This is my very first post to openSUSE and I’ve only been using Linux for a few days. I really love openSUSE but am experiencing a few problems. One problem is the fact that I can’t install iTunes!! I own an iPod Touch and it is absolutely necessary for me to have iTunes or an iTunes alternative that can sync music/videos/podcasts with my iTouch. I have backed up my previous iTunes library and would like to get an alternative for iTunes that can import that backup. Does any one know of a free program like this? Thanks so much 
So have you tried using Amarok with your iPod Touch? I don’t own an iPod anything, but Amarok works fine with my two MP3 players. If you installed the KDE desktop open the menu, then Multimedia, Audio Player and Amarok. The first time you run Amarok, it is going to want to setup your default music folder. Also consider that any music purchased on iTunes with DRM will not work with Amarok. For instance I purchased a program called TuneBite for Windows just to remove all of the DRM from my iTunes songs and converted the music files to MP3 files. If you can not live without iTunes and its DRM laden music, using Linux might not be for you. I prefer using a dual boot system and pull out what I want from Windows and then use it under Linux as I see fit.
Thank You,
Banshee is loosely based on iTunes. You might give that a try.
Banshee is a good program normally associated with using the Gnome desktop. I use both Amarok and Banshee, but I had to install the Gnome desktop to get all of the features to work with Banshee. Since the space required is not that much, this is no big deal, but worth considering if Banshee is not present or does not work for you under KDE.
Thank You,
I’ve tried Banshee and really like the way it works, but it doesn’t support my iTouch! 
Do you know of a plugin that will give it iPod Touch support?
I found a page that suggests you can make it work with **Rhythmbox, **so you might search for this application in YaST / Software Management, install it and give it a try.
Manage iPhone/iPod Touch Media in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS [No Jailbreak Required] | iPod Touch Tricks
Thank You,
Hello,
I have tried all the apps listed in this post, plus a few not metioned here.
Firstly, in order to be able to work with your iphone/ipod/ijunk, you must install a number of ispecific packages:
ifuse
libimobiledevice
libplist
libgpod
podsleuth
usbmuxd
Please note that these are package names on FC13, but the SuSE names will be identical or very similar.
Technically, syncronization should be avaiable in rhythmbox, amorak, and perhaps Banshee, perhaps others. My experience is that gtkpod is the best tool for managing data exchange betwee the iP[phone|pod] and your linux installation.
I highly recommend … use gtkpod for moving data between iPhone/iPod and linux. Use whatever media player floats your boat for everything else.
VERY IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND: gtkpod is NOT an iTunes clone. It uses a somewhat different metaphore to represent sets of items to be copied between the device and your “Library”. When I first installed it, I found it to be extreemly confusing and clunky. It took me a couple of days experimenting, re-reading the documentation, and overloading the device trying to write 10+ GB at a time … all the usual learning curve stuff with a new app before I really had a feel for it. Once you’ve taken the time to learn how to use it, it is INFINITELY more flexible and usable than iTunes. That said, I don’t use gtkpod as a media player.
My own preferences, I like rythmbox best … will play music directly from your iDevice … no sync needed. Banshee has slightly better integration with Last.fm than rythmbox … that is when the integration actually works. It’s very nice looking app, but more of the bloated, memory inefficient, unreliable mono based garbage typical of openSUSE’s gnome …
Amorak has two features I am VERY fond of … an extreemely flexible db backend and the ability to configure your music library the way YOU WANT IT. For me, that means I can have Amarock “monitor” several different directories for changes. ALL the others expect all your music to be under a single master directory. Technically, this is not true, you can add songs to the Banshee/Rhythbox/XXX library without copying or moving files to a given directory, but the apps will only monitor the contents of 1 directory.
Unfortunately, Amaroks UI looks as if were designed by immature juvenials from Taiwan, working for a third tier mother board fab. I find it unusable and do not ever use Amarok, except on the occasions that I compare different music players, just to stay abreast of what is available.
Anyway … that’s my heavily opinionated but mostly well reasoned spin …
… and don’t forget to have fun!
