I recently upgraded to openSUSE 13.1 and now kaffeine is acting sketchy. I have tried downloading and installing codecs and now I don't even remember which codecs I'm using. I read that kde4 repos can't be used - I need kde3 repos. (not even sure which kde I have - I assume kde4). So I found a link from the openSUSE-community website that has a one-click install of the codecs I should need/use. My question is should I uninstall my current codecs (and how to?) beforehand? I want to be sure nothing else is interfering with the right codecs.

Do you have the w64codecs and/or w32codecs installed? There's also libk3b6-extracodecs, but that's for playing CD/DVDs.
jdk

I would think I installed the w32 codecs as that's what my processor is. How to install libk3b6-extracodecs? I couldn't find them using Yast.

you need to read the "restricted formats"
http://en.opensuse.org/Restricted_formats

and read the media guide post
https://forums.opensuse.org/entry.ph...allation-Guide

there are patent and copyright issues
so they are not included and might be illegal depending on where you live

No, I don't believe they are installed automatically for reasons that John VV mentioned. "libk3b6-extracodecs" is the Debian name for the package. OpenSuse may have a different name and they may be placed in a different repository for the reasons John VV wrote about.
jdk