Amazon’s MP3 Download Service Now Caters to Linux Users

I’ve been a full-time (more like 95%) Linux user for a while now, and one thing I’ve learned the hard way is that most companies could care less if the OS is supported. Granted, there are a few applications that would require major overhauls in order to function properly, but even small applications that should be supported, aren’t.

Well, Amazon is not looking to leave anyone in the dark (except non-Americans) by updating their MP3 downloader software to work with Linux. Previously, Linux users could download, but it was a chore and was impossible to get full albums at their discounted prices.

The lone downside that I can see is that there are only four distros natively supported: Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE and Fedora. Not surprisingly, the source is not available, leaving users of other distros to convert or extract those files manually. I’ve had great luck with this in the past, however, and doubt it will be a show-stopper for many.

Despite not being a huge fan of online music buying… I really wouldn’t mind Amazon hurrying up and opening up their service to Countries outside of the US.

After installing the program, users can then purchase a complete album (or only selected tracks) from the Amazon.com MP3 page. Purchased tracks can then be downloaded quickly from the Amazon MP3 Downloader, which can also playback the audio files. And because these are DRM free MP3 files, they should integrate easily with any MP3 player configured on your Linux desktop.

Source: Download Squad