You can check on the status of iphone linux compatibility here: libimobiledevice.org. There is a 1-click install for opensuse 11.0-11.2. I verified that my fresh install of 11.3 includes libimobiledevice and libgpod4 (version 0.7.93-2.7); however, ifuse was not installed by default (I’m not sure if this is necessary. I would try with my iPod, but it is currently playing lullabies for my son). You should look at the above site, check on the state of compatibility for your idevice, make sure that you have the proper packages installed.
Rhythm box seems like a nice solution but it doesn’t play my aac files Is there a plugin that will allow aac file playback? Otherwise, do you know of any other players that may work? Thanks
If your aac files are DRM protected you can not convert them. At least not legaly.
Audacity might help to convert such files.
K3B via KDE can convert soundfiles, or if its Gnome you may try Soundconverter.
You need to have non restricted codecs installed for mp3 etc…
Here the links, but all software should be within yast.
Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder
K3b News - K3b
SoundConverter - GNOME Sound Conversion
Hello timwhudson,
Rhythmbox, Banshee, Totem, etc. … they will all play acc files just find as long as there is gstreamer mpeg4-aac plugin available. One of the admins here put together a nice guide on codec installation … lot’s of good stuff on the wiki.
The short (and VERY conservative) version here, addresses all codecs your ever likely to want:
Add the VideoLan repo from the community repositories in the Yast repositories tool. Install the package “libdvdcss”. Disable or remove the VideoLan repo. libdvdcss is the ONLY package you want from this repo … if you install anything else … clowns WILL EAT YOU! … 
Add the packman repository from community repositories in the Yast repositories tool.
In the Yast software management module, choose to install the following packages from the packman repository:
libavcodec52 libavdevice52 ffmpeg libdvdnav4 libdvdread4 libquicktime0 libxine1 libxine1-codecs libxvidcore4 smplayer vlc w32codec-all xine-ui xvidcore
After installing, go back into the yast software management module … once more filtering by repository … and choose packman. There will be a button in the right pane, just below where the packages are listed. This button will have a label that says … roughly quoted … “update all installed packages with packages from this repository”. Click this button and install the packages. You may have to resolve some package choices around the “transmission” bit torrent client. For media playback … does not matter … use whichever “transmission” … packman or SUSE.
Final warning! Do not get fancy and use zypper to perform the updates I have described, it MIGHT get you in trouble. USE YAST! This is an area of OpenSUSE that is overly complicated, and IMO, horrifically broken.
LOTS OF THREADS ON THIS SUBJECT … WIKI ARTICLES … ANGRY RANTS ( a few from me … ) …
… but don’t forget to have fun!
@vyester64,
Thank you but converting my aac music is completely out of the question. There is no way that I am going to spend the time converting the thousands of aac files I have…that’s just WAY too much
I followed your instructions and I am still not able to play aac files Actually, playing aac files in Amarok works great now. However, Amarok doesn’t support my iTouch and rhythmbox does. I’ve been doing tons of research and I’ve searched all over every linux forum there is (or ever was) with absolutely no luck. Needless to say, I’m at a loss of what to do. Is there anything else I could possibly do?
