So where can music be downloaded in Canada

[Argus]

Seriously. There's a couple of songs I wanted to download. I used to use Limewire and before that some other file sharing program I forget the name of. I thought I'd actually pay for them, but it doesn't look like that can be done in Canada. I really don't want to download and install a whole new program either, especially one so full of adware like Limewire. So is there an alternative other than to move to the US? The US has a number of big mp3 sales sites with millions of songs, but they won't do business with Canadians for some reason. If there are no simlar sites in Canada shouldn't we allow file sharing and ignore any copyright infringements?

[Moonlight Graham]

Itunes

Edited March 31, 2010 by Moonlight Graham

[DrGreenthumb]

Seriously. There's a couple of songs I wanted to download. I used to use Limewire and before that some other file sharing program I forget the name of. I thought I'd actually pay for them, but it doesn't look like that can be done in Canada. I really don't want to download and install a whole new program either, especially one so full of adware like Limewire. So is there an alternative other than to move to the US? The US has a number of big mp3 sales sites with millions of songs, but they won't do business with Canadians for some reason. If there are no simlar sites in Canada shouldn't we allow file sharing and ignore any copyright infringements?

You basically can download music in Canada, the copyright laws aren't enforced. We pay a tax on blank cd's and tapes that is distributed to artists. It should be also added to ipods, and mp3 players which are the most common media that music is currently copied to. Try download frostwire.

[Smallc]

itunes....puretracks.

[DrGreenthumb]

Seriously. There's a couple of songs I wanted to download. I used to use Limewire and before that some other file sharing program I forget the name of. I thought I'd actually pay for them, but it doesn't look like that can be done in Canada. I really don't want to download and install a whole new program either, especially one so full of adware like Limewire. So is there an alternative other than to move to the US? The US has a number of big mp3 sales sites with millions of songs, but they won't do business with Canadians for some reason. If there are no simlar sites in Canada shouldn't we allow file sharing and ignore any copyright infringements?

What songs you want? I'll email them to ya, lol

[August1991]

itunes....puretracks.

Agreed. I also use zik.ca as well as amazon.fr (it works in Canada as opposed to amazon.com).

I have also used a Russian website for downloading music. (I pay but since Russia doesn't recognize western copyright law, the artist/copyright owner receives no royalty.)

On very rare occasions, I have used bittorrent to download albums. I tried Limewire but it caused many problems so I dropped it.

----

Argus raises a good point. It is hard to find songs online legally in Canada and when you do, it is costly. Nevertheless, when Itunes or Puretracks have a song, and I can easily convert it to an open/non DRM mp3 file, this is my first choice. I happily pay about $1 for the song.

IMV, the music industry simply does not understand the minefield that they are sitting on (given the past music). There are millions of customers such as myself (or Argus) who are willing to pay for a good song.

The Russian websites understand an important point: transaction cost. Puretracks/iTunes charge your credit card every download. With my Russian website, I give them $25 and then download against this credit. This reduces transaction costs. I wish Itunes or Puretracks would have a similar policy.

I also wish that there were more Canadian providers, or that we had access to more foreign providers.

Edited March 31, 2010 by August1991

[Argus]

itunes....puretracks.

Itunes is good - if you're downloading to an ipod. I don't have an ipod.

Puretracks is good but has a limited collection. The big American distributors say they've got anywhere from 9-11 million songs available. Not sure how many Puretracks has but it's clearly much more limited in that even a fairly well known song like Get Home by Sarah Slean is unknown there.

I really don't underesand why amazon and the other American HQ'd places won't sell to Canadian customers.

[M.Dancer]

Itunes is good - if you're downloading to an ipod. I don't have an ipod.

You don't need an ipod to use itracks

[Argus]

Agreed. I also use zik.ca as well as amazon.fr (it works in Canada as opposed to amazon.com).

Zik seems to be a French songs only site. Amazon.fr made me download some software first, then told me it couldn't sell me anything because I was in canada. It did have a great selection of tunes, however. Unlike amazon.canada, which has the next thing to nothing.

I have also used a Russian website for downloading music.

It would take more than music to get me to go anywhere near a Russian web site given their propensity for viruses.

But realloy, given the whining of the music industry about "illegal" file sharing, you'd think they'd be quick to make legal downloading a breeze in this country. They clearly haven't bothered. Not only are there no major Canadian download sites but the only reason I can think of why the likes of amazon refuse to sell to Canadians is because the record companies won't let them - though even that is confusing. What market are they protecting exactly given there are no major download sites here? If amazon.fr and amazon.com have huge libaries of MP3s why does amazon.ca have nothing? Why does chapters-indigo have nothing? again, the only reason I can think of is the music industry won't let them or are making it so complicated and difficult they can't be bothered. Even Napster.ca doesn't sell MP3s! Huh!?

Edited March 31, 2010 by Argus

[Shady]

We pay a tax on blank cd's and tapes that is distributed to artists.

