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09/30/2011

Zune Pass comes to Canada

Microsoft's Zune Music Marketplace and Zune Music Pass are to roll out in Canada next week. Now, you will be able to get streaming music on your PC, and on your Xbox 360, later this fall.

Zune Music Pass is a streaming music service that lets you access around 14 million songs from a mixture of mainstream and indie labels. It can be played on the Xbox 360, the Windows Phone 7, or Microsoft's own Zune mobile music player.

Unlike our neighbours to the south, in Canada we will not have the chance to pay an extra $5 each month to keep 10 of the tracks that we play forever. Still, $10 for the chance to choose whichever streaming music you want seems like a pretty good deal.

Microsoft is rather late to the party, though. Rdio will give you free unlimited web streaming from your browser or desktop for $4.99 per month, with a combined web and mobile phone option for $9.99. Slacker Radio will give you the ability to play songs, albums, and artists on demand from its streaming music library, and build your own playlists, for $9.99 per month.

One of the biggest draws for Canadians will probably be the ability to play music through their games console, especially as Telus bundles an Xbox 360 as a television set-top box.

The service launches on Monday. Will you be signing up?

Danny Bradbury, MSN Tech & Gadgets

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Danny BradburyDanny Bradbury

Danny Bradbury is a technology journalist with 20 years' experience. He writes regularly for publications including the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Financial Post, and Backbone magazine. Danny also writes and directs documentaries.

Maurice CachoMaurice Cacho

Maurice Cacho is a Toronto-based journalist mixing his love for tech with a passion for news. He's also CP24's Web Journalist and appears daily on CP24 Breakfast and weekly on the channel's tech show, Webnation, discussing tech news and trends.

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