ok, as it is now, i have 2 major problems with sound. and sound is the only thing thats been messing up since i got linux so i reallllly want some help cause this is pissing me off. ive tried and tried to fix it myself. im installing alsa stuff as we speak, so that could fix things. ill post when im done.

first of all, sound lags by about 1 second on most things. so if im watching a movie, ill see their lips move THEN ill hear it. that kinda makes me twitch in a kind of pain. it happens the worst with flash movies.

also, sound does not over lap. what i mean by over lap is that, if i want to watch a movie(with sound) i have to STOP xmms completely, then open the movie program(not just the movie) and then i can hear it. if i want to watch a flash movie, i have to stop xmms about 2 or 3 webpages early. also, my GAIM doesnt make noise. and that is a problem because i dont pay much attention to it. and as long as i have music on(and i always do) then ill never hear the noise telling me to go check if im reading a forum(ie:this one)

also, i cant play CDs....how do you play CDs????

No 'overlap' happens cause some application (often times xmms itself) is locking the sound device in exclusive mode. This is often the case with alsa. I got rid of similar issues by changing kernels and going to OSS.

issue with lag on sound indicates codec issues. Try changing media players or downloading and installing codec packs.

AudioCD issue is either related to no hardware cable on the CDRom drive (little sound cable that goes from cdrom to motherboard), which is needed for hardware playback. Otherwise your media player does not support whatever you are trying to play. Again try switching media players.

Also remember, that RedHat and Fedora by default does not support a lot of media because of licencing issues. You'll need to take a look around to figure out MP3 playback fix, for instance.

ive downloaded the rpm so i could play mp3s. im playing one right now.

and the overlapping happens to all sound. often times when a convo ends ill hear like 5 or 6 "incoming IM" noises.