Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution, has announced the official launch of the Ubuntu One music store. Integrated into the Rhythmbox music player in the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 release, the store allows users to purchase downloadable songs and albums.

Ubuntu One Music Store has been in closed beta for a long time, but today it finally entered the public beta so everyone can start using the new service which is available as a plugin for Rhythmbox, the default music player in Ubuntu Lucid (but soon, other music players will also support Ubuntu One Music Store).

The news has been confirmed. Ubuntu One Music Store is how it is going to be called. And it will be there by default in Rythmbox Music Player in Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. And that is NOT welcome because most of us don't use Rythmbox at all. But hold on, Ubuntu One Music Store is going to have a plug-in support as well. That is sweet!

One of the features that was talked about and proposed a few months back was a music store for Ubuntu. Plans were laid out for an Ubuntu One Music Store and the first packages to support this in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS are now available.

One of the features expected with the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 release is the Ubuntu One Music Store (UOMS). The UOMS is a mechanism by which Ubuntu users can purchase songs in the MP3 format, with some of the revenue going to support Canonical.

The developers behind the Ubuntu One Music Store have put a FAQ online, which I’ve reproduced below. I’ve been beta testing the store out for a few days and have bought some singles and albums directly in Rhythmbox. In fact I think I was the first person to buy an album in the store :D It works really well, but clearly it’s not quite finished.

It looks like 7digital are providing the back-end for the Ubuntu One Music Store which is due to land in Ubuntu Lucid at Alpha 3 – real soon now. The screenshots below were taken by me today on my laptop.

The Ubuntu One Music Store is probably one of the most awaited new features of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid. As the details come out, though, it's obvious that the store isn't going to work out as implemented.

Apple started the App Store revolution. Canonical hopes to continue it with the Ubuntu Software Store. The Web has been buzzing a few days about the store - which debuts in Ubuntu 9.10 but may really come together in Ubuntu 10.10. Is there demand for an Ubuntu Software Store?