This time we’ve got real, as opposed to potential, Amazon news… They’ve released a Linux MP3 Download Manager for their DRM-free music service. Ubuntu 7.10, Debian 4, Fedora 8, and OpenSUSE 10.3 systems are covered. While you don’t necessarily need the software app to download individual tunes from Amazon, the Downloader provides an efficient interface and supports downloading entire albums. As you can see from the screengrabs, I’ve gone ahead and installed it on Ubuntu and purchased the new Nine Inch Nails “album” (36 tracks) for $5.
(via Gizmodo)
Thank you Amazon! Now if I could just get the whole HDCP signal path issue addressed for Ubuntu. Hmmmm…
The linux client works much better than the wine-enabled win32 version–
http://assert-false.blogspot.com/2007/12/using-amazon-mp3-downloader-on-gutsy.html?ext-ref=comm-sub-email
I was using to album-download. That wouldn’t add a preceding zero to tracks 1-9, which subsequently aggravated several pieces of software I manage my music with. The wine-enabled version’s UI was also inaccessible, the software, once initially installed in wine, would be just capable of handling the download process for a .amz file.
I’m really happy that Amazon has enabled mainstream DRM-free music purchasing for so many systems. This is how iTunes could have worked from the start.