Xine and it would not play MP3s. A friend encountered the exact same thing. Helix was not included... and Xine wouldn't work with MP3s (so I know it wasn't just me).
Um, that is because you need to upgrade the xine.
Which shows you exactly how often I use Xine. Xine has never been "right" for me. i know it has it's supporters... but it's like Gnome to me... that other player/GUi etc. that I look at once in a while and get annoyed with... and remove/stop using.
You also get the added benefit of playing commercial DVDs through Kaffeine, which seems to work better than MPlayer for menus and such.
Mmm... never ever saw the need to play commercial DVDs on my computer. I have a DVD player/TV for that. DVD players are so cheap they are practically giving them away... my PC is reserved for more important things like playing endless hours of World of Warcraft (using Cedega). :-)
Personally... I'd be fine sticking with Helix if it was included in the Guru (or other) builds of Amarok.
Reason #34453 not to rely on shared libraries outside of your application distribution...grrr...
Honestly... it's never bothered me that much :-) I build my own RPMs from time to time... when the apt version isn't suited to my teastes/preferences. In this case, i knew how to install GStreamer and it'll play everythign I have.. i was more than happy to let Pascal build the 1.4 version of Amarok without Helix <grin> C.