Things are looking up for Canadian Apple users. Not only did the Great White North finally get official confirmation from Rogers that the company will soon carry the iPhone, but Apple Canada is offering a $45 credit to owners of older iPods who’ve run into battery problems. Anyone with a first, second or third generation iPod purchased before June 24, 2004 is eligible for the rebate, thanks to two different lawsuits filed in Montreal and Toronto claiming Apple had misrepresented the iPod’s battery life.

But what will Canadians do with this newfound wealth? Apple hopes they’ll put it towards a new iPod, but here’s a few alternatives for making the most of this unexpected windfall.

-Put it towards a day’s worth of data usage on the Rogers wireless network. Though the company has announced they’ll soon carry the iPhone, they’ve said nothing about their high wireless rates, and you might as well use Apple’s money for that first forbidden taste of on-the-go email and web surfing that American iPhone users gets for $20 a month.

-Buy $45 worth of DRM-free, high quality, AAC music on the iTunes Music Store. It would be nice if Canadians could use their new-found wealth to purchase music from the Amazon Music Store, but that remains even more elusive than the iPhone.

-Canadians also recently secured the ability to buy Canadian television programs from the iTunes Store. Out of patriotism, and a desire for Apple to roll out video rentals, it might be a good idea to blow the $45 on "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and other homegrown fare.

-Send their credit to any groups opposing the latest moves by Bell Canada to throttle P2P activity. There are plenty of legal uses for not only torrents, but P2P infrastructure, and ISPs unilaterally deciding how people should experience the Internet is hubris of the highest order.

-Buy an iPod Shuffle and give it to one of your friends and family that hasn’t yet tasted the sweet, seductive fruit of portable music. At $55 at the Apple Store, all you have to do is spend $10 of your own money to create an instant iPod convert.

-Get an Apple Keyboard. Sure it’s wired, but it’s substantially cheaper than the Bluetooth keyboard, and it doesn’t have a battery to run down.

-Buy Steven Levy’s “The Perfect Thing,” a history of the creation of the iPod, if only for the delicious irony.

-Feeling particularly wasteful? Get an iPod Sock, which at $39, will almost completely consume your rebate. But you can rest easy with the knowledge that your iPod will be comfy in its new home.

-Ditto new iPod headphones... though the substandard quality of the phones hardly makes it worth it.

-But your Nano can travel in style with a Belkin leather folio for the iPod Nano, which looks great and rings in at only $29.95 CAD.

So there are plenty of options for spending your $45 of Apple credit. Cupertino seems to have their battery problems in check, and the iPhone is (supposedly) on its way north. Crossed fingers, Canada, we’re going to be okay.