Scrawled in Wax

Finally! Canada Gets Something Cool First.

What’s that you say? Apple has been selling these same tracks for months now? Nav, you’re an idiot who is always late and kinda’ stupid? Well you’re wrong. About the first bit anyway.

Today, Canadian digital music store Puretracks announced that they will be selling EMI’s catalogue in DRM-free MP3 format. I know, I know, you’re thinking what’s the big deal? iTunes Plus is great! But though I was pleased with Apple’s move towards removing restrictions on some music, their use of the AAC format was less than ideal. Can your car deck play AACs? Or your DVD player? For that matter, can Windows Media Player? (Actually, yes, but it requires unauthorised plugins). My point is that while AAC is probably a more open format in terms of licensing, MP3s are simply more universal. So Puretracks’ decision to go with MP3s is a smart one as it means that basically any MP3 player, CD player, phone and piece of software can deal with them easily.

That said, the price premium that Apple instituted exists here as well – DRM-free tracks are $1.29 instead of 99 cents. Unfortunately, unlike iTunes Plus, there is no particular boost in sound quality – both WMA and MP3 files are offered in 192kbs, which is unfortunate. Still – given that music downloads in Canada are growing at such a strong rate, it’ll be interesting to see if this does anything to improve Puretracks’ fortune.

Now if they could just erase Coldplay from their catalogue, we’d be set.