i can mount as root using the command
mount /dev/sdb6 /mnt/mp3 -t vfat
and
mount /dev/sdb5 /mnt/Films -t vfat
i want to be able to mount both partitions at startup with read write permissions for non root user, i edited the /etc/fstab file by adding the lines

/dev/sdb6 /mnt/mp3 vfat unmask=000 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /mnt/Films vfat unmask=000 0 0

this isnt working, i get the error message mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb6,
or too many mounted file systems
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb5,
or too many mounted file systems
what am i doing wrong? here is fdisk

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 20321 10241406 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda2 20321 238186 109804275 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 20321 60961 20482843+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sda6 60962 238186 89321368+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

Disk /dev/sdb: 122.9 GB, 122942324736 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 238216 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 20321 238186 109804275 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb2 * 1 203 102280+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 204 4266 2047752 82 Linux swap
/dev/sdb5 40641 101586 30716248+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb6 101586 162531 30716248+ b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdb7 162531 238186 38130246 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb8 20322 40640 10240744+ 83 Linux

and here is my edited version of /etc/fstab

LABEL=/ / ext3 defaults 1 1
LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2
none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hdg3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner,kudzu 0 0
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0
/dev/sdb6 /mnt/mp3 vfat unmask=000 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /mnt/Films vfat unmask=000 0 0

any help much appreciated

The option is umask=000 not unmask=000

thanks very much it now works a treat! i really should learn to look more closely. needless to say i feel like a proper tool.