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I am after a title that is only available on iTunes - but I use Linux exclusively


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Old 14-05-2012, 17:22
alcockell
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Hi folks,

I bought my laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled...

I have now heard of an album that I want that is only available on the iTunes Store.

iTunes won't work with Linux. At all.


What are my options re getting this album legally?
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Old 14-05-2012, 17:31
Arkudos
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You can't download anything from the store without iTunes, so even if you borrowed someone's iOS device and bought it on your own account there would be no way to get it onto the PC.

So you can't get it legally, I suppose.
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Old 14-05-2012, 17:37
alcockell
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You can't download anything from the store without iTunes, so even if you borrowed someone's iOS device and bought it on your own account there would be no way to get it onto the PC.

So you can't get it legally, I suppose.
Stupid, isn't it.

It's actually the TIME Musical rerelease I'm after.

Oh well - looks like I'll be trekking round via the official website, trace the copyright owners through Companies House, and start a lobbying campaign for them to release to We7 and/or Amazon.. just so I can buy the bloody thing...

Or wait a few months for someone to buy it, transcode it, and then download the thing...

What galls me is - I HAVE MONEY! DAVE, I SAW IT FIRST TIME AROUND, I BOUGHT THE BLOODY ALBUM ON VINYL BACK IN THE DAY - I WANT TO BUY THE BASTARD!

Just *make it easy*!

And they wonder why people pirate stuff...
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Old 14-05-2012, 17:38
alcockell
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Of course - I'd also have had to *register* at iTunes, which I'm not for obvious reasons...

So many ****ing hoops...
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Old 14-05-2012, 18:14
Arkudos
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Just have to look at TV for even worse examples, (HD) recordings are on torrent sites within minutes of the TV airing but even months later there is no digital retailer other than iTunes, cutting off millions of possible buyers.

Bloody crazy.
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Old 14-05-2012, 18:35
alcockell
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Just have to look at TV for even worse examples, (HD) recordings are on torrent sites within minutes of the TV airing but even months later there is no digital retailer other than iTunes, cutting off millions of possible buyers.

Bloody crazy.
Yup - only it's worse. What Dave Clark has done is reinvent the 1940s Speed Wars.

Back then, there were 3 physical record formats and players. Most people initially had 78rpm turntables.
Columbia roll out the 33rpm system, RCA Victor release the 45rpm kit. Each have their own players. However, at least most *content* was dual-released on the proprietary kit and on 78rpm for backward compatibility.

Today's equiv for TV? Digital release on iTunes, but backward compatible on DVD/Bluray.
Today's for audio? Digital release on iTunes, or Amazon, or We7 or Spotify (more often many). Backward-compatible on CD.

What does Dave do? Sole release on iTunes. This is like ONLY releasing on RCA Victor 45rpm. This means a barrier to entry for a niche release. People would have had to buy an RCA turntable in addition to the bloody record.

In my case - this is "buy a new computer, download iTunes client, register, then buy" One hell of an outlay of cash and time. And for a smaller market.

Took the record industry about 12 years to shake this one out IIRC - and availability of multispeed turntables. (33rpm for LPs, 45rpm for singles). Is it going to take this long for a STANDARD PRODUCT to be available from everywhere?

Oh - and the probable cost of the album - £15 quid?
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Old 14-05-2012, 20:53
Arkudos
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Would it not be an idea to get a USB turntable and record your vinyl? It'll probably sound better than iTunes crippled crap.
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Old 14-05-2012, 21:04
alcockell
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I THINK the vinyl is still down at my mum's..
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Old 15-05-2012, 11:50
swedish cook
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.....

What galls me is - I HAVE MONEY! DAVE, I SAW IT FIRST TIME AROUND, I BOUGHT THE BLOODY ALBUM ON VINYL BACK IN THE DAY - I WANT TO BUY THE BASTARD!

Just *make it easy*!

And they wonder why people pirate stuff...
Bought exactly 1 DRM CD, it had Msoft DRM on it and it wouldn't even play on the PC I downloaded it on, ever since I ripped CDs instead until Amazon MP3 came to the UK.

The rights models that the industry would have us use just don't fit the way people live, all of my family have laptops (2 have no DVD, none have blu-ray), I have a tablet too, we have a couple of media players for the TVs. How do I get a movie that I can play on all these - rip DVDs/blu-rays and put them on a NAS.

In following their misguided approaches they are actually encouraging people to rip the media. Just STOP IT AND SELL ME THE DAMN THING ! I'm convinced that if they sell movies without DRM for half the current price, that they will see a massive increase in profits but they're too blind to see.
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Old 15-05-2012, 12:57
alcockell
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Oh - it gets better.

Spurs Music Publishing and Dave Clark (London) - both private limited companies - are at the same location.. but there's no contact info immediately visible apart from an address.. the same one. No phone number.

