Please be gentle with this relative Linux-on-the-desktop newbie.

Here's my issue:

I'm running FC2 and recently added a USB headset (Logitech 300). Much to my delight, as soon as I plugged in the headset it worked! So I am now using Skype with all my friends, etc.

Trouble is, today I decided I wanted to listen to some music on my PCs speakers. And it doesn't appear that any of the media player applications (realplayer, xine, alsa player, kaboodle) has a selector available to send output to the sound card instead of the headset. I also can't find any selector in the KDE control center. Nor have I had luck with google searches.

Surely I'm not the only freak who wants to be able to switch between speaker sound via a sound card and headset sound via a USB headset. So surely there's a simple answer! (Yes, I know, wishful thinking.)

Just an idea ... did you try 'kmix' ?

Yes. Kmix provides settings controls for both my "Logitech USB Headset" and my "Sound Fusion CS46xx" but doesn't seem to provide any way to select one or the other for output. No matter what I do, all my software prioritizes the headset.

Another data point: all of my media player applications go to the headset, but any audio that comes via the web into Firefox goes to the speakers. In no case can I figure out how to control the settings to force one or the other.