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.
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 ?
Bill S-4 – (The not quite) Digital Privacy Act ?
I had originally wanted to wait until the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released a report on Bill S-4 before commenting but decided that I should just go ahead and post something about this senate bill.
This bill was proposed to help in the cases of security breaches, to help control identity theft. But unfortunately it may also cause individuals to have their information given to third parties without their consent or knowledge.
“an organization may disclose personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual if
(a) the disclosure is made to the other organization, the government institution or the part of a government institution that was notified of the breach under subsection (1); and
(b) the disclosure is made solely for the purposes of reducing the risk of harm to the individual that could result from the breach or mitigating that harm.” – Bill S-4, Section 10.2 (3)
Furthermore warrants may not be required under Bill C-13 and the costs associated to the infrastructure required to keep records of your online activities would be passed onto either consumers and/or taxpayers.
Are to believe this bill is meant to improve our situation ? We would be paying more for internet and give more private information to a government that was just hacked because of the Heartbeat Bug.
I think this bill needs to be re-written. And if you do too I think you should sign the Open Media petition on Privacy.
Thank you.
More Gift Card Offers
Real Canadian Superstores and Target Canada stores are currently 15% discounts on iTunes gift cards.
Participating Real Canadian Superstores are offering this discount on $30 multipacks up to April 17th, 2014 with a special coupon obtained from their gift card display.
Participating Target Canada stores are offering their discount on all iTunes gift cards up to April 10th, 2014.
If you are unable to get this discount through your local Real Canadian Superstore or Target Canada location, then try your local Rexall Pharmacy. They offer a 10% of these gift cards until April 10th, 2014.
Gift Card Offer @ Target
Participating Target stores in Canada are offering 15% off iTunes cards until April 3rd, 2014. Please consult your local flyer for details.