Translations by 3str

ubuntu-doc@lists.ubuntu.com (Ubuntu Documentation Project)

mdke@ubuntu.com (Matthew East)

Music, Videos and Photos

2006-09-07

All about playing music and video files, CDs, DVDs as well as importing, managing and editing your photos and pictures.

Music, video and photos

Credits and License

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu documentation team (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam). For a list of contributors, see the <ulink url="../../../common/C/contributors.xml">contributors page</ulink>

This document is made available under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 License (CC-BY-SA).

You are free to modify, extend, and improve the Ubuntu documentation source code under the terms of this license. All derivative works must be released under this license.

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS DESCRIBED IN THE DISCLAIMER.

A copy of the license is available here: <ulink url="/usr/share/ubuntu-docs/common/C/ccbysa.xml">Creative Commons ShareAlike License</ulink>.

2004, 2005, 2006

The Ubuntu Documentation Project

This section describes how to import, organize and use music, video and photos with Ubuntu.

Play and organize music

To play and organize your music, Ubuntu comes with <application>Rhythmbox Music Player</application>. To start <application>Rhythmbox</application>, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guimenuitem>Sound &amp; Video</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Rhythmbox Music Player</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

When you first use <application>Rhythmbox</application>, it will scan your home folder for any supported music files you have and will make them available to be played automatically.

Playing audio CDs

When you insert an audio CD, the <application>Sound Juicer</application> CD player and ripper opens automatically. If you are connected to the Internet, <application>Sound Juicer</application> will display the CD artist, album and track names.

To play the CD, click the <guibutton>Play</guibutton> button or press <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>P</keycap></keycombo>. To play a particular track, double-click on the track or select the track and click <guibutton>Play</guibutton>.

Ripping audio CDs

If you would like to keep a copy of an audio CD on your computer without needing to insert the CD to listen to it, it is possible to <emphasis>rip</emphasis> or <emphasis>extract</emphasis> the music onto your computer.

Listen to online audio streams

You can listen to <emphasis>streaming audio</emphasis> from the Internet. This can be thought of as an online radio service, as it is usually broadcast live.

Install the <application>Last-Exit</application> player to listen to the <ulink url="http://www.last.fm">Last.fm</ulink> service.

Install <application>RealPlayer 10</application> to watch and listen to streams in the <emphasis>Real Media</emphasis> formats. <application>RealPlayer</application> is available from the <emphasis>Commercial</emphasis> repository.

See <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink> for help on installing new software.

Use a portable audio player

Ubuntu supports many portable audio players, including the iPod.

Using an iPod

You can play music directly off an iPod with <application>Rhythmbox Music Player</application>. Plug the iPod into the computer, and open <application>Rhythmbox</application>.

To transfer music files to and from an iPod, you can use <application>gtkpod</application>:

Install the <application>gtkpod</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

To run <application>gtkpod</application>, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guisubmenu>Sound &amp; Video</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>gtkpod</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

See the <ulink url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IPodHowto">Community Help pages</ulink> for more information on using an iPod with Ubuntu.

Using other audio players

Ubuntu supports many other audio players. Most of these work simply by plugging them in to your computer and copying music onto them.

Users of <emphasis>Creative Nomad Jukebox</emphasis> audio players may need to install the <application>gnomad2</application> package from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository to be able to use their device (see <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:add-applications">Add Applications</ulink>).

You can watch movies and video clips in Ubuntu by using the <application>Totem Movie Player</application>.

Start <application>Totem</application> by clicking <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guimenuitem>Sound &amp; Video</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Movie Player</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Playing DVDs

libdvdnav4

libdvdread3

Playing proprietary formats

Videos can come in a range of different formats. However, some of these formats are proprietary or commercial and so cannot be included in Ubuntu by default. As a result, additional software must be installed to allow you to view such formats. The following applications may be able to play certain formats which the default applications are unable to handle:

<application>gxine</application> with <application>Xine extra plugins</application>

MPlayer Movie Player

VLC media player

See <ulink type="help" url="ghelp:musicvideophotos#codecs">Multimedia Codecs</ulink> for information on installing support for other audio and video formats.