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Is it possible to view which artists are available on Ubuntu One music service without subscribing first?

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You don't need to make any monetary subscription to access the Ubuntu One music store. All you need is a free Ubuntu One account (of course, if you want to purchase any songs on the store you'll need a credit card).

The range of music available will depend on where in the world you're located. The range should be pretty good if you are in the US, UK or most of Europe. Outside of those regions the range is a lot smaller, lacking most of the content from major labels.

The subscription music streaming plan is separate from the music store, and lets you stream any music you place in your Ubuntu One storage to a mobile phone. It can stream songs you've bought from the music store, but can just as easily stream songs you've ripped from CDs locally.

Looking at it from the other end, while you can stream purchased music using the subscription plan, the subscription is not necessary to enjoy the purchased music on the desktop (or any other system you copy the purchased music to: the purchases are DRM free).

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Thank you, James, but it's not strictly true, that it doesn't require any monetary subscription. It requires the card number first, then it bills it for $1.00 to check if it is valid, then I'm not sure there is a true opt-in before the month expires. “The range is pretty good ... if you in the US, UK or most of Europe” is a non-answer. It doesn't help to decide if it worth it. – sastanin Nov 25 '11 at 13:59
It sounds a lot like you are talking about sign up for the music streaming service rather than the music store. As I said in my answer, the streaming service doesn't give you access to any content you don't already own: it is simply provides a way to access that content from mobile devices. Accessing the Ubuntu One Music Store (from within Banshee) should not require any credit card details until you decide to purchase something. – James Henstridge Nov 28 '11 at 6:27
Thanks @James. I misunderstood what the service is about. I thought that it is unlimited streaming of the artists available from the music store, for a flat monthly fee. If it is simply streaming of what I put there myself it doesn't worth paying. Thank you for the answer. – sastanin Nov 30 '11 at 13:35
Well, I don't think we'd be able to afford to license all that music at $1/month ($4/month for music streaming subscription minus $3/month for the 20GB of storage it includes). It would be pretty cool if we could though :-) – James Henstridge Dec 1 '11 at 0:03

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