Audio Applications

If you cannot live without your MP3 and video files, then this is the chapter for you! We have broken this chapter into three sections. The first concentrates on XMMS and Aumix, a multi-format audio player and a mixer respectively. In the second section we will list the best movie applications and how to use them, while the last section is dedicated to web cams and video-conferencing.

Using XMMS

First off, XMMS stands for X Multimedia System. With it you can play a variety of audio sources, such as regular music CDs, MP3s and Ogg Vorbis formats. Let us start with the basics.

To launch XMMS, access the main menu and choose Multimedia->Sound->XMMS.

Figure 12.1. XMMS Main Window

XMMS Main Window

The upper part of the window is called the title bar. The buttons at the right-hand end of the title bar do the following:

  • clicking on the leftmost button minimizes the window;

  • clicking on the middle button will shrink XMMS so that it is composed only of the title bar, a vu-meter, the elapsed time and play controls. This puts XMMS into “mini” mode;

  • clicking on the rightmost button closes XMMS.

Below the title bar is the main XMMS display. Clicking on the elapsed time display will toggle between the elapsed and remaining time of the song. Below the time display is the “Spectrum analyzer”. Clicking on it will cycle through the spectrum analyzer, the oscilloscope and displaying no analyzer at all. To the right of the time display XMMS shows the name of the currently playing audio track as well as the total time of that track. The last pieces of information typically associated with a track are the bit rate[11] in Kbps (kilobits per second), the sample rate in KHz (kilohertz) and whether the track is in mono or stereo.

Now let's look at the different sliders. The one beneath the bit rate info is the volume slider. To its' right is the slider which controls left-right balance. Finally, the longest slider is used to browse through the current audio track –– it's like rewind and forward functions that allow you to go directly to wherever you want to within that audio track.

To the left of the time display and the spectrum analyzer are 5 letters: you might not see them at first because by default the letters are in black, while the background skin is in dark gray. As you get more comfortable with XMMS you can change the appearance of the display and choose colors with better contrast. Here are the letters and what they represent:

  • O: pops up the options menu

  • A: means the XMMS window will always be on top of other windows

  • I: pops up a file-info box

  • D: doubles the size of the XMMS window

  • V: pops up a visualization options menu

Equalizer and Playlist

Figure 12.2. XMMS Main Window with Equalizer and Playlist

XMMS Main Window with Equalizer and Playlist

In Figure 12.2, you can see XMMS' equalizer and playlist. To access them, simply click on the EQ and PL buttons found below the MONO / STEREO indicator on the right-side of the main window.

Configuring the Equalizer

The equalizer window acts exactly like the one you probably have on your stereo. If you wish to change the settings, click on its ON button. You can then change the bass and treble levels to your liking. You can use the PRESETS menu items to save your settings for future use, load any previously saved ones, and more.

Tip

Use the PRESETS->Load->From WinAMP EQF file menu entry to load a WinAMP EQF file.

Using the Playlist

The playlist is where the tracks you wish to listen to are shown. To access the playlist, click on the PL button. The playlist has five buttons that can help you set up your playlist:

+ FILE

Clicking once on this button pops up a window which you use to select your songs. For example, if you had a directory called MP3 you would select /home/queen/MP3/ and then start adding songs from that directory.

However, if you click and hold the mouse pointer on the + FILE button it will pop up two other buttons: + DIR and + URL. Release the mouse button on + DIR and choose the appropriate directory. To listen to a CD, choose the /mnt/cdrom/ path. On the other hand, clicking on + URL allows you to enter a specific web address such as http://205.188.209.193:80/stream/1040, which is an example of a streaming address for high-bandwidth connections or http://209.123.186.178:8042 for low-bandwidth (read dialup) connections.

- FILE

If you want to delete a file from the playlist, select it with your mouse by clicking on its name and click on the - FILE button. You can also use the Delete key on your keyboard to remove the file from the playlist. But what if you want to remove more than one file at a time? Clicking and holding the mouse over the - FILE button pops up a three-item sub-menu which contains - CROP, - ALL and - MISC. The - CROP button deletes all files from the playlist except the one(s) highlighted; the - ALL button is used to delete all files in the playlist. If you leave your mouse pointer on the - MISC sub-menu another sub-menu will pop up. You can now Remove dead files or Physically delete files.

SEL ALL

Clicking on this button will select all the files in your playlist. If you click and hold, you will have two other choices: SEL ZERO and INV SEL. The first choice selects no files, while the latter inverts the file selection, meaning any files which are currently selected will be unselected, and vice versa.

MISC OPT.

Clicking and holding this button gives you a pull-up menu which shows FILE INF and SORT LIST. FILE INF pops up a file-information window where you can edit the title, name of the artist, etc. The second choice gives sorting and randomizing options for the playlist.

LOAD LIST

Clicking once on this button will pop up a window from which you can choose the list you wish to listen to. Clicking and holding this button displays a pull-up menu with two choices: SAVE LIST and NEW LIST. The first saves the files in your playlist as a list of audio tracks (in the .m3u format). Note that this feature will only work with digital audio technologies (such as WAV, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis). The second menu option, like the first one, is pretty self-explanatory.

Playing Audio Tracks

To play audio tracks, simply follow the instructions given in the section called “Using the Playlist” to load a playlist and hit the Play button. When you press the Eject button a window will appear which will let you add files into your playlist. Select the desired files with your mouse and then either click the Add selected files or Add all files in directory button. When you have selected the tracks that you want to add, click on Close.

