Apple to press play on iTunes in Canada
 

Apple Computer Inc.'s hugely successful iTunes music downloading system is about to launch in Canada, establishing a powerful competitor to the Internet-based music services already in place in this country.

Apple's iTunes on-line music store, already up and running for customers in the United States and Europe, is expected to be open for Canadian audiophiles in the next few days. In October, Apple said it would launch in Canada in November, and a company spokesman said this week the company intends to meet that deadline.

?It's still November; we'll launch in November,? Apple's Natalie Kerris said.

The expansion of iTunes into the Canadian market will mean stiff competition for the three existing music services and it could help make a dent in the free file-sharing now plaguing the music industry.

Currently, Canadians can download music tracks from Napster.ca (a reconstituted legal version of the old free file-sharing service), Archambault.ca (owned by Quebecor Media Inc., and heavy on French-language music), and Puretracks.com (the first Canadian on-line music store, started last year by Toronto's Moontaxi Media Inc.).

The prices are generally around $1 per track, or slightly higher, and Apple is expected to be in the same range. Apple charges 99 cents (U.S.) in the United States, and ? .99 in Europe for most tracks. It claims to have sold more than 150 million downloads since its U.S. launch in April, 2003.


Full article here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...ry/Technology/

Napster.ca selection sucks, this should be good.

fucking eh!!

puretracks sucks. Forces the down loaded songs to played in WMV format.

Archambault still owns this shit

What is that? The Quebec music store? I doubt they'll have 1 Million Plus selections like iTunes.

yeah, it's about damn time. i can't believe how long it took them to get it up and going here in Canada.