Get the Amazon MP3 Downloader Working In Ubuntu 11.10

After the iTunes Store, one of the most popular online mp3 stores is the Amazon MP3 store. It has singles and albums available, a lot of free sampler albums, free music, and a daily deal. When you purchase an album, it is automatically placed in your online music player, and you can also download it using the Amazon MP3 Downloader.

Unfortunately for Ubuntu users, this downloader hasn't been updated for quite a while. In fact, it is up-to-date for version 9.04 of Ubuntu, which was released close to three years ago.

If you go to the download page and install the .deb file, you'll run into quite a few errors. Thankfully, it's possible to get around those errors and sucessfully install it in newer versions of Ubuntu, including 11.10, and these steps should also work in the upcoming version – 12.04 – due in April of 2012.

To get the Amazon MP3 Downloader working, all you need to do is follow the steps outlined below.

First, head to the download page for the Amazon MP3 Downloader, check the box to agree to the terms of use, and download the Ubuntu installer.

Next, open up the Terminal.

Now, use the 'cd' command to switch your working directory to the directory where you downloaded the installer. Below we typed cd Desktop/ as we downloaded the installer to our Desktop.

Finally, type sudo dpkg -i AmazonMP3DownloaderInstaller.deb to install the Downloader.

Unfortunately, as mentioned, there will be quite a few errors that pop up during the installation process.

Normally, typing sudo apt-get -f install would be enough to install the missing libraries and fix the installation, but in this case the libraries we need are too old to be in the current software repositories. There are seven missing libraries:

libboost-filesystem1.34.1
libboost-regex1.34.1
libboost-thread1.34.1
libboost-iostreams1.34.1
libboost-signals1.34.1
libboost-date-time1.34.1
libicu38

Unfortunately, while libboost and libicu packages are available in the current version of Ubuntu, those versions are too new (version 1.46, to be precise). What do we do? We head to packages.ubuntu.com and download the correct version. As you can see above, each of the file names is a link, which will take you to the correct page. Simply choose one of the many mirror sites and download the .deb files to your computer.

Note: the libraries we're downloading are actually part of Ubuntu Hardy Heron (version 8.04), so are out of date. But as the new libraries use their version number as a part of the name, they shouldn't be overwritten by an update, so it will be safe to upgrade.

Once you've downloaded the libraries, type sudo dpkg -i *.deb to install them (assuming you've downloaded them to the same directory as the original Amazon MP3 Downloader was downloaded to; if not, then 'cd' to the new directory before running the command).

Even after installing these seven libraries, there will still be a few libraries missing. These libraries, fortunately, can be installed from the current software repostories. The command – sudo apt-get -f install – is all that's necessary to download and install the three missing libraries.

At this point, you will find the Amazon MP3 Downloader in your Dash (or Applications menu if using the GNOME Classic session.

Success! From now on, when you purchase an album from the Amazon MP3 store, choosing the download option will use the Downloader.