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Ubuntu MP3 codec installation problem

Hi all,

I'm new to Ubuntu and am trying to listen to mp3's. Trouble is, when i go to install the codecs i confirm that i want to install restricted software, another box comes up saying 'the list of applications is not available'. So i click on refresh then it searchs for codecs. I click on the codec again, (GStreamer extra plugins) confirm that i want to install restricted software, another box comes up saying 'the list of applications is not available'. So basically, i cannot check the check box to allow the program to install.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

PS Ive tried downloading packages from the ubuntu site, but i dont know if i want the good the bad or the ugly lol, or if i want universe or multiverse.
PPS, its Ubuntu 7.10

THANKS
Jack

The preferred approach to playing mp3s and such is to convert them to a nen-restricted format. For this you need ffmpeg2theora, which is a CLI tool which handles most proprietary audio and video formats.

If you want to play streaming content, you are better off to save the file and convert it. If the content has DRM, you're bunta'd anyway.

But if you really want to know, have a look here for my favorite method.

But: from now on, save all media as ogg or flacc.

Tiotion: how did you get on?

There is also:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=579701

While the add/remove software thing is neet - most of us use the CLI (unambiguous) os synaptic (searchable).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiotion (Post 3012099)

Perhaps you need to do one or maybe two things. Check that you have the universe and multiverse repositories enabled. Use Synaptic package manager>settings>repositories and make sure the boxes are checked for universe and multiverse. Then in the main Synaptic window click Reload. When it's finished try again to get the codecs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Bridge (Post 3012112)

The preferred approach to playing mp3s and such is to convert them to a nen-restricted format.

This is not the case and is also a really really bad idea. Re-encoding a lossy format to another lossy format gives very poor results. Not even Richard Stallman or the Free Software Foundation recommend this. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/audio/audio.html#Guide

Quote:

Please avoid transcoding HiFi audio from MP3 to Ogg Vorbis. By doing so, you will create Ogg Vorbis files of a lower sound quality than the original MP3. Instead, please encode to Ogg Vorbis directly from the uncompressed source.

I've heard RMS say the same in a podcast as well, actually stating there is no point in transcoding mp3 to ogg.