Comment 1 for bug 528910

Thank you for the report, I appreciate the calm and reasoned approach taken on what can be a highly emotive subject.

I'd like to respond to the specific points in your report. I'm not going to change the status of the bug for the moment, in order to encourage conversation here. In due course, we'll make a decision and resolve the bug one way or another.

1. On the music format, it's true that in some jurisdictions there are still patents involved in MP3 playback that preclude easy adoption of open source players. But the format is not proprietary in any sense - there are no restrictions on the use of the content, no DRM, no other problems. And MP3 is the de facto standard for digital music. We can certainly ask our partners to recode music in Ogg format, but that's their decision, and it would be based on whether there was sufficient demand for it. Getting lots of people buying music from Ubuntu is the best way to build credibility for the case that EVEN MORE people would buy it in a patent-free format. If you know a better way to make that case to the music industry, please do invest time and energy on that.

2. The music is sold at a price. This does *not* go against the Ubuntu ethos. Ubuntu is not a priceless ecosystem, there are hundreds of companies that offer services and content for a reasonable charge in the Ubuntu ecosystem. We strongly support open content (the Free Culture Showcase is an example) and open source, but we have also been pragmatic from the beginning, with a willingness to include proprietary drivers, but not proprietary apps. We know there are risks in pragmatism, but there are also risks in puritanism :-). We go to some length to have Ubuntu certified for use with proprietary software, from the server to the client, from DB2 to Flash. Most importantly, we are not in the game of telling artists to give their content away for free, though we are glad to help provide distribution mechanisms for those who do, as well as those who sell their work.

3. Community involvement in the store is limited, but think of this as the first iteration. Over time, we will create the ability for alternative content uploads, including content under open licenses like Creative Commons. This is a prototype to see if the idea has legs. If this is an area about which you are passionate, then please to get involved. Ubuntu is not only the set of things purely provided by the community. That is a naive view of the project, and misses the real strength of the willingness of both Canonical, community (and other organisations) to collaborate on Ubuntu. *That combination of strengths* is the unique thing that Ubuntu brings, and therefor is not something we should be blind to.

4. Ubuntu One will enable you to get the music you buy, instantly on any of your Ubuntu One enabled devices. It's not about the store, it's about the way you consume and sync the content.

Mark