[nmglug] linux friendly player,

[Aaron]

Andres Paglayan wrote:
...
> As a Linuxist, which player would you use?

I prefer xmms
> 
> if possible something that plays
> flac, vog orbis, even mpg4, and why not, can be plugged somehow to an 
> amplifier,

it has plug-ins for just about everything.
For video (mpg4?) I prefer gxine

Most sound cards these days, even cheap ones, have digital out.
If you have a receiver with digital co-ax in, or toslink optical,
the quality of the sound card does not matter anymore.
As long as it delivers the bits.

I got a D-Link DSM-320 back when they were cheap (like $130).
It is a small, diskless LINUX machine which can play audio
and video media from a server (uPnP).  It has some issues,
but there are hacking sites...  I could probobally get over
the issues if I tried.   Strangely enough, they provide
a Windows uPnP server, but not LINUX.  Twonkyvision is
recommended, $30 (if you want video).  Free servers (ushare)
tend to have some issues.  I think their Windows server
does some transcoding (ogg, etc.)  I use ushare, only for .mp3
Unfortunately, I think the newer versions of these players start
at around $300.  For $200 you can get a full diskless client
PC the size of a novel.  You could build your own media server.
You may want to add some sort of remote.  Perhaps a presenter
wireless mouse would be sufficient...   assuming you have a TV/monitor
with VGA input.  Most newer HD/Digital TV's seem to have this.

Hope I covered your meaning of 'player' in this ramble... ;-)

                 aaron