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Canada's Puretracks -
Puretracks, Canada's first online music store, became official yesterday.
So howzit going, eh?
Well, iPod user Matt Goyer, a computer science major at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, gave it a spin.
Here's what he found >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tracks: $0.99CDN
Albums: $9.99CDN
Approx 175,000 tracks. Supposed to double in size in a month.
Question: How much does the artist get?
Pages do not render properly in Mozilla
Has a wishlist - That's a good idea
Server intermittenly crashes (they're using Microsoft) (hello load testing). I know Apple's iTunes Music Store also had issues the first day but this being a Canadian site I'd expect their traffic to be several magnitudes less.
Has some exclusive tracks
Burning: 'You can burn your music downloads to CD 3 times.'
Portable players: 'You can transfer your music downloads an unlimited number of times to 3 separate portable devices'
Portability: You cannot take songs to work or transfer between notebook and desktop machines at home. 'This license will only be active on the computer to which the song is downloaded. For this reason, it is important that you purchase and download your music using your primary computer. Once you have downloaded a song, you will be able to listen, burn, or transfer from only that computer. '
Uses WMA format: 192kbps
Works only with Windows machines
Can only listen to (some) tracks on devices which support Windows Media. Does not work with iPods the most popular portable music device
No indicator of how long the preview is
They charge GST+PST (which is 15%)
First time users get a free track with their first purchase
You have to download and install a Moontaxi Media plugin to download your purchases
You can download and pay for just one track.
My order number was 4231. Did they reset order numbers after beta testing?
Confirmation email:
We strongly recommend that your burn your new tracks to a back-up CD for safe keeping, in the event that you experience PC failure in the future. Please see help for details. Blank RW CD discs can be purchased at any computer store
Note that there is a levy on blank CDs so you're paying for your music twice if you backup onto CDs.
Shows downloads progress but not the speed/rate of transfer. Feels slow.
After downloading and pressing listen in the download manager I got an error saying that I did not have the license for the song. So I click on the help link and it gives me a HTTP 403 - Forbidden error.. Hmmm. But when I launch it from WMP it works fine.
Can non-Canadian people pay and download the songs?
Conclusion: I will not use this service since it does not support my iPod.
User Comments
(These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
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compmore
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 1:32 PM
only can be used with microsoft windows? sounds very restrictive to me. 175,000 tracks isn't very much. It's only a matter of time before someone finds a way to crack and encode the WMA to MP3 if they haven't already |
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spikester
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 1:36 PM
Again, its why its easier to just fire up your favorite filesharing app and get the unrestricted "MP3" file you want. Then you know its going to work with every portable and OS out there. The RIAA needs to grow up. |
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raoulduke1
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 1:41 PM
Useless crap! |
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compmore
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 1:43 PM
I just went to puretracks to browse around. I was looking up artists and bands of my era (70's & 80's) some they had and some they didn't. However, this is the frustrating part, I was kicked off the website in the middle of my search because they said it was full to capacity. What if I had been loading up my shopping cart with songs I wanted to buy (no way I would but they didn't know that). Do they kick people off who are browsing when they get an actual order? no thanks pure track, If P2P apps can share literally millions of files, if the old Napster can carry way more songs than you do and still handle all of the traffic, then you need to build yourselves a bigger server. |
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darkened03
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 2:19 PM
Boycott puretracks, this along with all other "legal" services is not an acceptable answer. Listening to music just needs to be legalized (scary having to this huh?) |
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pepe512000
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 2:33 PM
Sorry to say, they just keep bringing out the same garbage. Too many restrictions, too much money, etc...when will they learn? Gotta agree with everyone here. pepe |
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darkened03
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 3:25 PM
Every one email CNET news about the stop RIAA lawsuits Coalition. Tell them we don't stand for the Nazi regime known as the RIAA. Maybe CNET will take our side if they hear enough from us! |
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darkened03
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 3:25 PM
Every one email CNET news about the stop RIAA lawsuits Coalition. Tell them we don't stand for the Nazi regime known as the RIAA. Maybe CNET will take our side if they hear enough from us! |
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mdwelter
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 3:30 PM
Apparently its not really tough to convert
wma to mp3 here is a whole page of
links to programs that do it.
http://www.mp3-converter.biz/wma-to-mp3-converter-directory/ |
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Emeraude
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 3:30 PM
Buy something just to have restricted use of it? Just like buying a DEMO if you ask me, and demo's are supposed to be free! If I pay for something, it should be mine to do with what I wish, without restrictions! That is what "buying" something is all about, to become the owner of it! |
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shoshidge
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 5:58 PM
Personally, i don't think there is any way you can make legal, pay-per-download music distribution work, especially if it has to compete with free p2p services.
