
Another offer can also be found at participating Target stores, who are also discounting $50 iTunes cards by 15% until May 8th. Please consult your local flyer for details.
Security Flaw Found In IE
Microsoft is currently working on fixing a bug that has been found in versions 6 to 11 of Internet Explorer and the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team has issued a press release asking individuals to use alternative browsers until the bug is fixed :
Click here to download Firefox
This bug is exploited by malicious web sites so IE users can continue to use their browsers by avoiding potentially dangerous sites. XP Users should use alternative browsers.
Various Blu-Ray Offers
You’ve got until May 1st, 2014 to bring your old DVDs over to your local Best Buy and Future Shop to recycle them in exchange for a discount on Blu-Rays.
Basically you either get $5 off select Blu-rays or $10 off select 3D Blu-Ray combo packs, one discount per individual DVD trade in.
Of both offers I’d say the Future Shop offer is superior because not only do they appear to have more Blu-ray titles to choose from but they also give people coupons that entitles Cinemanow members to rent films online at half price.
I managed to get “Anchorman II” on Blu-ray by trading in an old DVD at my local Future Shop and got Cinemanow coupons on my receipt for every Blu-ray I purchased. This coupon will expire next month, on May 22nd, 2014.
You’ll also notice that like “Anchorman II”, “The Amazing Spider-Man” is also on sale for $14.99. And although that Blu-ray isn’t an eligible title for the trade in offer, some of the $14.99 “Amazing Spider-man” Blu-Rays include a coupon for $10 off the purchase of a theater ticket for the new Spider-man film.
That coupon is found on specially marked packages and includes a code that you need to redeem on the Cineplex website.
I found the specially marked Blu-ray on a display with several other films that include the coupon. And that purchase also resulted in a Cinemanow coupon being added to my receipt.
These offer may not be available nationwide so check your local flyers for details.
It’s Record Store Day 2014 !
A great day to go out and visit your local independent record stores to nab either a great deal or the latest albums from one of your local indie artists. Maybe both ?