Listen

You can use Rhythmbox (ApplicationsSound & VideoRhythmbox Music Player) and Movie Player (ApplicationsSound & VideoMovie Player) to listen to music on your computer.

Audio files will be opened in Movie Player when double-clicked but Rhythmbox is better at handling large music collections.

Rhythmbox is also able to play audio CDs and work with MP3 players. It should open automatically when you insert a CD.

See the Rhythmbox manual for more information.

How can I prevent CDs from playing when I insert them?

Rhythmbox should start playing a CD automatically when you insert it into your CD drive.

To prevent this from happening, open your Home folder by clicking PlacesHome Folder on the panel at the top of the screen. Then, click EditPreferencesMedia and change the CD Audio option to Do Nothing. Finally, press Close.

See the Nautilus Preferences article for more information.

Song names/cover art are missing/wrong for some songs

Music player applications fetch cover art and other information about songs from the Internet. If song names or cover art are missing, make sure that you are connected to the Internet.

Sometimes, your music player may not be able to identify a particular song or album correctly. If this is the case, you can add the correct information manually by using a tag editor such as Cowbell or EasyTAG. Some music players, such as Rhythmbox and Banshee have their own tag editors included.

If only the album cover art is missing for an album:

  1. Find a picture of the album cover on the Internet. Amazon and other music retailers often display pictures of the album cover; right-click it and click Save Image As to save it to your computer.

  2. Rename the picture to cover.jpg and copy it into the folder which contains the songs from the album.

  3. Rhythmbox and most other music players should display the correct cover art when a song from the album is next played.

Rhythmbox and some other music players allow you to drag a picture onto their cover art display area to change or add cover art for an album.