Hi,
Which gstreamer plugins do you have? You can check by opening a terminal and typing:
rpm -qa --last "*gstreamer*"
Take Care,
Ian
I did exactly what you said and got this result:
gstreamer0.10-plugins-really-bad-0.10.19-1 Tue 10 Aug 2010 09:56:48 AM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-ugly-0.10.14-3.2 Tue 10 Aug 2010 08:41:33 AM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-0.10.22-1.16 Tue 10 Aug 2010 08:40:28 AM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad-0.10.18-6.2 Tue 10 Aug 2010 08:02:48 AM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-libnice-0.0.11-1.25 Tue 10 Aug 2010 07:48:49 AM CDT
python-gstreamer-0_10-0.10.18-1.14 Mon 09 Aug 2010 09:14:08 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-hal-0.10.22-1.16 Mon 09 Aug 2010 06:16:07 PM CDT
banshee-1-backend-engine-gstreamer-1.7.3-5.1 Mon 09 Aug 2010 06:15:37 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mp3-2-106.2 Sat 07 Aug 2010 01:22:05 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-gnomevfs-0.10.29-1.9 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:51:27 PM CDT
phonon-backend-gstreamer-0_10-4.4.2-1.6 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:51:15 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-0.10.29-1.9 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:50:34 PM CDT
PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin-0.6.3-5.4 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:49:49 PM CDT
libgstreamer-0_10-0-0.10.29-1.7 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:48:46 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-0.10.29-1.7 Sat 07 Aug 2010 12:48:11 PM CDT
Hello again,
[charles@orca]$ rpm -qa --last “gstreamer”
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-bad-0.10.18-9991.pm.9991.4 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:31:29 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-extra-0.10.24-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:31:17 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-hal-0.10.24-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:31:13 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-lang-0.10.24-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:31:12 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-ffmpeg-0.10.11-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:31:09 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugin-gnomevfs-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:49 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-ugly-0.10.14-9991.pm.9991.2 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:48 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-good-0.10.24-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:40 PM CDT
python-gstreamer-0_10-0.10.19-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:29 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-devel-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:20 PM CDT
gstreamer-utils-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:18 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mp3-0.10.14-42.pm.42.2 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:14 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:06 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mpegdemux-0.10.57-42.pm.42.2 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:30:00 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-fluendo-mpegmux-0.10.4-43.pm.43.2 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:29:58 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:27:47 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-utils-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:27:40 PM CDT
libgstreamer-0_10-0-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:26:02 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-lang-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:25:24 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-base-lang-0.10.30-999.pm.999.1 Mon 02 Aug 2010 09:25:21 PM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-plugins-farsight-0.12.11-5.2 Fri 16 Jul 2010 12:29:54 PM CDT
banshee-1-backend-engine-gstreamer-1.6.1-1.15 Tue 06 Jul 2010 12:49:46 AM CDT
gstreamer-0_10-libnice-0.0.11-1.25 Tue 06 Jul 2010 12:48:08 AM CDT
PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin-0.6.3-5.4 Tue 06 Jul 2010 12:45:14 AM CDT
You don’t need “gstreamer-0_10-devel”; I probably don’t either … not sure why it is there.
Please use Yast software installer, filter by respository, look at packman, choose “replace installed packages with packages from this repo”, … Quadruple check!
I promise, if you use only packman stuff (not accidently grab from other repos), it will work.
And just an FYI … a good preliminary test is to see if your acc will play in mplayer/gnome-mplayer/smplayer. Getting the gstreamer based apps (rhythmbox, banshee, etc.) working is a little trickier … gstreamer is tempermental???
Anyway, I think you are VERY close!
Have FUN!
Thank you so much for your time I really appreciate it! I did exactly what you said by going into Yast software installer, filtering by respository, and looking at packman. However, when I got to this step, I could not find an option to “replace installed packages with packages from this repo”. All there was was a long list of packages (some checked and most weren’t), a few tabs (description, log, etc.) and cancel and accept buttons at the bottom. Am I in the wrong place? Again, thank you so much for your time, it is much appreciated!!
Should be in the area above the lists. And no it does not jump out at you. You can change individual packages by going to the version tab below the lists and selecting the version from the source you want.
file:///home/charles/Desktop/Screenshot-Software%20Manager%20-%20YaST.jpeg
Where’s Waldo anyone?
URG! Can’t dnd a simple image … oh well
The button is on the right hand side of the yast window, in-between the 2 panes, and reads “Switch installed packages to the versions in this repository”.
Sooooooooo much easier to describe how to do something with zypper … 
Oooops! My bad, it was there the whole time I did what you said and I think it was a step in the right direction!! When I dragged an aac file into rhythmbox, the title and artist appeared (before it just showed an error). However, when I click play, the entire program shuts down I tried it several times with the same result. I even tried playing an mp3 and it still shut down (never did that before). Do you think I uninstalled something important when I replaced the repositories with Packman?
Hello again timwhudson,
Do you think I uninstalled something important when I replaced the repositories with Packman?
NO! While re-installing rhythymbox would not hurt, you may get more mileage by simply logging out of gnome and logging back in. If you update any program that is currently running, such all the gnome background stuff, you won’t have access to the update until that program is restarted.
Unless I am missing something … I think you are THERE!