Zip.ca Closes
Video rental service Zip.ca has closed after ten years of operation.
Members have until August 31st to return their discs to avoid a $25 fee per disc.
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.
Walmart Closing Music Site In States
Walmart will be closing their American music download site on August 29th. But their Canadian music download site, SongSpark, continues to operate.
IMSLP Attacked By UK Music Publishers
The International Music Score Library Project was knocked offline temporarily this week by a DMCA complaint by the Music Publisher’s Association (UK).
Appearently they had attempted to impose EU copyright laws on this Canadian site because the IMSLP had published Sergei Rachmaninoff‘s “The Bells, Op.35“, a score that is considered public domain in Canada and the United States.
This score had been originally published prior to 1923 and in countries where copyright is limited to 50 years after the death of the composer the material is public domain. In 1993 the European Union had adopted a term of 70 years instead of 50, resulting in a complaint in regards to this specific composition.
This incident has resulted in alot of discussions online in regards to Canada’s attempts to reform copyright and our conformity to international law.
Many Canadians are concerned that the European Union’s music publishers are attempting to impose their terms in Canada, the IMSLP having been previously subjected to a takedown in October 2007 by European classical music publishing firm Universal Edition over numerous compositions. And Canada is currently in talks with the European Union in regards to a free-trade pact, which includes discussions on intellectual property.
Limewire Plans Scrapped
Limewire is no more.
The company has confirmed that they will cease their operations on December 31st, scrapping their plans to offer legal music services.
Their agreements with several independent labels and distributors will be dissolved.
Limewire Closing
An injunction to cease P2P operations has been issued to Limewire on the 26th of October, 2010.
The company has stopped offering downloads of their software via their web site.
(UPDATE : The original site on which the injunction was hosted is gone but thanks to Simon Grant you’ll find a replacement source for the injunction by clicking on the above link. And for good measure, here is another source, also in PDF format)