real/helix setup audio device conflict
 

I've tried to get some audio feeds from the web through real and helix, without success.
been having a ton of trouble with sound in general,....

for attempting stand alone player:

with firefox both real and helix tell me "invalid metafile"

with galeon+helix says:
"bad transport tsp://rx-wes-sea176.rbn.com/farm/*/cspan/g2cspan/live/cspan1db.rm"

galeon+real says:
"cannot open audio device, another application may be using it"
(this is the most troubling to me, since I have been having such a sound headache.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have the feeling I should not use the rpm or installers, as there is a gcc conflict error I run into elsewhere. I think I will next try to compile helix from the source.
must I do something to "uninstall" the two of them first
is it enough to just rm -rf the directories where they live?
I always feel like I am making a mess!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

im on rh9 2.6.31.something.
sndconfig tells me I am using a : Silicon Integrated Systems │
│ [SiS]|SiS7012 PCI Audio Accelerator

(my flashplayer seems to work on galeon --not firefox! the image works but neil armstrong sounds like alvin on nasa.gov!!)

driving me crazy! why is sound such a pain in the ?