Manoj Nair’s Blog

A simple guide to enable MP3 support in ubuntu

Abstract:
Recently, i’ve got quite a few requests to do a guide on enabling mp3 support in ubuntu in a simple way and “in english”. In this guide we’ll try to install the missing packages to enable support for mp3 files without having to install any additional media players, the idea being to “keep it simple”

Before we proceed, you must have a working connection to the internet. To keep this guide simple, I’ll assume you have alreadyconfigured your connection to the internet.

‘Totem Media player’ and ‘Rhythmbox’ are preinstalled when installing ubuntu. However, both lack the ablility to play mp3 files. During the course of this simple and short guide, we’ll enable mp3 support for the bundled ‘Totem media player’ and ‘Rhythm box’.

Specifying New Sources:
- Before we begin installing these packages to enable mp3 support, we’ll need to tell ubuntu where to get these packages from. To specify the new sources, click on applications > Add/Remove.

- When the ’synaptic application manager’ has launched, click on the advanced button towards the lower left of the window. The synaptic package manager will now relaunch in advanced mode. You’ll need to provide the root admin password at the next prompt.

- Now, click on settings > repositories. In this window, select all the sources that have (binary) mentioned next to their names. When you are done, close the window.

- Click ‘reload’ to refresh the list of available updates. Wait while it fetches the updated list from the source servers.

Insalling gstreamer plugins:
- When the package manager is done reloading the list of available updates, click on search in the toolbar. Enter ‘gstreamer’ as the search phrase and click search. Wait while the package list reloads.

- You will now need to install two packages from this list. Search for and select the packages named ‘gstreamer0.x-fluendo-mp3′ and ‘gstreamer0.x-mad’. Click apply

- Wait while the packages are fetched and installed. When it is done applying the changes, click close.

Hit Play!
- You are now done configuring ubuntu for playing mp3’s. So, hit that play button and dance with the dapper drake…