Figure 12.3. Loading Files into XMMS

Loading Files into XMMS

Right-clicking in the Playlist will open a handy menu that includes all the play list options explained above.

Using the Options Menu

Now that we are done talking about the basics, let us explore the Options menu. To access the various options, you click on the O to the left of the spectrum analyzer. An options menu will pop up:

Figure 12.4. Options Menu

Options Menu

These functions are pretty self-explanatory, so we will let you use and discover them by yourself. Let us take a closer look at the Preferences sub-menu located at the top of the Options menu.

XMMS Preferences

Setting your preferences correctly is very important if you want to be able to listen to your audio tracks. To access the preferences, either click on the Preferences entry in the Options menu or press Ctrl+P. The first tab, Audio I/O Plugins, contains the input and output plugins necessary to make XMMS function correctly. Make sure the plugins you need (i.e. CD Audio Player to listen to an audio CD) are enabled and configured. If you see (disabled) next to a plugin, you will not be able to play audio tracks using that plugin.

Figure 12.5. XMMS Preferences Window

XMMS Preferences Window

Also, make sure you select the correct Output Plugin. If you use KDE, and you selected Start aRts soundserver on KDE startup in KDE's Control Center, you should use aRts Driver 0.4 (Figure 12.6).

Figure 12.6. aRts Soundserver with KDE

aRts Soundserver with KDE

If you use GNOME, chances are you will need to use either the eSound Output Plugin or the OSS Driver.

The Effect/General Plugins tab holds a set of effects plugins which range from voice removal to adding echoing. General plugins allow you to control XMMS with your stereo, TV or VCR remote control.

Next is the Visualization Plugins tab. You can select one or more plugins while listening to your music.

The Options tab is where you can fully personalize the way XMMS displays information, as well as some general features such as the number of seconds XMMS should (or should not) pause between songs.

The Font and Title tabs let you choose specific fonts for the text in XMMS and what sort of information is displayed while the audio track is playing.

Skins

Now let us discuss the aesthetics part of XMMS. Like other players, you can change the look of XMMS by altering its skin, or window design. To do so, open the Preferences menu and select Skin Browser. You can also press Alt+S to open the skin selector.

Figure 12.7. XMMS Skins Browser

XMMS Skins Browser

As you can see, the Skin Browser has not selected a default skin. Clicking on one of the skins will give you a real-time look at how the skin will change XMMS' appearance. As an example, scroll down through the list of skins and click on chaos_XMMS.

Figure 12.8. Chaos Skin

Chaos Skin

If you wish to add skins to your Skin Browser, you can do so by visiting sites such as the XMMS site or the Customize site.

Once you've found a skin you like on a web site, download it into the ~/.xmms/Skins directory. Open the Skins Browser and XMMS will be “wearing” that new skin.

Other Types of Skins

If you already use other types of audio players, you might be wondering if you can import skins from those other applications. The answer is yes... at least for WinAMP skins (in the .wsz format).

Here's an example of a skin found on the WinAMP site which can be added to your Skins Browser:

Figure 12.9. Using WinAMP Skins with XMMS

Using WinAMP Skins with XMMS

Download the skin file to your skins directory ~/.xmms/Skins, select it in the Skins Browser and enjoy!

Streaming

With the wide popularity of streaming radio, XMMS now supports this type of media. With streaming media, you can listen to your favorite radio sites, whether they be from Shoutcast, Icecast or plain radio sites such as Cool FM.

When you have found a channel you like, save the .pls to your hard disk and then insert it into your playlist.

Figure 12.10. Opening the Connection Information for a Streaming Channel

Opening the Connection Information for a Streaming Channel

Using Aumix

Aumix is a very small application which allows you to control your sound card's mixer. It is user-friendly and does not contain many features, but in order to listen to sound files you need to know a few things about it and how it is used.

As a matter of fact, you might not be able to hear any sound from XMMS or any CD player. Adjusting the sound mixer will usually solve that problem.

To launch the sound mixer application, open the main menu and select Multimedia->Sound->Aumix.

Figure 12.11. Aumix Application

Aumix Application

First, let us take a look at the File menu.

File Menu

This menu lets you access basic functions that allow you to load or save mixer settings. The available menu items are:

Load

Loads the default mixer configuration contained in the ~/.aumixrc file.

Save

Saves new settings to ~/.aumixrc.

Load From

Allows you to load mixer settings from other than the default ~/.aumixrc.

Save To

Enables you to save settings to a file that is not the default ~/.aumixrc. For example, you might want to save different settings for work, for entertainment of a large group of people, raising or lowering the CD volume according to the place where you use your computer, etc.

Quit

Quits the application.

Note

When you launch Aumix, it loads the last configuration file you used. So, if you used ~/.aumixrc2 – a file which you created – the last time you opened Aumix, this file will be used. However, if you click on the Load sub-menu, it will automatically load the ~/.aumixrc file.

View and Mute Menus

The functions of the View and Mute menus should be simple to deduce. The View menu allows you to choose which components will be shown in the Aumix window. If you never use a microphone, you may choose not to view that entry. Clicking in the check-box next to Mic in the View pull-down menu would add or delete the Mic choice from the list. The Mute menu lets you completely mute the sound.

Figure 12.12. Aumix View Menu

Aumix View Menu


[11] For digital audio WAV files and for audio CDs the bit rate is meaningless and XMMS will display 14H. The bit rate is only significant with compressed digital audio formats like MP3 and Ogg Vorbis.