when I try to play mp3 files in totem, it says 'The playback of this movie requires a MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) decoder plugin which is not installed.'.
Please help me..

Try searching for package "mp3-decoder" and installing it?

With Debian "Lenny" just add the multimedia repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list with this line:

And you will have all the necessary multimedia stuff available in your package manager for installation.

Every time you modify source.list you have to:

When I search for mp3-decoder, I get vlc. Then I did 'apt-get install vlc', I get this error message. This is the same for mplayer also.






Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
vlc: Depends: vlc-nox (= 0.8.6.h-4+lenny2) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libavcodec51 (>= 0.svn20080206-8) but it is not going to be installed or
libavcodec-unstripped-51 (>= 0.svn20080206-8) but it is not installable
Depends: libiso9660-5 but it is not installable
Depends: libsdl-image1.2 (>= 1.2.5) but it is not installable
Depends: libtar but it is not installable
Depends: libvcdinfo0 (> 0.7.23) but it is not installable
Depends: libvlc0 (>= 0.8.6.h) but it is not going to be installed
Depends: libwxbase2.6-0 (>= 2.6.3.2.2) but it is not installable
Depends: libwxgtk2.6-0 (>= 2.6.3.2.2) but it is not installable
Depends: libxosd2 (>= 2.2.13) but it is not installable
E: Broken packages

Just do as Davno suggested:

1) Add a line to /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org lenny main

2) Run 'apt-get update' (you have to be root for this)

3) Run 'apt-get install gstreamer0.10-lame' which will install the mp3 encoder/decoder (you have to be root for this too)

Your mp3 should now play. If not in Totem, then in sound-juicer or xmms. You can also try installing VLC again.

Thank you for your help.

I did it and it installed well. But still the problem persists. I can't play media file in totem (sound-juicer either; they're the onlyones I got). And I get the same error while trying to install vlc.

What I currently have is a basic debian installation. I used just the CD-1.

Sorry for posting again, but I think I don't have any sound in my debian.

Do you have alsa installed?
jdk

yes I have.

Strange problem. I have one guess, though: maybe you have some broken packages. It couldn't hurt to run a fix for broken packages - so run the command 'apt-get install -f'. See if there is any improvement.

This is the output for 'apt-get install -f'

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 16 not upgraded.


All problems still persist. I said I'm having a basic debian installation. So, I think it didn't have the codecs. Actually it doesn't have anything - just the browsers an totem. But I have a debian(kde) - my installed one is gnome - live-cd. Would it be of any use?

Try enabling some audio channels in the sound mixer. To do this, double-click the little volume icon in the corner of the screen and it will open the sound mixer. Unmute everything, especially the "Front" channel, and raise the volumes on the channels. Then run the command 'gnome-sound-properties' and press the test buttons - do you hear a beep?

If the above still doesn't work, run the command 'lspci' and post the output here. We will be able to see what sound card you have.

Yes, I was able to hear the beeps for all. But I got this message when I run 'gnome-sound-properties'

Unable to start the settings manager 'gnome-settings-daemon'.
Without the GNOME settings manager running, some preferences may not take effect. This could indicate a problem with Bonobo, or a non-GNOME (e.g. KDE) settings manager may already be active and conflicting with the GNOME settings manager.

Sorry posting again. But, Please someone help me......

I just found out that I can play Audio CDs in Sound juicer. But I still can't play in totem and I can't nstall vlc or mplayer. A lot of packages get 'unmet dependencies' apart from these.

Can you describe in details how you made the installation of yours? Which CD did you install from, and where did you download it from? Did you install the desktop environment, or did you make a minimum installation only and add the desktop afterwards (and how)? I can't understand if you installed KDE or GNOME.