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.
Is Free Television Being Phased Out ?
Do you guys remember when we were first told that off air television broadcasts would go digital and that more people would be getting free television using antennas ?
Do you remember when we could watch television programs for free online legally through the Canadian network web sites ?
Well, if you want proof that the cable and satellite companies don’t want people to “cut the cord” you just have to look at the current status of television in Canada.
It started with Global Television in my area.
I had decided to stop paying $7 plus tax per month for extra outlets and although I was able to receive Global Television clearly for months, it has suddenly disappeared one summer.
Apparently the owner of the network decided to reduce the strength of the transmission so now an external antennae is required. But this was of course no problem because I was able to access television programs online via the network’s web site.
Then a few months back I noticed I was no longer receiving CTV, which had a strong signal until then.
I am located within 15 kilometers from the broadcasting tower for both stations so there was no reason for my loss of CTV as well. But like Global Television, CTV is also owned by a cable or satellite provider so I had assumed that they also reduced their off air broadcasting strength. And again I decided to stick to on demand and online broadcasts until I get an external antenna.
By then I had switched from Rogers Cable to Bell Fibe TV so I was mostly just watching television programs on demand for free, just like I has done with Rogers. But since Rogers had purchased the rights to the hockey broadcasts there appeared to be issues relating to what could be viewed by what subscribers online.
Now Canadians are being asked to login their cable or satellite provider accounts to view television programs on the major network sites. And the selection of programing is currently limited to the networks owned by their provider.
Bravo.
Personally I think we should be able to get our local channels off air and online based on our IP address.
There should be enough advertisement revenue there for networks to profit on and cable and satellite providers could always give people access to specialty networks and on demand programming.
We should be progressing off the problematic off air VHF frequencies and move stations to UHF like most American networks have.
Phase 3 of the “Let’s Talk TV” consultations at the CRTC will begin in April with the publication of details on the public hearing scheduled in September. And from the government’s response last Budget Day, it appears that our cable/satellite channels may get unbundled.
Hopefully this will not be more expensive for consumers, a concern we should all share because these companies have been hiking their rates excessively over the past few years.
The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting estimated in Oct 2013 that many of Canada’s cable companies had hiked their rates from 81% to 96% since 2002 ; Almost five times inflation. And Forbes believes the model is unsustainable so we’ve got to wonder what exactly we’re going to be subjected to as consumers.
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had mentioned that “cable-TV companies have become like utilities because there are only so many providers that offer the service in a certain region” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last October so perhaps the current government is considering regulating them. But I guess we’ll only know for sure after the public hearings in September.
By the way, you can access information in regards to the previous phases of “Let’s Talk TV” on the official CRTC web site, which includes comments from the public.
More Gift Card Offers
There are two overlapping gift card offers this week, both offering $5 off $25 iTunes gift cards.
You can take advantage of this offer at participating Sobeys stores up to the 20th of November or you can visit your local participating Rexall Pharmaplus for the same offer up to the 28th of November.
Check your local flyer for details one whether your local stores have this offer or not.
Update: Additional offers can be found at participating Metro and Best Buy locations.
At participating Metro grocery stores you can get $5 off a $30 iTunes gift card multipack whilst at participating Best Buy locations you can get $12 off a $60 iTunes gift card multipack.
Google Play Gift Cards Now In Canada
Google Play gift cards are now available in Canada, in increments of $15, $25 and $50.
They are available at select Shopper’s Drug Mart/Pharmaprix, Future Shop, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Mac’s, Couche Tard and 7-11 stores.
Where is Puretracks ?
Puretracks and several Puretracks powered sites appear to have gone down over the weekend.
My brother made me aware of this problem last Friday and I had assumed they were updating or were subject to a glitch. But I am still unable to access the sites as of 1 AM Eastern Time on September 3rd, 2013.
Complaints about the inaccessibility of the site also appear on the service’s Facebook page. But I have not been able to find much of anything else online.
They haven’t posted anything on their Facebook or Twitter account about an issue, though the latter has entries from the 30th of August that imply Puretracks is gone, allegedly from people in the company.
A new version of Puretracks had gone online on June 14th, 2013. But apparently customers weren’t satisfied with the new site according to several Facebook entries and I’m guessing that some of their customers were lured elsewhere with lower prices.
More and more cell providers are also offering unlimited streaming of music so I suspect Puretracks may be gone, though I have no confirmation of this other than a few rare scattered pieces of information on the internet.
I’ve contacted Pizza Pizza in regards to this issue because they seem to be having problems as well with chooseyoursongs.com, a Puretrack powered site where their customers can redeem Peel ‘N Win music downloads.
I will of course update this entry if I find something else.
UPDATE: Pizza Pizza has moved their Peal ‘N Win music download code redemption to Universal Music Group’s Getmusic.ca.
New Fee May Hurt Small Clubs
The Calgary Herold reported yesterday that new fees for international performers have been introduced on July 31st, 2013.
Non-Canadian musicians, technicians, sound engineers, crew members and tour managers may now be subject to a $275 fee, per person, per venue. This amount is added to the $150 work permit fee that most of these people are required to pay to work in Canada.
Prior to the introduction of this fee most bands were subject to a maximum of $450 to play Canada’s smaller venues. But now the fees have quadrupled for some international acts resulting in extra expenditures that will be passed along to consumers.
This new fee will also hurt new and upcoming international performers who have not yet gained enough of an audience in Canada to play the larger venues, some of which are tax exempt.
A petition against the implementation of this fee is available at change.org. Please consider signing this petition.
Thank You.