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Eug Wanker · Oct 20, 2003, 08:50 PM

http://www.macrumors.com/

According to the reply from David Basskin, CMRRA's President, licensing issues have indeed kept Apple from launching iTunes Canada, but the wheels are now in motion:

"I'm happy to say that the process of negotiating a licensing deal with Apple is now under way. I met last week with representatives of the company, and I'm confident that our discussions will move ahead quickly. Last week, Steve Jobs told me that Apple couldn't wait to come to Canada, and that it was a very high priority for him. I trust that this enthusiasm will be reflected in a quick and mutually successful negotiation."

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Oct 20, 2003, 08:53 PM

At over $15 a CD I would rather buy the real CD then an online album.

That way I could, encode, copy, move all I want.

Eug Wanker · Oct 20, 2003, 09:07 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
At over $15 a CD I would rather buy the real CD then an online album.

That way I could, encode, copy, move all I want.

Yeah, but I'd have the new Sarah McLachlan CD right now instead of waiting two months or whatever.

Wiskedjak · Oct 20, 2003, 09:19 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
At over $15 a CD I would rather buy the real CD then an online album.

That way I could, encode, copy, move all I want.

You still can. Just burn an audio cd and re-import the songs as MP3

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Oct 20, 2003, 09:27 PM

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
You still can. Just burn an audio cd and re-import the songs as MP3

Pff, I rather have an uncompressed CD to make copies of.

Horsepoo!!! · Oct 20, 2003, 09:44 PM

SHOS brings a very good point. Us canadians can get 15 dollar CDs.

So anything more than 99 cents canadian per song, 9.99 dollars per album would make the iTunes Music Store less appealing to canadians.

Our dollar might suck, but compared to the US, we get a good deal on CDs and DVDs.

dtriska · Oct 20, 2003, 09:58 PM

I don't think we'll see songs priced at $1.49 on the Canadian iTMS for the simple fact that it's not competitive. Give Apple a chance to work out a licensing deal before dismissing the store.

Eug Wanker · Oct 20, 2003, 10:55 PM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
At over $15 a CD I would rather buy the real CD then an online album.

US$0.99 is CAD$1.31. ie. An album would be just over CAD$13.

Originally posted by dtriska:
I don't think we'll see songs priced at $1.49 on the Canadian iTMS for the simple fact that it's not competitive. Give Apple a chance to work out a licensing deal before dismissing the store.

Original posted by Horsepoo!!!
SHOS brings a very good point. Us canadians can get 15 dollar CDs.

So anything more than 99 cents canadian per song, 9.99 dollars per album would make the iTunes Music Store less appealing to canadians.

I could see Apple pricing it at CAD$1.29 (or even $1.19) per song. Albums for CAD$11.99 would be quite reasonable.

thePurpleGiant · Oct 20, 2003, 11:03 PM

It seems that if Canadian CD's are cheaper though, why wouldn't online music be?

Why wouldn't Apple have 99c Canadian tracks online - since the CD's are cheaper over there and no one complains.

Visnaut · Oct 20, 2003, 11:45 PM

Puretracks, the first canadian online music vendor is advertising tracks for as low 99� CND. A quick visit to their website shows that a lot of tracks go for as high as $1.39 CND.

If and when Apple scores a deal with Canadian distributors, I wouldn't be suprised to see that sort of varied pricing. I think Apple would still remain very competitive, however, due in part to their very liberal DRM. Puretracks is WMA-based, and seems a bit more restrictive.

Eug Wanker · Oct 21, 2003, 12:03 AM

Originally posted by thePurpleGiant:
It seems that if Canadian CD's are cheaper though, why wouldn't online music be?

Why wouldn't Apple have 99c Canadian tracks online - since the CD's are cheaper over there and no one complains.

Yeah, they're cheaper here, but not THAT much cheaper. $1.19 seems quite reasonable.

khufuu · Oct 21, 2003, 01:14 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Yeah, they're cheaper here, but not THAT much cheaper. $1.19 seems quite reasonable.

No kidding. You pay anywhere from $9 to $27 CDN for a CD depending upon what you're getting and if it's been imported or not.

I don't this $1.20-1.30 would be too much.

You also have to remember that each song you buy is going to be the one you want. You won't be buying any extra tracks that you're not really interested in. (Unless I've misunderstood how the on-line purchasing is working.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Oct 21, 2003, 01:18 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
US$0.99 is CAD$1.31. ie. An album would be just over CAD$13.
I could see Apple pricing it at CAD$1.29 (or even $1.19) per song. Albums for CAD$11.99 would be quite reasonable.