If I see complaints about TIME being pirated heavily - I will piss myself laughing... as he hasn't made it easy at all...
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Old 17-05-2012, 12:25
raadsel
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Hi folks,

I bought my laptops with Ubuntu preinstalled...

I have now heard of an album that I want that is only available on the iTunes Store.

iTunes won't work with Linux. At all.


What are my options re getting this album legally?
I have this problem too. I use Linux (with Mint).

You cannot download legally for Linux via iTunes. Also you cannot download legally via amazon, audible or most other download sites.

The options are - illegal or nothing. It's ridiculous!

What are the record companies hoping to achieve? Research shows Linux users on average, given a choice, will pay more for software than your average Windows user.

At the moment, I buy the album legally even though I know I can't download it legally. Then I download illegally it via easily available illegal links. That way it kind of works out - I hope. I tend to buy stuff from artists who aren't well off and I would feel bad about stealing.
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Old 17-05-2012, 12:44
theARE
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havent tried it myself but you might get it running under wine
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...ation&iId=1347

especially if you could track down a version 7 installer as that seems to get good rating running under wine

Looks like http://www.oldapps.com does have version 7 installers

Alternitevly you could get a windows virtual machine running in VirtualBox or something, and install itunes on that
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Old 17-05-2012, 12:56
raadsel
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I tried wine and it didn't work. I hope you have better luck though. Maybe it will work with Ubuntu.
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Old 17-05-2012, 13:36
alcockell
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havent tried it myself but you might get it running under wine
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...ation&iId=1347

especially if you could track down a version 7 installer as that seems to get good rating running under wine

Looks like http://www.oldapps.com does have version 7 installers

Alternitevly you could get a windows virtual machine running in VirtualBox or something, and install itunes on that
Still bloody stupid though. I subscribe to We7 - now if Dave Clark syndicated it through there *as well* - I add some credit to my We7 account - pay, download to own.. job done!

Granted, i AM going to buy a desktop-replacement machine which will have to run Windows for home-working purposes (Citrix)... but I really don't want to have to register and install iTunes for ONE album...
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Old 17-05-2012, 18:31
johnnybgoode83
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I have this problem too. I use Linux (with Mint).

You cannot download legally for Linux via iTunes. Also you cannot download legally via amazon, audible or most other download sites.

The options are - illegal or nothing. It's ridiculous!

What are the record companies hoping to achieve? Research shows Linux users on average, given a choice, will pay more for software than your average Windows user.

At the moment, I buy the album legally even though I know I can't download it legally. Then I download illegally it via easily available illegal links. That way it kind of works out - I hope. I tend to buy stuff from artists who aren't well off and I would feel bad about stealing.
Not true. I have Ubuntu 12.04 set up and can happily download away from Amazon MP3 using the mp3 downloader software. You have to download additional libraries which I will share later when I get home and am at my personal computer. Mint is Ubuntu based so it should work.
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Old 18-05-2012, 00:13
wakey
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Oh - it gets better.

Spurs Music Publishing and Dave Clark (London) - both private limited companies - are at the same location.. but there's no contact info immediately visible apart from an address.. the same one. No phone number.

If I see complaints about TIME being pirated heavily - I will piss myself laughing... as he hasn't made it easy at all...
You are acting like Linux users are a big market. It's not its a minority market. That's the very reason that most of the media stores don't support Linux, the user base just doesn't justify the expense of adding support to it (and the other is then lack of DRM support on Linux).

And no doubt it's the cost that's seen it released only on iTunes. The cost of supporting multiple stores for a minority Title no doubt makes it pointless supporting anything but the biggest store. Most fans of it will buy it via iTunes even if it means creating an account and the few who couldn't are again no doubt negligible.
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Old 18-05-2012, 10:57
johnnybgoode83
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You are acting like Linux users are a big market. It's not its a minority market. That's the very reason that most of the media stores don't support Linux, the user base just doesn't justify the expense of adding support to it (and the other is then lack of DRM support on Linux).

And no doubt it's the cost that's seen it released only on iTunes. The cost of supporting multiple stores for a minority Title no doubt makes it pointless supporting anything but the biggest store. Most fans of it will buy it via iTunes even if it means creating an account and the few who couldn't are again no doubt negligible.
So don't use specific download software, allow users to download through their browser like 7Digitial do. Regarding DRM, that is not necessary in downloads, Amazon MP3 and 7Digital don't sell music with DRM and they are thriving. Also, developers offered to implement DRM so that Netflix could be supported natively and they were snubbed.

By the way folks here is how to install Amazon Downloader in later versions of Ubuntu (I imagine it would work in other Ubuntu based distros too).

