05.01
It has been a bold move, for Canonical to partner with 7Digital to provide the Ubuntu One Music Store where Ubuntu users can download DRM free digital music (unambiguously legally). Because Canonical has partnered with 7Digital they have a sizable music portfolio available in their store, though not as extensive as the iTunes or Amazon stores.
The general user experience of the Ubuntu One Music Store is pretty good, Canonical by default supplies a Rhythmbox extension to integrate with the store. Banshee users haven’t been forgotten either, these is a extension for them as well.
Enough praise for now… I have been experiencing a severe lag between buying music and actually having it appear in Rhythmbox, I’m guessing this is just a post-release overload spike which will straighten out after a few days.
The shop also has some inconsistencies, for example not all music is made available at the same bitrate, some can be downloaded at 192kbit/sec, some at 256kbit/sec and some at 320kbit/sec. They do explicitly advertise this, so you are aware of the bitrate before purchasing. To be honest I don’t even care that much about any particular bitrate, it’s the inconsistency that annoys me most…
The track’s metadata isn’t perfect as well, lots of tracks do not seem to have been assigned a proper genre, as Rhythmbox just displays Unknown. Also some tracks have coverart embedded in them (which seems like a very good idea), and others don’t, no consistency can be found here either. Luckily Rhythmbox can easily compensate for this by downloading covertart online.
Another thing that’s worth to mention is the fact that the Ubuntu One branding of the Music Store is not just marketing, the Music Store actually integrates with your Ubuntu One online storage account, by uploading the music you buy to your online “cloud” storage. Then your local Ubuntu One client downloads the newly bought tracks to your local machine where Rhythmbox can find them. Pretty cool!
All in all the Ubuntu One Music Store works quite well for most practical purposes, with only some performance and anal retentive issues remaining to solve…