But at least 99 cents Canadian is better than 99 cents American,(it's still too much) can non-Canadians use Puretracks?
I think the RIAA has known from day one that online distribution was a waste of their time and ours, but they've persued it out of desperation and political neccesity.
With the rise of technology, audio recordings have become, for all intents and purposes, worthless, and therefore difficult to sell for profit, you might as well try selling snow to eskimos.
There are still ways to make money off the backs of musicians though, tour promotion, merchandise, enhanced media(dvd audio/video) and more. There's a niche out there, and lots of money to be made once you give up the idea that audio recordings have inherent monetary worth.
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zxilton
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 6:10 PM
I wishe i could subto that site just for one purpose. To satisfy my curiousity about how strong their copy protection is. With my sound card...I play a song..and use the "record what you hear" function. Then make it an mp3
Simple |
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purfus
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 6:38 PM
Wow, I bet thats more thumbs down than there are thumbs in the organization. Screw that crap. |
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purfus
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 6:40 PM
Sure you can make a legel p2p work. You just can't use the conventional licensing systems. It is not a conventional application. |
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TheFirstNutZo
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 7:35 PM
exactly purfus. a lot more people would go for a monthly fee than a per-song fee. Look at HBO. People pay $20 a month to get HBO movie channels on their tv... not as many people get Pay Per View. That seems to work out pretty good for HBO et al. |
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mtekk
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 7:40 PM
Yeah but the developers shouldn't pay for the songs the user downloads, in KaZaA's case they shoudl (Stupid advertising and spyware infested P.O.C.).
The RIAA should just give up now while they arn't too far behind, befor p2p totally crushes their hopes and dreams, which it is already doing. |
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alteredbeast
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 10:30 PM
As long as P2P and non-copy-controlled-used CDs exist, how do they expect to compete? You can't compete with FREE (or FREEDOM). You stupid hosers. |
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tasadar24
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 10:31 PM
Since Goldenpi liked it so much last time I said this, I'll say it again.
RIAA, we all know they're idiots, but I want to call attention to something. It seems, with all these DRM protected files, that they think they might be able to stop music from getting on Kazaa. Yet at the same time they sell music CD's, and allow people to burn the files(then ripping em). Geniuses aren't they? |
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shoshidge
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 10:37 PM
I don't think you can compare cable TV to this subject, it's a different type of media that is consumed differently than music.
And a licensing system would have to be very unconventional to allow for all of the things that all interested parties would want of it.
The RIAA wants to limit your use of their "intellectual property", while you want the right to transfer, alter and copy it as you please, the guy who figures out how to make that work is a genius.
And why bother anyway? making recorded music absolutely free offers interesting benefits to musician and consumer alike, if the RIAA would just hurry up and die so we could explore them without fear of getting sued |
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Justin42980
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Date: October 15, 2003 @ 11:33 PM
This is why this system would never work for me... You can only burn 3 times, only transfer to a MP3 player so many times or to only so many MP3 players.. blah blah blah, blah blah blah.... I'll stick to my Kazaalite thank you.. |
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smelv1n
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Date: October 16, 2003 @ 12:19 AM
sounds like a pile of crap. |
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HanSolo00
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Date: October 16, 2003 @ 12:37 AM
Yay... spend $10 on a lossy crappy format like WMA... for a crippled product that will only work 3 times. Compare that to P2P (no DRM+free) or buying the CD used (lossless+no DRM), or better yet, getting a group of friends together to rip their collections hi-fi and share for free. Sort of reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons when Bart convinces Homer to trade his donut? for Bart's "delicious door stop."
These people are so out of touch it boggles the mind. DRM = complete waste of time and utterly valueless for the consumer. The only chance in hell any legit site has of success, is small monthly or per-song fee (around $0.10 per song or less), massive selection including back catalogues, and very fast download servers.
Otherwise, the advances in P2P use by the average consumer (broad music selection) coupled with the explosion of broadband service (fast download speed) not to mention FREE... spells doom for the legit sites. Oh, and the legal hammer industry is using to bludgeon its customers with... heh well that just speaks volumes about the industry and its consumer relations history.
The faster the music mob monopoly crumbles the better off consumers and artists will be. |
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Svengali2
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Date: October 16, 2003 @ 8:21 AM
Puretracks sounds like pure crap..... so many limitations on lossy compression leaves a little to be desired and those bugs certainly dont make me want to fork over any money(not that i was going to anyhow) |
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independentm...
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Date: October 16, 2003 @ 9:19 AM
anything with any form of DRM is a no no.
If you want to buy music, buy from independent musicians directly. Most of us indies will NEVER DRM our music.
(And some of us will give ya a CD for free just to get ya to give us a listen!)
Shmoo of Electric Gypsy
http://electricgypsy.iuma.com
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