You need codecs, an effective way I found to get them was throught Automatix2 at www.getautomatix.com

go to the media codecs and get the basic media codecs whatever they are, codecs are things that give the player instructions on how to play that media extension

is he using ubuntu automatix is not gonna help if hes not using ubuntu

Hello theonetoblame!
So, you're using ubuntu. OK. I am glad to hear that you can now play and of course listen to your music. I'll make a suggestion, so you will have less trouble in the future. Ubuntu provides a very powerful package manager: Synaptic. Open it, type in the root password when asked, and press the search button. Search for these: w32codecs and madplay.
These packages will solve a lot of problems, which didn't even occurred yet. w32codecs for example, provides a lot of codecs not only for music, but for movies too. With this installed, you will be able to play most video formats with Xine or MPlayer movie players. If Synaptic cannot find w32codecs, you can do one of these things to install this very essential codecs package:

1. In synaptic go to Settings menu, and there click Repositories. Here press New, and select from the scroll-down menu the Binary (deb) option.
In URI line add this: http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/
At the Distribution line add your ubuntu version (breezy, dapper, edgy, feisty or gutsy). Add only one!
At Section(s) line you will need this: free non-free
Press Reload button, and search again for w32codecs.
I recommend this install solution, since this repo will provide you not only this, but other useful packages too.

2. Open a web browser and go here: http://www2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/rel...061022.tar.bz2 This will download the codecs tarball, but this way you will need to copy the codecs manually to the right directory. Where to copy? Here: /usr/lib/codecs/ This should work.

To handle all kinds of compressed files/archives, you will need some packages. Go to Synaptic again, and search for these: tar, bzip2, gzip, p7zip, unzip, zip, rar, unrar, unrar-free, arj, unace, and lzop. With these installed, you will be able to handle most of your compressed archives.

So, you're she. And what brought you to start using Linux? I'm just interested. It is not a negative question, I am just impressed.

Ok. Then press Add. I use Mepis, it is ubuntu based you know, but as we can see there can be some differences. Press add, and type the things I told you in my previous post, so it should work. If the lines like URI, Distribution and Section(s) appear, and they are all blank, you are in the right place.

Sorry. I forgot to mention, that in /usr/lib/ the codecs dir doesn't exist as default, so you have to create one. How did you try to access that folder? In linux as a user you cannot write too much folders, except in /home/ folders for example. If you're logged in as a user (highly recommnded), than you will need to do the following to create that dir. Go to synaptic, and search for package mc. This is Midnight Commander, a clone of Norton Commander (was used in DOS times) for linux. Install it. Open a terminal window, and type su. It will ask for root password, so type in and press ENTER. Now, you're terminal window is now has root permissions. Type mc, and Midnight Commander will start. Here navigate to /usr/lib/ and press F7 key. This will create a new folder, name the folder codecs, and press ENTER. Voila, your codecs folder is now created. With mc you can also access your tarballs, I mean you don't need to extract the contents before copying to somewhere, but mc navigates into the tarball like into a folder. Go inside your codecs tarball, and press F5 key to copy. The other side of mc should be the destination folder.

Well, I am even more impressed. You not only listened to your friend, but you heard him. That is a huge step forward! Really! You know, I hate Window$ too (most of true Linux users do hate it I think), and I did tell "things" about it, and I told people why Open-Source is good, but everybody just listened (I think most girls don't even do that). Nothing more. I can't tell yet, that I converted somebody. Nobody wants to take some time to give it a try. I think this is the biggest problem. They say Win is better, but they say it because they cannot compare it with something else. So: I am really happy that you're not one of those people. One more thing: I am very interested, how long your friend was talking about Linux until you did give it a try?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

This is very very interesting. Can't you send a print-screen of your synaptic? If I could see it, I could tell what to do.
mc should be installed through Synaptic. Press search button there, type mc, mark for installation and apply. After installation is complete, try to start mc again.

su is not a program, it is a command to switch you to Super User (root) mode. Root is the same as Administrator, but this word is used in linux world. Shorter name for Admin. you need to type your admin password there, if doesn't work, try your user password. I don't like ubuntu because of this confused user management. In other distros it is very clear who is the user and who is the root. In ubuntu, well, it is mixed somehow. I never liked when I needed to type the same password as my user password, and there were no real root account. Thats why I never used ubuntu for long time.
my stereotypical?
I think I have much more complex conception about girls. I don't think about them like every girl is the same. I'm not the guy who says this well known phrase: "you know them... girls..." Only those have such thoughts about girls, who never really speak with them.
You are a very good example for what did I say. Not every girl is the same, and true what is true, you are even less the same than others. This is good to see that someone does something against that picture you told before.

Quote:

Can't you send a print-screen of your synaptic?

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...earchformc.png
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...insettings.png
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...oblems/add.png

i searched for mc, but it wasnt there... or at least, i didnt see it. maybe i looked in the wrong places.

i was not aware that the root (admin) password was different from the user password. i have no idea which is which. i only know the password i use to login, but i am the only user name there is, so i guess i am the admin. but would that not make my password the admin, and therefore root, password? only it didnt work to change to super user.

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u...ionfailure.png

well not your stereotypical female... yours because it was you who I was talking to, but not like yours because theyre yours, like they belong to you, or that they are the stereotypes that you agree with or believe or anything...

i did not mean to imply in any way that it was your stereotypical thinking to which i was ranting about. just stereotypes in general. honestly i cant judge you (or anyone, really), i havent even met you, i have no idea what kind of person you are or how you act/what you believe. so im not dissing you (sorry if it seemed that way)

and i didnt mean it like all females are like that, just that that is society's stereotypical view of women... but not that everyone believes that either. but for anyone who does, I want to prove them wrong... I know several men, including some of my teachers and one of my pastors who are biased against women and are still stuck in the thinking that women cant have jobs, they stay at home and love to cook/clean/etc. its annoying to be grouped in a "category" because of gender...

sorry if i insulted you in any way...

...

im done