Enter the following commands into a Terminal and download and install the installer normally.

mkdir old_boost
cd old_boost
wget https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/34165...untu2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
cd
rm -r old_boost
cd ~/Downloads
sudo apt-get install libglademm-2.4-1c2a
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Old 18-05-2012, 12:51
captainkremmen
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You are acting like Linux users are a big market. It's not its a minority market. That's the very reason that most of the media stores don't support Linux, the user base just doesn't justify the expense of adding support to it (and the other is then lack of DRM support on Linux).

And no doubt it's the cost that's seen it released only on iTunes. The cost of supporting multiple stores for a minority Title no doubt makes it pointless supporting anything but the biggest store. Most fans of it will buy it via iTunes even if it means creating an account and the few who couldn't are again no doubt negligible.
And there in lies the problem.

The RIAA and BPI are constantly banging on about the need for such restrictions to protect minority and up and coming artists from piracy, yet it tends to be these very minority artists whose products are niche so only end up on the bigger stores and not licensed across the board. Unfortunately that makes it more likely, not less likely, that those who like their music on an OS such as Linux will pirate, because they have no real choice.

What's needed is a wholesale market for online content, similar to that which exists for physical media. Then if someone decides to start an online store that does support Linux and other niche operating systems, they only have to deal with a wholesaler rather then negotiating deals with each individual record company. It would also give standard, flat pricing in most cases and open up the whole catalogue to any store that wants it. This is pretty much how it works for physical media. If I want to start an actual record store I deal with a wholesaler who can supply pretty much any product on the market, and I don't have the extra time and expense of negotiating with individual record companies.

OP most MP3's available from Amazon and Itunes have no DRM these days. In theory you could have a friend download the ablum, you pay them for it, and they stick the MP3 files on a USB stick or CD for you and, to keep it legal (although doing so may break the terms and conditions of the actual store, but whose to know?), they simply delete the album from their own system once they pass the files on to you.
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Old 18-05-2012, 13:49
johnnybgoode83
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It is really very simple RE Linux support, as I have said. Most browsers (the exceptions being IE and Safari) are supported by Linux so why not allow users to download content via Firefox/Chrome/Opera instead of requiring the use of specialised software? Surely that would make greater business sense.
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Old 18-05-2012, 14:11
alcockell
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It is really very simple RE Linux support, as I have said. Most browsers (the exceptions being IE and Safari) are supported by Linux so why not allow users to download content via Firefox/Chrome/Opera instead of requiring the use of specialised software? Surely that would make greater business sense.
A-frakkin-men!
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Old 18-05-2012, 14:15
alcockell
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So don't use specific download software, allow users to download through their browser like 7Digitial do. Regarding DRM, that is not necessary in downloads, Amazon MP3 and 7Digital don't sell music with DRM and they are thriving. Also, developers offered to implement DRM so that Netflix could be supported natively and they were snubbed.

By the way folks here is how to install Amazon Downloader in later versions of Ubuntu (I imagine it would work in other Ubuntu based distros too).

Enter the following commands into a Terminal and download and install the installer normally.

mkdir old_boost
cd old_boost
wget https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/26959...untu1_i386.deb https://launchpadlibrarian.net/34165...untu2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
cd
rm -r old_boost
cd ~/Downloads
sudo apt-get install libglademm-2.4-1c2a
Have you or whoever raised a bug to get this all packaged up and in the repos?
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Old 18-05-2012, 14:26
johnnybgoode83
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Have you or whoever raised a bug to get this all packaged up and in the repos?
It's not actually a bug. Amazon haven't updated their downloader since Ubuntu 9.10 after which libboost was upgraded to a newer version. Fortunately the old and new versions can coexist with no issues. It's an Amazon issue rather than an Ubuntu issue.
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Old 18-05-2012, 14:46
alcockell
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It's not actually a bug. Amazon haven't updated their downloader since Ubuntu 9.10 after which libboost was upgraded to a newer version. Fortunately the old and new versions can coexist with no issues. It's an Amazon issue rather than an Ubuntu issue.
Sorry - a "bug" in a bug tracker doesn't always mean a bug in the traditional sense. The Ubuntu project asks for new software that needs packaging into Debian format to have a "needs-packaging bug" raised in Launchpad, their tracker.

Means then that their release-management team are aware.

Easiest way would be to get Amazon and Canonical to talk to each other and get it into the Partner repo - so the download manager is available through synaptic/software centre - only an apt-get install away.
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Old 18-05-2012, 16:00
johnnybgoode83
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Amazon just needs to update their Downloader for newer versions of the OS. Is there anyone still using 9.10?
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Old 18-05-2012, 16:37
alcockell
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Amazon just needs to update their Downloader for newer versions of the OS. Is there anyone still using 9.10?
Agreed... and if they liaise with Canonical, it gores into the Partner repo... and therefore into the Ubuntu Software Centre...

Dave Clark releases to Amazon, We7 and Spotify...

DONE!
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