Play MP3's with Ubuntu

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Play MP3's with Ubuntu

Play MP3's with Ubuntu
By Brad Trupp (c) 2007

Ok. You just done the standard install and everything is just wonderful. As Ubuntu loads, you hear the odd choice of start-up music playing on your speakers and you think - hey! I want to play my tunes.

You open up a File Browser, find your mp3's and start your player and you get an error.

That is because support for MP3's and number of other formats are not installed by default. The reason is licensing restrictions.

Many multimedia applications using the GStreamer plug-ins to provide support for the different codecs and additional GStreamer plug-ins is what you need to install.

Select Add/Remove... under the Applications menu item to open up the "Add/Remove Applications" window. Type in gstreamer into the search box, press enter, and see what comes up. Lots of applications but not what you are looking for.

Change the Show box from "Supported Ubuntu applications" to "All available Applications" and the list expands. Select "GStreamer extra plugins" to get support for mp3,sid, mpeg1, AC-3 and more. There will be a pop-up indicating that this is restricted software. Read the terms and click on the OK button to accept (or Cancel if you are feel you are not eligible).

Also select the "GStreamer ffmpeg video plugin" if you want to be able to play movies using mpeg, divx, or other formats. Again there will be a popup with the restricted software warning.

Also select "GStreamer plugins for aac, xvid, mpeg2..." and "GStreamer plugins for mms, wavpack,...". This will give you extreme flexibility in what you can play.

Press the "Apply" button. Up comes a confirmation screen to "Apply the following changes". Press the "Apply" button. You will be prompted for your password to perform administrative tasks. Enter it and away we go. Ubuntu will download and install the necessary files.

Once it finishes, close the "Add/Remove Applications" window and you are ready.

Give it a try and enjoy!

This article was written using Version 7.04 (April 2007) of Ubuntu.

Things may be different in newer versions.

Tags: Ubuntu

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