Which Media Packages to Use?

Hi,
Sorry to sound so clueless about the Multimedia world: my question is how to select between the different media packages? I’m mainly interested in audio playback and audio CD burning. I would like to play various “restricted formats”. How to choose among the players? Is there a list of players and a description of how they differ?

Addition of restricted formats: Not as easy as it seems.
Recently, this is what I did…

SuSE 11.2 with KDE:
followed the instructions in the FAQ on installing restricted media formats; everything downloaded fine, switched to the Packman version of the media related files…scary watching things being deleted and added.

Simple question: now what? Will these new codecs and libraries automatically be recognized and used by the media programs? Do I have to configure them specifically first? Which packages will use these new media packages that I have just downloaded?

After switching to the Packman versions KDE would no longer work. Rebooting resulted in a basic IceWM X environment. I think I must have subscribed to every Packman package, not just the media packages. This subject is discussed also and suggests changing the priority numbers on the various repositories. Now I’m over my head with how to update the system without adding multiple versions of the same package from different sources. This subject should be part of the restricted media format FAQ in my opinion. I hosed my 11.2 installation. Time for 11.3 anyway.

WhiteFox

So you are saying that you have read through and attempted to follow this guide here:

Multi-media and Restricted Format Installation Guide

If so, you can confirm the results using a script I put together here:

MMCHECK - Check Your Multimedia in 10 Steps - Script File, as proposed by RedDwarf

Message #40 for mmcheck has the most recent version your should download, make executable and run in a terminal session. Then get back with the results if there is anything you do not understand.

In general, using the Switch To option is not a good idea unless the repository is small. For instand, for KDE, I might load Yast (From any desktop that works), search on KDE and reload all KDE4 files from either openSUSE or from a KDE repository. This is different from most files in Packman that does not say KDE in the name.

Thank You,