Comment 39 for bug 528910

Am I the only one who sees a bit of irony in the fact that Ubuntu, out-of-the-box, cannot play MP3 files. Yet, the Ubuntu OS will sell MP3 files...? :)

I feel that Ubuntu is severely being held back by its inability to fully play media out-of-the-box -- as a consumer would expect it to.

This might be the legal, FOSS, answer to that dilemma:

A friend has created a way to legally distribute all the multimedia codecs, etc., that most users need, want, and are forced to install manually. If they are in a country where these codecs are legal to download, install, and use, then they are free to use this simple little tool. It's called The One Button. It placed a "red button" icon on the desktop. When clicked, the user is given a list of media codecs, players, etc. that it is about to install. If the user agrees, (and agrees that it is the users own legal responsibility to verify the legality of doing so in his own country and jurisdiction), it's all installed in a few seconds. It then asks the user if he'd like it to delete itself... as it will no longer be needed.

Feel free to try it out. It works on any named version of Ubuntu for which medibuntu has codecs for. It is here:
http://brucewagner.posterous.com/omg-this-is-huge-the-one-button-for-ubuntu