...have seemed pretty disappointing lately. Or is it just me? It seems that iTMS Canada has added many thousands of tracks since launching two months ago, but as I scroll through the list every week, clicking on titles here and there, it seems to be heavily skewed to vanity projects by unknowns who are unknown for good reasons. (There are inevitable exceptions, but I always seem to turn up duds when I go listening to samples of these unknown indies.)

Am I just being impatient? Is there something unusual in Canadian licensing that makes it extra-hard for iTMS to offer the things it offers in other countries?

[/whinge]

I'd expect there are still large hurdles to get around... Many older tracks that I look for (Tom Petty, etc) aren't listed on the Canadian site yet. And where on earth is Gowan ? :-) Many other bands seem to have significant holes in their discography still.

One band that I am surprised to not see signed yet on iTMS Canada is The Arcade Fire. They even have an exclusive track with iTMS USA.

Is there any place on the store to make requests?

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html

STILL no Rush!

WTF?!

Yes, requests are possible, but the existence of the mechanism simply brings out the cynic in me. It seems obvious enough that Apple would love to sell <b>every</b> music recording worldwide, but there are three things standing in the way: licensing, licensing and licensing. So if Apple offers something in the U.K. but not in Canada, you can bet they would like to but simply can't. To me that means making requests is futile.

The new <A HREF="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=41815576" Target="_blank">Beck EP</A> is up and sounds good.

the new Beck video is most fun to watch as well......

Well, he's a strange animal with a criminal mind who can only be appreciated by a certain few.

actually....he's touring w/ Styx.