I think I have called enough attention (and created a lot of confusion) to the mp3 issue, thank you for caring about this and discuss about it. As more people start paying attention on issues the issues are likely getting solved faster. And this post is for the users who look for an answer like me: List of players that play mp3 by default: * MPlayer (from packman) * VLC (video lan client, from their repository) * realplay BMP (no known easy solution yet): people who failed to play mp3 with BMP simply has installed OpenSuSE's bmp (bmp-0.9.7.1-43.i586.rpm) which have mp3 ability stripped. I was told packman offer a BMP package with mp3 support ( http://packman.links2linux.de/package/bmp I failed to install this package because it has no SuSE 10.2 version. It rely on a .so file that do not exist on my SuSE 10.2. So, currently there are yet no known solution to play mp3 with BMP without using commandline. There is also a package called audacious which is a fork of BMP, however for me it doesn't play mp3 as well, YMMV. Banshee (said there is an easy solution, but doesn't work for me. YMMV) SuSE's native banshee package do not support mp3, a replacement package helix-banshee is said to support it. This package is said to be only existing on DVD version's non-oss section. I didn't install by DVD (I use network install) and for me the helix-banshee package do not exist even in opensuse's Internet's non-oss repository. I managed to get and installed a helix-banshee package from ftp.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-Factory-non-oss/inst-source-extra/suse/i586/helix-banshee-0.11.2-27.i586.rpm (but I don't know why today it's no logner there). This package installs fine but still not able to play mp3. Maybe some of you who successfully made banshee work can let us know where you get which rpm that works. If it's true this rpm only exist on DVD version, can we do something to encourage Novell to put it to the non-oss section on offical repository? Totem, Rhythmbox, xmms (easy solution avaiable!) There are easy solution avaiable! But I don't know what. My Totem can play mp3 just fine, my Rhythmbox also, but I knew a fresh SuSE installation cannot. I have installed a lot of packages I googled around for mp3 support and now I don't know which package made mp3 possible. I removed these packages from my system but Totem and Rhythmbox still play mp3 file so these packages should not be responsible for mp3: gstreamer010-plugins-ugly helix-banshee-engine-gst xine-lib libxine I also tried to remove totem and re-install it when disabling packman repository (only to find out if I am using packman's totem). Being sure I am using OpenSuSE oss' totem, I am still able to play mp3. I am really eager to know which package enabled Rhythmbox and Totem, because I am going to recommend other users to use these packages. I knew solution must be easy because when I was trying to solve this problem recent days I strictly control myself only use google and GUI so that all solutions I can find must be usable for novince users. Reference resources: how to enable mp3 playback on xine-based players: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=509097 Listed all restricted formats that stripped from SuSE (but not include all solutions to workaround them, maybe for legal concern): http://en.opensuse.org/Restricted_Formats P.S. I hope we do not forget to mention in all messages posted about solving mp3 problems: that if possible, use ogg which has higher quality and is always playable on all Linux and a lot of players on Windows too. P.S. I am no specialist in this area (just an user) but I think simply blame Novell for not having mp3 native support in OpenSuSE is not very helpful for solving this problem (when most of the fault is on the mp3 patent holder not Novell). Novell need to know exactly what way users expect them to do in order to follow, a unclear request of "give us mp3 support" to my understanding is not the best. I suggest we have clear request like this: 1. Can novell help us by making Helix-banshee the default banshee package in OpenSuSE? 2. Can novell help user live easier by making non-oss another default installation source? (yes I am among the people who dislike closed source too) 3. Can novell let us know how they _tried_ to get related parties to agree SuSE use mp3 for free, and if the community can do anything to help? 4. Can novell give user friendly message on most cases when it cannot play mp3, to ask user to visit a how-to guide on a website maintained by community? This how to guide must be complete and easy and with screenshots, hosted on a website in China or any other countries where copyright and patents are difficult to enforce. I would do that if requested, I am in China. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org