Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-project (103 mails)
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Re: [opensuse-project] Ubuntu One Music Store -- what will openSUSE be doing?
- From: Jeff Mitchell <mitchell@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:35:49 -0500
- Message-id: <4B800F65.8080309@xxxxxxx>
On 2/20/2010 9:46 AM, Martin Schlander wrote:
It could be, if the API is open, which I would imagine it is (somewhat)
as the source code is open. But there's no reason for us to do it if all
that happens is it makes Canonical money, and that Amarok gets no
benefit from it. Canonical could pay someone to do some bespoke
development to get it in Amarok (they won't), at which point we may or
may not accept it upstream.
So far our policy for music stores has been pretty strict: they must
allow full-length previews, they must allow tracks that have been
purchased to be redownloaded at any time, and they must allow tracks to
be purchased in a free format (which could be in addition to a non-free
format). If there is money to be made by changing some of these policies
(like nearly every open source project we could always use more money)
then maybe there's reason to consider revising it -- but without some
profit-sharing from the UOMS there's not much reason for us to do so.
Revising this policy may get some anger from those music stores that
have taken a chance on free software and free formats and have either
been integrated or want to be integrated into some of these players. And
I wouldn't blame them. So even with profit-sharing, it may be a no-go.
(This doesn't mean it couldn't be provided as a plugin, instead of
living in our source tree.)
As far as anybody currently knows/guesses, the UOMS is really just a
front for Amazon's MP3 store, and will carry MP3s. Maybe this will
change or is wrong, but remarks Canonical has made in the past suggest
it. Amazon also has their (DRMed) video-on-demand service and there's no
reason to think that Canonical wouldn't want a piece of that pie too.
Remember that Ubuntu is by far the most popular "switch" distro for
people switching to Linux from Windows. Many of those people may not
really care about open formats or even open source, as opposed to a
platform where they aren't infected with viruses every three days. That
may be Canonical's real target.
Check out the Magnatune stores in Amarok and Rhythmbox :-)
--Jeff
I don't think you mentioned if Amarok have a policy for such a thing - would
you guys ever integrate it into "mainline" Amarok? .. of course an opt-in 3rd
party script is a different matter.
It could be, if the API is open, which I would imagine it is (somewhat)
as the source code is open. But there's no reason for us to do it if all
that happens is it makes Canonical money, and that Amarok gets no
benefit from it. Canonical could pay someone to do some bespoke
development to get it in Amarok (they won't), at which point we may or
may not accept it upstream.
So far our policy for music stores has been pretty strict: they must
allow full-length previews, they must allow tracks that have been
purchased to be redownloaded at any time, and they must allow tracks to
be purchased in a free format (which could be in addition to a non-free
format). If there is money to be made by changing some of these policies
(like nearly every open source project we could always use more money)
then maybe there's reason to consider revising it -- but without some
profit-sharing from the UOMS there's not much reason for us to do so.
Revising this policy may get some anger from those music stores that
have taken a chance on free software and free formats and have either
been integrated or want to be integrated into some of these players. And
I wouldn't blame them. So even with profit-sharing, it may be a no-go.
(This doesn't mean it couldn't be provided as a plugin, instead of
living in our source tree.)
openSUSE doesn't have mp3 support (fluendo+gstreamer) out of the box anymore
does it? That would be one major problem - since I assume the Ubuntu store
wouldn't sell OGG Vorbis or Flac - or perhaps even wav?
As far as anybody currently knows/guesses, the UOMS is really just a
front for Amazon's MP3 store, and will carry MP3s. Maybe this will
change or is wrong, but remarks Canonical has made in the past suggest
it. Amazon also has their (DRMed) video-on-demand service and there's no
reason to think that Canonical wouldn't want a piece of that pie too.
Remember that Ubuntu is by far the most popular "switch" distro for
people switching to Linux from Windows. Many of those people may not
really care about open formats or even open source, as opposed to a
platform where they aren't infected with viruses every three days. That
may be Canonical's real target.
It would also be a bit problematic to promote and support a competitor of
openSUSE.
So I'd say Ubuntu music store should be a no-go - unless it provides a
significant advantage over other options that I'm not aware of.
But generally speaking I wouldn't mind it if openSUSE shipped integration
with
a for-profit, non free software/free culture related music store - as long as
it offered music in formats supported by openSUSE out of the box, without DRM
and doesn't belong to a competitor of openSUSE.
Check out the Magnatune stores in Amarok and Rhythmbox :-)
--Jeff
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