What the hell are you talking about? The only tax on a blank cd is GST and PST. Keep smokin!

[waldo]

We pay a tax on blank cd's and tapes that is distributed to artists.

What the hell are you talking about? The only tax on a blank cd is GST and PST. Keep smokin!

such absolute authority and assurance, hey Shady? Is there a pattern here?

Canada Increases ‘Music Industry Subsidy’ on Blank CDs

Canadian users again face an increase in the cost of blank CDs, as the Copyright Board has increased levies on them by 38%. The raise was authorized in response to rises in music compression and increases in songwriter royalties. With this rise, the Copyright Board is simply ignoring all technological advances since 1999, while the music industry enriches itself.

For every blank CD sold in Canada, 21¢ used to go to the music industry, to compensate Canadian artists. This has now gone up to 29¢.

you're welcome, Shady

[Wild Bill]

What the hell are you talking about? The only tax on a blank cd is GST and PST. Keep smokin!

Waldo got you fair and square, Shady. The CD tax is the heir to the blank cassette tax instituted by Sheila Copps years ago! It's simply a hidden tax, already applied before the point of sale.

As a point of interest, while I can't speak for the same tired old artists who have been receiving virtually all of the Canadian content royalty money for radio play all these years I CAN say that in my business I've met hundreds of new Canadian artists who have never seen a nickel of Sheila's money...

Go figure! What else is new? Welcome to Canada!

[bush_cheney2004]

I really don't underesand why amazon and the other American HQ'd places won't sell to Canadian customers.

I think it is pretty clear that the ambiguity of Canadian law for upload/download via peer-to-peer networks makes such a proposition unlikely anytime soon. The RIAA is very critical of Canadian copyright laws, and is even more critical of widely used DRM cracks. Lawful (paying) customers are denied access because of the potential and real experience with piracy.

[Topaz]

Seriously. There's a couple of songs I wanted to download. I used to use Limewire and before that some other file sharing program I forget the name of. I thought I'd actually pay for them, but it doesn't look like that can be done in Canada. I really don't want to download and install a whole new program either, especially one so full of adware like Limewire. So is there an alternative other than to move to the US? The US has a number of big mp3 sales sites with millions of songs, but they won't do business with Canadians for some reason. If there are no simlar sites in Canada shouldn't we allow file sharing and ignore any copyright infringements?

Just goggle "ares" its free but u have to download it.

[Argus]

I think it is pretty clear that the ambiguity of Canadian law for upload/download via peer-to-peer networks makes such a proposition unlikely anytime soon. The RIAA is very critical of Canadian copyright laws, and is even more critical of widely used DRM cracks. Lawful (paying) customers are denied access because of the potential and real experience with piracy.

The result of which is that people who would otherwise be willing to pay are going to simply download them for free from a P2P site.

Brilliant thinking!

[August1991]

Not sure how many Puretracks has but it's clearly much more limited in that even a fairly well known song like Get Home by Sarah Slean is unknown there.

mymusic.ca

It's in wma format but you can convert. I haven't gone through the process of downloading and conversion so I can't vouch for the service. mymusic.ca appears to be a version of mymusic.com

I think it is pretty clear that the ambiguity of Canadian law for upload/download via peer-to-peer networks makes such a proposition unlikely anytime soon. The RIAA is very critical of Canadian copyright laws, and is even more critical of widely used DRM cracks. Lawful (paying) customers are denied access because of the potential and real experience with piracy.

B_C, I don't think that this is the reason but I may be wrong. The kindle was available in Russia before Canada.

Waldo got you fair and square, Shady. The CD tax is the heir to the blank cassette tax instituted by Sheila Copps years ago! It's simply a hidden tax, already applied before the point of sale.

Shady's wrong. In fact, there is private member legislation to extend this policy to iPods.

I happen to think the policy is good. It is a simple way to pay music producers for their work. It is noteworthy that the money only goes to Canadian music producers, and not foreigners.

It would take more than music to get me to go anywhere near a Russian web site given their propensity for viruses.

But realloy, given the whining of the music industry about "illegal" file sharing, you'd think they'd be quick to make legal downloading a breeze in this country. They clearly haven't bothered.

You ask the key question again, Argus. Why this state of affairs?

International copyright issues are never clear and moreover, cultural products are a political minefield in Canada. Remember that culture was left out of NAFTA.

I suspect that the CRTC or various laws make it costly/illegal to offer certain services in Canada. For example, some youtube videos will not play in Canada.

IOW, English Canada's cultural barriers are effective, and simply impoverishing Canada.

Here's an indication of the complexity of this:

In an interview, Jay Marine, director of product management for Amazon Kindle, declined to offer a reason for why Canada was left out of the Kindle's big international rollout five weeks ago.

"I'm not going to go into those details," Mr. Marine said. "But I can tell you we're thrilled to be able to ship into Canada today."

