Enjoy Yahoo! Music Unlimited on Linux

Disclaimer: This is NOT intended to start a Linux -vs- Windows flamewar, it is to inform Linux users that they can now enjoy the ability to use Yahoo! Music Unlimited on their Linux desktop.

Hit rewind and jump to the Burbank Skatepark around August of 2005. That was when I told Ian that I was going to make the full-time move from Windows to Linux. His reply: “Linux?…but there is no DRM in Linux”. There was nothing more for him to say, it was understood that I was going to have to say good-bye to my beloved Yahoo! Music Unlimited in my personal life. I have to use Windows on my box at work, so I would still have at least 40 hours of visitation rights every week. I am lucky to be able to listen to music while I work, but it becomes more like background music in an elevator when you are focused on work. My workplace YMU visitation rights were not allowing me the freedom to listen to music in a setting that would allow me to fully enjoy the music as it was intended to be, but I was determined to keep Linux as my primary operating system at home. I like to listen to music while I do my geek thing on the computer, but booting into Windows just to listen to music was even more painful than YMU missing from my life at home.

I recently found a tutorial that explained how to install the latest beta release of VMware Server on Ubuntu Linux. VMware Server is a server virtualization technology that allows you to run other operating systems on Linux or Windows. There is no need to shutdown your current operating system in order to use another operating system. You can enjoy both (or more) at the same time.

Unlike your traditional Windows setup, Linux allows you to have multiple virtual desktops. With virtual desktops, you can eliminate the clutter that fills your standard single desktop in Windows. One virtual desktop might contain a browser, a second desktop might contain a text editor, and a third desktop might contain a video player. It is easy to jump between desktops and easy to find what you are looking for without have to move a bunch of windows or try to locate the right program tab in your taskbar. I keep VMware Server running on one of my virtual desktops, just in case I need to do something in the Microsoft Windows universe.

After about a week of tinkering, it occurred to me, Yahoo! Music Engine might run on Windows XP in a virtual server. Sure enough, the Yahoo! Music Engine installs in the Windows virtual server as you would expect it to do so on any regular Windows desktop. I nervously logged into my Yahoo! Music Unlimited account and clicked on the first song that I could see. I was thrilled to discover that it worked.

Thanks to Peturrr and the wonderful VMware Server installation tutorial that they posted at ubuntuforum.org, the fine folks at VMware for their amazing server virtualization technology, and Yahoo! Music Unlimited. Now, you too can enjoy the sweet sounds of Unlimited music while using Ubuntu or other Linux distributions.

Tracy Moon
Yahoo!