Purchasing from Online Music Stores in Font

Print Code 3/9 in Font Purchasing from Online Music Stores

Rhythmbox allows you to purchase albums from the Jamendo, Magnatune, and Ubuntu One online music stores. Jamendo works on the principle of Creative Commons (see http://creativecommons.org), so many tracks are free of charge, although you can donate money if you want. Under the Stores heading on the leftmost pane of the Rhythmbox window, click Magnatune or Jamendo. You ll see a brief introduction to the store while the catalog is downloaded. After the catalog is downloaded (indicated by the status bar at the bottom right of the program window), you will be able to browse through the available tracks, as if they were on your own computer. They will be sorted by artist and track name. Double-clicking each track will download and play a high-quality preview.

Note The first time you try to browse music on the Jamendo or Magnatune labels, Rhythmbox will have to download the full artist catalogs. Jamendo currently has nearly 20,000 artists, so this will take a few minutes even on a broadband connection. You might want to fix yourself a beverage while you wait!

The main toolbar of Rhythmbox has changed in the latest Ubuntu release. Several new icons appear, allowing you to purchase and download the album, buy a physical CD, or learn more about the artist. The Ubuntu One music store behaves more like a web page embedded within the Rhythmbox window, and you can start browsing it straight away, as long as you re connected to the Net.

Songs from Jamendo are free to listen to, download, and share. Jamendo allows any artist to upload his or her music under one of the some rights reserved licenses published by Creative Commons. Fans can join the Jamendo community free of charge, write reviews, and share music with other members, and if you d like to support an artist with a donation, Jamendo makes it easy to do that.

Tip Not only can you download the tracks from Jamendo, but you can also remix many of them or use snippets of them in your own music. All of this is because of the artists choice to use Creative Commons licenses. Many of them opt for a license which permits you to do exactly what you want with their music, as long as you credit the original artist and pass on the same rights to other people if you redistribute your work.

If you want to download an album, select a song in the music list that is included in the album you would like to download, and then click the Download Album button on the toolbar. Firefox will visit a URL that includes a BitTorrent tracker file effectively, a small file that opens the Transmission BitTorrent client built into Ubuntu. BitTorrent will then attempt to download the entire album.

Note BitTorrent is a unique file-sharing system designed to share bandwidth. Depending on your hardware setup, you might need to alter your router or firewall settings for it to work efficiently. For more information, see www.dessent.net/btfaq/.

If you want to make a donation to an artist, select a song in the music list that the artist performed, right-click it, and select Donate to Artist, or click the Donate to Artist button on the toolbar. Firefox will direct you to a web site where you can fill in a form to complete your donation by Paypal or credit card.

Magnatune operates on a different basis from Jamendo. Like a traditional record label, Magnatune is picky about its artists, with only a few hundred on its books, but, unlike a regular label, it lets you the customer try before you buy. With Magnatune, you can preview any song in its entirety through your Rhythmbox player without paying a penny. At the end of each song you listen to, you will hear an announcement telling you the name of the track and artists, and inviting you to become a member of Magnatune.