MP3's and Linux

[Rooster]

I am having problems playing mp3's in Linux. The CD-R w/ the mp3's on it was burned on another puter, under a different OS. I am getting an error saying: Please Check That:
1.You have the correct output plug-in selected.
2.No other programs are blocking the soundcard.
3.Your soundcard is configured properly.

Now, I can play a regular CD through the CD Player prog. But, if I use KDE Media Player, it crashes. And, if I use XMMS, I get the above error. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Statica]

I am not aware of any probs with XMMS and KDE (I dont use KDE),
If you really must use KDE, try using the osd output plugin
but in GNOME it sounds like you are using Esound (enlightened sound), in which case you need to install the xmms-esd or xmms esound output plugin.

http://www.xmms.org/download.html

HTH

[Rooster]

Thanx, Statica. I re-installed linux again and it worked fine until after a reboot. Now, I am getting the same error message. I have had it using the OSS output both when it was working and now that it's not. This seems crazy to me because I havent changed any of the settings in xmms. The only things I have done is changing the background, colors, and fonts of the desktop, terminal and windows. BTW, I am using the ver. of xmms that came with Mandrake 8.0. I actually downloaded ver. 1.2.5 just before I read your reply (1.2.5 is a newer ver., right?). I have not installed it yet, though, because of the fact that I had to download it to my Windows puter because the linux box is not hooked to the net, yet. So, I will have to put that .tar on a floppy or CD-R (depending on the size of course) to get it to the linux puter. So, here goes another question; Anything a newbie may need to know about the install process of these .tar files? Thanx for any help/ideas/urls.

[reboot]

I had a few problems playing MP3's on mine (MDK8/Gnome), so I installed the new xmms. What a mistake!


I can click all day on .mp3 files and nothing will happen. I have to use the stupid KDE player to play them (opened manually), and they're all fuzzy sounding. Sucks.


I'd love to find a good MP3 player that will actually work here...

[Rooster]

Well, I re-installed Linux again and xmms is working again. Now, I'm afraid to reboot. Gotta have my Gravity Kills and Perfect Circle. Also, is there a command to copy all mp3 files from one dir (cdrom) to another dir. I tried this: cp /root/mnt/cdrom/*.mp3 /home/music/ and it didnt work because the /root/.../cdrom/*.mp3 dir or file didnt exist. I was under the impression that "*.mp3" would give me all .mp3 files since * is wild. Any ideas on this one would be helpful also. I cant find anything on the net about this stuff. All the issues others have had are ones I do not have.

[Statica]

Regards suggestions for MP3 players .. try freeamp (www.freeamp.org) I even use its Windoze ports and its great and very light.

Rooster, are u sure that you have a directory /root/mnt/cdrom?

Unless you changed mount points it should be /mnt/cdrom by default.
Here's a tip for you Linux newbies on consoles... the tab key to fill in names of directories/files for you .. try typing out..
cd /mn{TAB}/cd{TAB} .. etc etc, you'll get a hang of it.


Are you sure you arent running the esound daemon?

[Rooster]

Yeah, I knew about the tab thing. I have no idea about the esound daemon. What is it? I just figured out how to copy all the files to the HD. For some reason, I had to put /root/music/ as the destination. Well, now I am back to xmms not even working. Also, Tux Racer doesnt work (sound). I guess it's time to go to Gnome. Hopefully sound will work then.

[Rooster]

Well, it didn't work in Gnome, either. Any sugestions? All the settings in xmms are still default as far as I can see. The plug-ins are all the same. I'm getting my but kicked by the Penguin. How will I know if I am running the esound daemon?

[Statica]

Hmm is it just mp3s or do u have any sound at all? WHat is your snd card?

[Rooster]

The sound card is an Intel 82801 AA AC'97. BTW, the sound is magically working again. I did not try a CD this last time the mp3's didnt work, but I had no sound when I started Tux Racer. The first time I had the mp3 sound problem, I DID have CD sound. So, I have no idea what is goin on with this thing. Sound seems to come and go as it pleases. Sometimes I get sound, sometimes an error message, and sometimes xmms just locks up.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

try running mpg123, mpg321 or amp from another virtual terminal....if it doesn't play your mp3s, then you know that problem isn't with Gnome or KDE. that is, if Mandrake even ships command line tools, anymore. 8)

ummm, you might want to try running lsmod to make sure your soundcard has all the proper mods loaded. if you can play wav's you should be able to play mp3s, though.

multimedia is not my strongpoint, but I'm sure there has to be some mpeg codecs somewhere....you might want to go through the documentation to make sure you have any mpeg related libs that you may need loaded, and in the proper path(s).

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

BTW, to find out if you're running the esound "daemon", you could open an xterm(disregard that, if you're not running X) and type:

su -
(supply superuser password)
ps aux | grep esd

that would be one of the easier ways to see....

[Rooster]

There is an mpeg 1,2,3 plug-in that I have tried when the sound wont work. But, it never helps. Also, the error message, which is kinda confusing, says that it couldnt OPEN the file (input, right?). But, all the suggestions deal w/ output. I think the suggestions are pretty useless. Here's why:

1.You have the correct output plug-in selected. 'I never changed it.
2.No other programs are blocking the soundcard. 'There are usually none running.
3.Your soundcard is configured properly. 'I didnt change the configuration.

Yes, there is a command line to use (when it doesn't work from the "start" menu, it doesn't work from the command line either). So, it doesnt really matter how I start the program.

[Rooster]

Could I do it while not using X, Wicked? And, what exactly does the command do/show me?

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

disregard that directive....if esd is running while X is not, you might have other probs. 8)

that command is going to get a list of all the processes running on your system from ps, then it's going to send it to grep which will sort out any processes that don't contain esd....it's easier that way if you have a ton of processes running. I'm sure you could get more elegant with it, but I'm anything but elegant.

try doing a locate, find or which on "mpg123" or "amp" to see if they exist(with locate or find, find is more reliable) or to see if they're in your $PATH(the which command)...if they are run them from an xterm with a command like:

amp blister_in_the_sun.mp3

or

mpg123 by_demons_be_driven.mp3

some of the mp3 "players" out there are also only pretty frontends for these utilities, so if you don't have them loaded, they won't work. not saying yours are frontends, but some are.

[WickedLittleSlaveBoy]

my only other suggestion would be to have a look at your "console" to see if they're giving any error messages, or start the apps from an xterm and see if that gives you more tangible error messages.

x applications generally don't tell you very much about where they're breaking, but a lot of times they're really complaining on the system console. the error messages you've posted so far mean nothing to me, and it would be difficult to find the problem without knowing where it's breaking.