Translations by Daniel Nylander

Music, video and photos

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

Play music and movies

Other music applications

Exaile!

Rhythmbox Media Player

Amarok

Banshee Music Player

Beep Media Player

Muine Music Player

Editing track details

Sometimes, you may find that music files on your computer have incorrect or incomplete information about the artist or album which they are from. It is possible to correct this information using a suitable application.

Play, rip and burn CDs

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.

To start ripping your audio CD, make sure the tracks that you want to rip are selected, then click the <guibutton>Extract</guibutton> button or press <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Enter</keycap></keycombo>. The ripping process may take a while to complete.

You can use the preferences window to control where the extracted audio files are stored on your computer, the filename of extracted audio files, and the file format and codec used for the files. In the main window, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Preferences</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

<emphasis role="strong">Ogg Vorbis</emphasis> - A patent-free lossy audio compression format, which typically produces higher quality and greater compression than MP3.

<emphasis role="strong">FLAC</emphasis> - The Free Lossless Audio Codec. It can compress audio files up to 50% without removing any information from the audio stream.

<emphasis role="strong">WAV</emphasis> - Typically used for voice recordings. <application>Sound Juicer</application> uses this format for low quality mono audio files.

More information on choosing an audio format can be found on the <ulink url="http://vorbis.com/faq/">Vorbis</ulink> and <ulink url="http://flac.sourceforge.net/">FLAC</ulink> websites.

Burning Audio CDs

You can <emphasis>burn</emphasis> audio CDs of your music using a program called <application>Brasero</application> which is included in Xubuntu by default. To launch <application>Brasero</application> select <menuchoice><guimenu>Applications</guimenu><guimenuitem>Multimedia</guimenuitem><guimenuitem>Brasero Disc Burning Application</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Once <application>Brasero</application> has launched select <guibutton>Audio Project</guibutton> from the main screen. Select the files you would like to <emphasis>burn</emphasis> on to your CD from the right area of the window and drag them over to the left area which shows the current contents of you audio CD project.

Once you are ready to <emphasis>burn</emphasis> your CD project on to a disc, make sure that there is a blank CD-R in your CD burner and click <guibutton>Burn</guibutton>.

The status bar next to the <guibutton>Burn</guibutton> button allows you to see how much space your project will take up when it is burned to a CD. That way you can fit as many songs as possible into your project.

Make exact copies of audio CDs - select <guibutton>Disc copy</guibutton> from the main screen

Back up your data or store files on CDs - select <guibutton>Data Project</guibutton> from the main screen

Burn a <emphasis>Disc Image</emphasis> on to a CD - select <guibutton>Burn Image</guibutton> from the main screen

You can also use <application>Brasero</application> to: <placeholder-1/>

Use a portable audio player

Xubuntu 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> (not included by default; see <link linkend="add-applications">Add Applications</link>). 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>:

If you own an iPod released after Sep. 2007 (5th generation) you may need special software to use it with Xubuntu. See the <ulink url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/IPodHowto">Community Help pages</ulink> for more information on using an iPod with Xubuntu.

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 <link linkend="add-applications">Add Applications</link>).

Create and edit audio

Xubuntu provides many of the tools you need to make and edit your own music and sounds.

Editing audio files

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. To use Audacity:

Recording sounds

If you have appropriate audio hardware (such as a microphone), you can record sounds onto your computer.

You can use <application>Audacity</application> for that purpose (see previous section).

A more advanced way to record audio is to install and use <application>Jokosher</application>, which is available from the <quote>Universe</quote> repository (see <link linkend="add-applications">Add Applications</link>).

Play movies and videos

Playing DVDs