Music Technology

More Music Gift Card Offers

You can get $10 off a $50 iTunesicon card starting Friday at Metro stores in Ontario. This offer is valid until August 9th, 2012.

$50 iTunesicon cards will also be on sale at some Best Buy Canada stores for $39 on Friday. This sale will also expire on August 9th, 2012.

Cloud Service Updates

Amazon.com has updated their Cloud service with a new system that scans and matches a person’s iTunesicon and Windows Media Player music library.

This enables users of their Cloud service to listen to music they have in their library though the service for $25 per year, without the inconvenience of uploading. But this service in unfortunately not yet available to Canadians.

iTunesicon, on the other hand, has expanded their American Match service to include films. And like Amazon.com they will likely need to negotiate with the film companies to obtain the rights to offer the service to Canadians.

Windows 8 & Microsoft Tablet Due Oct. 26th

The Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet from Microsoft will be released on October 26th, 2012 according to Supersite For Windows.

Music Download Offer Starting On Friday

Real Canadian Superstore shoppers in Ontario that use iTunes Canadaicon should note that a coupon for $10 off a $50 gift card can be found in next week’s flyer.

It will be valid from July 27th to August 2nd, 2012 at Real Canadian Superstore, Atlantic Superstore and Loblaws Locations in Ontario so the coupon could pop up elsewhere as well.

The coupon is valid on $50 iTunes Canadaicon Music or App Card.

Trade In Your DVDs At Best Buy

Best Buy Canada will be accepting DVDs for $5 towards the purchase of selected titles from July 20th to August 17th, 2012.

I’m hoping to trade in some of my DVDs. But of course I’m only upgrading some of my collection. It’s rather pointless to upgrade DVDs with little to no scenic or special effect content like dramas and mysteries. And I’ve got quite a collection of music video compilations that will probably not be up-converted.

I will probably consider upgrading some of my live concert videos though, like Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” and Queen’s “Live At Wembley ’86”. But I also have a few that I know will require some serious remastering before being released on blu-ray.

BTW, Queen’s Greatest Video Hits, a boxed set that includes both Greatest Video Hits 1 and 2, will be released on DVD on August 28th, 2012.

CBC Television To Stop Analog Services

CBC Television will be ending their analogue services through-out Canada at the end of this month.

This means individuals that tune into their non-digital Over The Air broadcasts will loose access to CBC and Radio-Canada’s programming.

CBC estimates that this 620 transmitter service reached just 1.7 percent of the population and believes the $10 million expenditure should be diverted to programing.

CBC and Radio Canada will remain accessible on cable and satellite, and are currently broadcasting Over The Air in digital in Canada’s major metropolitan centers.