Multimedia components and proprietary programs

Playing movies and music, ripping DVDs, and making Skype calls – that's all possible with Ubuntu. Although the Ubuntu installer already provides basic "third-party" multimedia codecs, these options might not fulfill everyone's wishes. At least, the distribution loads the legitimate MP3 codec from Fluendo onto the computer through the ubuntu-restricted-addons package, along with components for the GStreamer framework (plugins-ugly, plugins-bad, ffmpeg) and a Flash plugin installer from Adobe.

As a result, you can play MP3 files, burn audio CDs, and view more than 90 movie formats right after installation; however, the installed package is not compliant with the ubuntu-restricted-extras package that you should install after the installation. The restricted extras package provides additional codecs for GStreamer, some typical Microsoft fonts (that you need to sign an EULA for first) and the UnRAR unpacker. You'll also need to install the LAME library so that you can create and play MP3 files from audio CDs.

GStreamer

Generally, numerous programs in Ubuntu play music and movies, but there are some standard apps. Rhythmbox (Figure 1) is the preinstalled solution for playing music. You can use the software to convert CDs to MP3 format, although RipperX [1] is much better suited for it. Totem, on the other hand, is the default video player. This simple player uses the GStreamer format. The drop-down menu used to access the videos and podcasts from YouTube and the BBC in the past is missing in the current version (Figure 2). Many users, however, still also install VLC: The multimedia player plays everything, provides more features than Totem, and can be extended easily through modules. You can find these modules in Software Center if you search for vlc-plugin-.

Figure 1: Rhythmbox plays not only MP3s but also radio stations, and it provides integrated music shops. Better software exists for converting from audio CDs.

Figure 2: The Gnome developers removed some functions from the current Totem. On the right, the drop-down menu that previously allowed access to YouTube is missing.

Brasero is still used as a CD burner, and it provides an integrated cover editor. Burning Blu-rays works only with the commercial Nero Linux 4 product that has a demo version [2].

Running in the background for the previously mentioned programs is GStreamer, which is a modular multimedia framework that's available to many audio and video apps. Thus, many programs don't need to support special codecs because GStreamer provides the playback capability. To play an MP3 file, Rhythmbox hands over the task to GStreamer, which rummages through its resources for a plugin that takes care of the MP3 format. Using the contained codecs, GStreamer converts the files into audible material (Figure 3). To teach Totem and Rhythmbox new data formats, often you can just install the matching GStream plugin.

Figure 3: Rhythmbox and Totem rely on the GStreamer framework, which provides the necessary plugins with new codecs.

Dangerous Liaisons

Although you can use these "limited extras" for multimedia formats, you can't watch encrypted DVDs, which covers just about all commercial DVDs. Bypassing the Content Scrambling System (CSS) requires libdvdcss2, provided by the Medibuntu repository (see the "Medibuntu" box), but this is considered a legal gray area in many countries. Use of this software is banned because it cancels the CSS playback protection and is therefore considered to violate the "effective copy protection mechanism."

In some countries, you can resort to two commercial Linux programs for legal playback: LinDVD from Corel [3] and the Fluendo DVD player [4]. You can find the latter in the For Purchase repository. Even if you're not using libdvdcss2, you can still turn to the Medibuntu repository. In addition to MPlayer and Mencoder, the repository houses another important codec package, non-free-codecs, which you will need to play and edit movies in all formats.