[nflug] Amazon's Linux answer to iTunes is a winner

[Franklin Kumro Jr]

Any screenshots?

On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 11:01 PM, Cyber Source <peter at thecybersource.com> wrote:
> An application that works easily with iphones, itouch and latest ipods would
> be very nice. Every time they change the firmware (itunes) and or the way
> they access the devices and the databases therein, another Linux guys gotta
> figure out the hoops to jump through again. I get really tired of
> jailbreaking things, figuring out which file needs what firmware line, etc..
> It would be REALLY nice to see Apple create an official itunes for Linux,
> not for the song purchasing but more for the device access. But I don't
> think that's gonna happen anytime soon...
>
>
>
>  Robert Wolfe [Admin] wrote:
>
> > *Amazon's Linux answer to iTunes is a winner*
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Mar. 07, 2008
> >
> > Are you a Linux user <http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/#> suffering
> from iTunes store envy? If so, Amazon.com has a deal for you.
> >
> > While any good Linux <http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/#> media
> player, like my own personal favorite Banshee, will let you rip music from
> CDs, there hasn't been a good source to buy music online for Linux players
> ... until now.
> >
> > As part of Amazon's latest MP3 download music offerings, the online retail
> giant is now offering its DRM (Digital Rights Management) free tunes for
> purchase to Linux users. Amazon is doing this by offering a new program,
> Amazon MP3 Downloader for Linux users.
> >
> > Amazon is offering the program in both Debian's DEB and the RPM format. To
> make it easier to install, Amazon is including versions for Debian, Ubuntu,
> Fedora and openSUSE.
> >
> > I installed it without a hitch on the first three, but openSUSE gave me
> trouble. The problem was that openSUSE 10.3 does make it easy to install
> software with its revised Install Software command, if the software package
> <http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/#> is in a YaST repository. If you
> try to use an RPM package directly with Install Software all that happens is
> it starts to run, and then poof, it vanishes and that's the end of that
> installation attempt.
> >
> > There are a couple of ways around this. The first, and one that's well
> known to anyone who's been installing RPMs for a while, is to use the
> following command in a shell:
> >
> > rpm -Uvh new_program.rpm
> >
> > The problem with this command is that it doesn't check to see if you have
> the other files installed that are needed for your new program to run. The
> better alternative is to use yum to do the job since it will automatically
> check the openSUSE program repositories for any missing files.
> >
> > OpenSUSE doesn't come with yum by default, so you'll need to install it
> with the Install Software option. This one, however, because it is in the
> OpenSUSE program libraries should install without a hitch.
> >
> > Once you've installed yum, you can switch to the root user, and install
> your program from the shell with the command:
> >
> > yum localinstall new_program.rpm
> >
> > These is all fine and good, but let's face it, it's got Linux/Unix geek
> written all over it. A better way for those who'd just as soon not face a
> command line every time they want to install an RPM is to set up a local
> repository.
> >
> > You do this by installing openSUSE's createrepo program with, surprise,
> Install Software. Once installed, you set up a local directory for your RPM
> files. I always name mine SUSE_RPM, which hangs off my home directory; but
> whatever works for you will be fine.
> >
> > Install this newly created directory you put in your first RPM file, and
> then run the following from a shell:
> >
> > createrepo /SUSE_RPM
> >
> > Next, bring up YaST and use the Software/Software Repositories command to
> add your newly created local directory as a repository. Congratulations, you
> now have a home for your RPM files that openSUSE will recognize as a proper
> software repository. This, in turn, means you can now just download your
> RPMs to this directory and install them without bothering with a command
> line the next time.
> >
> > Once this was all out of the way, Amazon MP3 Downloader worked like a
> charm. You just search around the Amazon MP3 Store for your favorite songs,
> buy them and let the Downloader take care of bringing the music home. To
> test it out, I used it to buy and download the new Flogging Molly album,
> "Float."
> >
> > The music, which comes at 256K bps and an average price of 99 cents a
> song, played flawlessly both with Banshee and on my iPod Touch after I
> synced the songs over. Since they have no copy protection
> <http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/#>, you can use them on any
> software or portable player that can deal with MP3s.
> >
> > All-in-all, while I'd still like to see a native port of iTunes
> <http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/#> on Linux, the combination of
> Amazon MP3 Downloader and Banshee really gives me everything I could want
> from a media store and player. Try it; I can pretty much guarantee that
> you'll like it.
> >
> >
> > —Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
> > _______________________________________________
> > nflug mailing list
> > nflug at nflug.org
> > http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
> >
>  _______________________________________________
>  nflug mailing list
>  nflug at nflug.org
>  http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug
>



-- 
Frank
Shenanigans!!
I do the voodoo that I do do with sudo!