Gift Card Discounts
Both Best Buy and Rexall Pharmaplus are offering significant discounts on iTunes gift cards this week.
Starting today up to May 17th, you can purchase either a $50 gift card for $40 at Best Buy or a $25 gift card for $20 and Rexall Pharmaplus, the latter requiring a coupon found on the latest Rexall Pharmaplus flyer.
These offers may not be available to everyone so check your local Best Buy and Rexall Pharmaplus flyers for confirmation.
Mp3tunes.com Files For Bankruptsy
Mp3tunes.com has filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District Of California.
The San Diego based company was founded by Michael Robertson in 2005 and offered cloud and music streaming services to its American members.
Mr. Robertson, who also co-founded mp3.com in 1997, blames litigation for the failure of the company in a May 1st, 2012 statement.
EMI has stated they would continue their lawsuit against the company, according to C-Net News.
No DVD Playback In Windows 8 ?
Windows 8 will no longer include DVD playback capabilities by default and this function will only be included in Windows 8 Pro and in upgrades to computers that are equipped with DVD drives.
Microsoft believes that most of their customers do not use their computers to view DVDs and that DVD playback will not be necessary because most individuals who view films on their computers now download or steam this content from online sources.
Computers that are equipped with DVD or Blu-ray drives will likely include third party software so most consumers will be unaffected by this issue.
Publishers Association Threatens Canada
A “coalition of international, regional and national publishers associations” has sent a letter to our government threatening retaliation for Bill C-11 with a WTO complaint.
Apparently they dislike several exemptions provided by the bill :
“As currently drafted, however, many provisions of C-11 may allow a broad group of public and private institutions and organizations to copy and distribute works under a vague and intentionally broad educational exception in ways that publishers and authors license, thereby promoting strife and litigation, and potentially violating all three elements of the three-step test.
Similar concerns also relate to the exceptions for non-commercial user generated content, the display exception and the tests and examination exception, the exception relating to publicly available material on the internet, and the inter-library loan exception.”
The International Publishers Association is comprised of about 60 international organizations from 50 nations and is based in Geneva.
New Listing Added
I’ve just added a rough listing for musical instruments, accessories and recording equipment to this blog and will be updating it as soon as possible.
It includes sources within and outside Canada.