Comment 13 for bug 346246

I can confirm this bug and also confirm it is very annoying.

Here is the use case, I wanted to listen to an mp3 file, I decided to install amarok so i could listen to this mp3 file and the many others like it I have on my computer. I did this as I have been using amarok to listen to mp3 files on ubuntu for many years so it was the logical choice.

After installing i clicked on the mp3 and chose to open it with Amarok. Amarok sat there and played no sound while giving every appearance of working. I received no error messages, no popup boxes telling me anything. Googling revealed i needed to `sudo aptitude install libxine1-ffmpeg` which I did. So I'm now a happy camper.

I suggest however that:

1. The majority of people who choose to install amarok will be doing so because they want to listen to mp3 files. Even if they mostly have flac or ogg files I bet its less than 0.01% of users who _never_ want to play mp3.

2. Given 1, after installing amarok and having it not play mp3s _and_ not give any indication that there is some sort of problem and just fail to do so is a major bug. This is exactly the sort of bug that make people lable linux as arcane complex and not user friendly.

3. Suggested solutions include, making amarok depend on libxine1-ffmpeg. Or having amarok pop up a friendly message saying something along the lines of "Sorry! mp3 playback is not working, because blah blah blah (patents, evil company's, freedom). If you would like to use amarok to listen to mp3 files please click on this button to install package xyz.