Still, for a couple bucks more you could have the real thing, totally unrestricted to do whatever you want with. Who is too lazy not to go to any one of the the Music stores on every corner.

nobitacu · Oct 21, 2003, 01:44 AM

Good to hear that Canada is finally going to get their turn at it. I would love to one day see iTunes as a standard for all music playing uses, as well as iTunes Music Store as a standard for all online music buying through out every part of the world. Japan also I think would be a huge market, iPods are selling really well there. But they will need maybe a different version of the music store with mostly Japanese artist.

Ming

icruise · Oct 21, 2003, 02:00 AM

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Still, for a couple bucks more you could have the real thing, totally unrestricted to do whatever you want with. Who is too lazy not to go to any one of the the Music stores on every corner.

You can't overestimate the convenience factor here. Being able to preview every track and buy just the tracks you want at any time of night or day, and then being able to listen to them right away are very very powerful things.

And I would LOVE to see a Japanese iTunes music store that is accessible from outside of Japan, since there are a lot of good artists that never get any exposure outside of Japan (admittedly there is still the language issue for most people, but a lot of things are perfectly listenable even if you have no idea what they are saying).

rjenkinson · Oct 21, 2003, 04:16 AM

Originally posted by nobitacu:
...Japan also I think would be a huge market, iPods are selling really well there. But they will need maybe a different version of the music store with mostly Japanese artist.

i doubt this will happen since people can legally rent CDs for about �250 and copy the tracks to their computers or MD players. why download the album for US$9.99 when you can already rent the real CD for US$2.28?

-r.

Horsepoo!!! · Oct 21, 2003, 06:21 AM

I'm telling all of you right now...anything more than 0.99 per song or 9.99 per album will *not* fly in Canada.

I can get my CDs for 15 bucks...if I'm getting my albums for 13 on the iTMS which have DRM restrictions and aren't in a lossless format, I and many others won't mind taking a trip down to the local music store to buy a hardcopy CD.

joltguy · Oct 21, 2003, 06:36 AM

Well this is great news, although I thought I had heard that this process had started back in September. As long as we get the iTMS up here soon, I'm a happy Canuck.

As for the price... I'm really hoping we'll get par with the US 99� point, but even if we don't, I think the power of being able to select individual tracks for purchase will keep my Visa busy enough.

icruise · Oct 21, 2003, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by rjenkinson:
i doubt this will happen since people can legally rent CDs for about �250 and copy the tracks to their computers or MD players. why download the album for US$9.99 when you can already rent the real CD for US$2.28?

True, but by your logic no one would ever buy any CDs at all in Japan, but in fact they do (and at prices much much higher than in the US, too).

Partially this is because the rental stores often don't have the absolute newest stuff right away (the iTMS could compete here), and partially because people want the packaging and everything that comes with a CD (iTMS can't compete on this point). But as I said before, I think the idea of conveniently and legally being able to download music might catch on even there.

rjenkinson · Oct 21, 2003, 07:48 AM

Originally posted by Icruise:
True, but by your logic no one would ever buy any CDs at all in Japan, but in fact they do (and at prices much much higher than in the US, too).

i don't think that's a reasonable extension of my argument. i cannot see people paying four times the price of renting a physical CD which can be ripped at much higher quality for songs from the itunes store. people don't buy expensive CDs because they are expensive, but rather because there is no better option. but in the case of downloading songs, i think the existing options are better than the itunes music store. ask yourself this, would downloading be as successul in the US, if you could rent CDs?

of course, this argument only applies when you can get a song from both sources. as you pointed out, rental stores often don't have a particular single or album until about a month after general release. where the itunes store might succeed is in having a wider selection of music to download than rental shops.

in conclusion...

rental CDs: better quality, cheaper
itunes music store: potentially better selection.

-r.

Eug · Oct 21, 2003, 09:39 AM

Still, for a couple bucks more you could have the real thing, totally unrestricted to do whatever you want with. Who is too lazy not to go to any one of the the Music stores on every corner.

I definitely like having the CDs if I like more than a couple of songs on the CD.

But this way I can buy individual songs if don't like the rest of the album, and I can buy exclusive content, like that Sarah stuff. I'd rather pay $4 now for 3 songs and then another $15 in December or whatever for the album.

i doubt this will happen since people can legally rent CDs for about �250 and copy the tracks to their computers or MD players. why download the album for US$9.99 when you can already rent the real CD for US$2.28?

Well, in Canada it is illegal to rent CDs.

Anyways, in the past when it was legal to rent CDs I did rent them, but really just to check out new music. The iTMS is WAY better. Better selection and much more convenient.