National Post

-----

As to your fear of Russian music websites, I have had absolutely no problem. Payment is through paypal or another third party. As I noted, I particularly like the idea of making a payment -Skype style- of, say, $25 and then drawing from this over time. Credit card companies typically charge a minimum of 30 cents or more for each transaction.

Edited April 2, 2010 by August1991

[bush_cheney2004]

The result of which is that people who would otherwise be willing to pay are going to simply download them for free from a P2P site.

Brilliant thinking!

Somebody withn pointier pencils than me has already done that calculation, and for Canada the answer is nyet!

[BubberMiley]

Somebody withn pointier pencils than me has already done that calculation, and for Canada the answer is nyet!

Actually, nyet, you're wrong. The only reason Canada has these restrictions (including Hulu, Pandora, etc.) is because Canadian licensing restrictions allow Canadian media distributors the right for Canadian distribution, and this shuts everyone else out.

But with the licensing fee we pay on MP3 players and blank CDs and our liberal P2P laws, Canadians who so choose can freely download whatever they want on sites that are "illegal" in the U.S.

[Smallc]

Itunes is good - if you're downloading to an ipod. I don't have an ipod.

itunes is good no matter what. You an do pretty much anything you want with the music after you download it.

[bush_cheney2004]

Actually, nyet, you're wrong. The only reason Canada has these restrictions (including Hulu, Pandora, etc.) is because Canadian licensing restrictions allow Canadian media distributors the right for Canadian distribution, and this shuts everyone else out.

But with the licensing fee we pay on MP3 players and blank CDs and our liberal P2P laws, Canadians who so choose can freely download whatever they want on sites that are "illegal" in the U.S.

I don't think so buddy....Canadian distributors would be lined up to offer foreign (American) media....that they can't get because of your last sentence that just parrots what I already posted.

Edited April 2, 2010 by bush_cheney2004

[August1991]

I don't think so buddy....Canadian distributors would be lined up to offer foreign (American) media....that they can't get because of your last sentence that just parrots what I already posted.

B_C, I don't think that Canadian law's "progressive" view of intellectual property rights and theft explains this state of affairs. Residents of other countries (ie. Russia) have access to US cultural products before Canadians.

Rather, I think the problem arises in Canada itself. Canadian culture (English or French) is largely a closed shop. There are a few ISPs, and a few cellphone networks. None of these companies wants to break any ice. I suspect that at present, the federal Conservative government does not want to challenge Canada's culture rules.

As they say, b_c, the origins of the federal 1964 US Civil Rights laws are complex.

[Bonam]

Certain things are just really hard or really inconvenient to get legally. For example, I wanted some audio books to listen to on long drives, and after looking around for a while decided to purchase one from Audible, which seemed clean and legit and had a lot of good reviews.

Well, I shelled out the money for an audio book and then I find out that instead of a simple sound file I get some DRM infested crap that can only be played using their proprietary software, which happens to be incompatible with any of my portable devices.

Frustrated, I at that point tried searching for a pirated copy of the same audio book. Lo and behold, easily available in .mp3 format, which is standard and can be loaded onto and played on any device. Needless to say, I canceled my service with Audible and got the book for free.

Fact is, if companies want people to buy from them, it has to be MORE convenient and EASIER to use the stuff they provide than what you can get for free. They are really shooting themselves in the foot with DRM, because people who would have no problem paying for things may have lots of problems with DRM. For me, the service I was looking for (to get audio books in standard sound file format) simply wasn't available commercially but could only be obtained "illegally".

[bush_cheney2004]

B_C, I don't think that Canadian law's "progressive" view of intellectual property rights and theft explains this state of affairs. Residents of other countries (ie. Russia) have access to US cultural products before Canadians.

I am not convinced....Canada also had the highest per capita cable television cheater boxes! The American content owners do have serious problems with such "progressive" views of intellectual property, regardless of what happens in Russia.

Rather, I think the problem arises in Canada itself. Canadian culture (English or French) is largely a closed shop. There are a few ISPs, and a few cellphone networks. None of these companies wants to break any ice. I suspect that at present, the federal Conservative government does not want to challenge Canada's culture rules.

Culture only goes so far when there is money to be made. Usually a compromise can be found for CanCon, but not piracy!

As they say, b_c, the origins of the federal 1964 US Civil Rights laws are complex.

Not if you understand American politics.

[Smallc]

Well, I shelled out the money for an audio book and then I find out that instead of a simple sound file I get some DRM infested crap that can only be played using their proprietary software, which happens to be incompatible with any of my portable devices.

I've never had that problem with Audible.

[bush_cheney2004]

I've never had that problem with Audible.

..and Audible explains device compatibility in plain language:

http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/offers/howItWorks.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0615765490.1270179965@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccadekdedkmgfcefecekjdffidffg.0

Edited April 2, 2010 by bush_cheney2004