Puretracks: snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
No, I’ve never been upset by the presence of DRM in iTunes. Apple’s terms are more than acceptable from my point of view. I get most of my music from the iTunes Canada Store these days, as I have since the Canadian store opened on December 2nd, 2004. (What irritates me is having to pay the CRIA royalties on blank media that I purchase to back up my digital photos, movies (shot with my DV camera), and Photoshop design files, but that’s another story.)
Still, I understand why musicians might want to be able to sell their music devoid of DRM software. That’s why I was pleased to learn, via Michael Geist’s blog, that Puretracks had gone DRM-free for some 50,000 titles.
Of course, they’ve made a mess of it.
Previously, Puretracks’ Windows Media-infected music offerings had required the use of Windows Media Player, Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. Which is fine, unless you prefer your internet experience to be devoid of spyware/malware, and have therefore chosen Firefox/Safari/Opera and/or Mac OS X. Or if you happen to be one of those weirdos who bought an iPod (like most of us).
So I looked forward to being able to browse their store for DRM-free, no-longer-needing-Microsoft’s-locks-and-chains service, in search of Canadian independent artists who haven’t yet found their way into the iTunes Canada Store. Only to be greeted by this:
Sigh.
Aliant’s Puretracks store offers a little more detail:
I especially like the last part:
Puretracks is currently working to make our service available to Mac users.
I guess we’re still waiting to see if that statement is true.
