On 64bit systems :i386 codec packages cannot be installed. Media cannot be played.

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

I really hope this is a duplicate of some other bug, but I haven't found one.

In a fresh install of Precise 64bit, if you try to play media like Mp3, you're asked to install codecs. But none of the codecs can be installed because of package dependency issues. In reality, this means a normal user cannot play music or video on Ubuntu, though it's easily fixed by installing ubuntu-restricted-extras, which use 64bit codecs.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Make a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 64bit. Do not choose to install codecs during installation.
2) Open a media file.
3) Select the defaults in the plugin installer that appears.
4) Notice the package dependency error.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: sessioninstaller 0.20+bzr123-0ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Apr 21 12:13:22 2012
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/session-installer
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Alpha amd64 (20120315)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/python2.7
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANGUAGE=nb_NO:nb:no_NO:no:nn_NO:nn:en
 LANG=nb_NO.UTF-8
SourcePackage: sessioninstaller
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

Seems the issue is actually that the codec download tool picks the wrong package by default. If it picked the top one in the list it would be fine.