# Music

This section describes how to import, organize and use music, videos and photos with Ubuntu.

## Listen

You can use Rhythmbox (&rhythmbox;) and Movie Player (&totem;) 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 &home-folder; on the panel at the top of the screen. Then, click Edit Preferences Media 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:

- 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.

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

- 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.

## Extract from a CD

You can extract music from a CD to your computer so that you do not have to have the CD in the drive to play songs from it. You can then copy the songs to a digital audio player, such as an MP3 player.

Rhythmbox stores extracted files in the Music folder (&music;).

- Insert an Audio CD.

- You will be prompted to choose which application to launch, choose Open Rhythmbox Music Player.

- Click OK.

- In the left hand pane, under Devices, right click the CD name you want to extract.

- Click Extract to Library.

You can change the default file format used by Rhythmbox when copying CDs. Click Edit Preferences Music and change the Preferred Format to the format of your choice. In future, all CDs copied to your computer will be copied in this format.

If an MP3 option is not shown in the Preferred Format list, install the gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse package and restart Rhythmbox. The option CD Quality, MP3 (.mp3 type) should appear in the Preferred Format list.

## Copy to a CD

You can create your own audio CDs by copying music from your computer onto a blank disc. CDs that you create in this way should play in any device that can play standard (manufactured) audio CDs. All that is required is a CD burner (also called a CD writer). Most computers have one of these.

To begin creating an audio CD, start Brasero (&brasero;) and select Audio project from the main screen. Then, select the songs that you want to add to the CD and add them to the project. Finally, click Burn to copy the songs to a CD.

You will also need to select the maximum duration of the CD which you inserted (e.g. 80 minutes), which can be done by clicking on the small CD icon near the bottom of the window. Brasero will warn you if you have selected more files than can fit on the disc.

See the Brasero manual for full instructions.

## Portable music players

Ubuntu will work with most portable audio players, including iPods. Normally, all you have to do is plug the player into your computer and then use Rhythmbox to copy songs to and from the player. The audio player should appear in the Devices section of the list which is underneath the Play button. See the Rhythmbox manual for more information.

### iPod

Ubuntu's default music management application, Rhythmbox (&rhythmbox;), supports first to fifth generation iPods, including the iPod mini, iPod Photo, iPod Shuffle, iPod nano, and iPod Video. Rhythmbox can transfer music to these iPods and create playlists.

The applications Banshee, Amarok and gtkpod can also handle music transfer to and from these iPod devices. These applications also include added support for transferring photos and videos encoded in iPod-compatible formats to and from first to fifth generation iPods

Neither the iPod Touch nor the iPhone are officially supported by any Linux music management applications at this time.

For more information on using iPods and iPhones with Ubuntu, see the Ubuntu Community Documentation for Portable Devices.

### MTP Media Players

A number of MP3 players, such as those produced by Samsung use Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). These devices, when used with the correct driver, often appear in Windows as a media device but can be accessed as a USB device.

Ubuntu supports these devices but requires two steps:

1. Install the mtpfs and mtp-tools packages.

2. Open &rhythmbox;.

3. Click Edit Plugins

4. Tick the Portable Players - MTP plugin.

5. Click Close.

Your device will now be displayed in the left hand pane under Devices when connected.

## Converting audio files

When you extract music from a CD onto a computer, it must be stored in a specific audio format. The default format used by Rhythmbox is Ogg Vorbis (`.ogg` or `.oga`). This is explained in .

Not all portable audio players are able to play files in the Ogg Vorbis format; for example, iPods cannot play this format. In order for your player to recognize your songs, you must convert them to a format which it supports. Nearly every player on the market supports the MP3 format, so this is usually a safe bet.

You can convert existing audio files to other formats using Sound Converter. The output format can be selected in the Sound Converter preferences.

You can change the default file format used by Rhythmbox when copying CDs. Click Edit Preferences Music and change the Preferred Format to the format of your choice. In future, all CDs copied to your computer will be copied in this format.

If an MP3 option is not shown in the Preferred Format list, install the gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse package and restart Rhythmbox. The option CD Quality, MP3 (.mp3 type) should appear in the Preferred Format list.

## Podcasts and Internet radio stations

Podcasts are pre-recorded shows which you can download and listen to on your computer or portable audio player. Thousands of podcasts are available and most can be downloaded for free.

You can use Rhythmbox to download and play podcasts; select Podcasts from the Library section of the Rhythmbox window to get started. The Rhythmbox manual has further instructions. Alternatively, you may prefer to use a dedicated podcast manager such as gPodder or PenguinTV.

Internet radio stations are live audio streams, similar to standard radio but transmitted over the Internet. You can listen to Internet radio stations using Rhythmbox or Banshee, streams are also supported by some other music players. To listen to Internet radio select Radio from the left of the Rhythmbox or Banshee window. Then either select the station from the list or enter the url of the station you want to listen to. For more information you can look in the Rhythmbox manual.

RealAudio streams, as used by some Internet radio stations, are not supported by Rhythmbox. To listen to this type of stream, install RealPlayer.

## Download music from the Internet

Many websites which allow you to buy music online and download it onto your computer are designed to work with Microsoft Windows only. As a result, some services will not work with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is able to play most audio formats, including MP3, WMA and AAC. However, it does not support the various DRM (Digital Rights Management) schemes which stores sometimes use to restrict access to their music. If you download audio files which are DRM-restricted, they are unlikely to work in Ubuntu. In particular, nearly all music from the iTunes music store is DRM-restricted and so cannot be played.

Two services which offer unrestricted (DRM-free) music are Jamendo and Magnatune. You can buy songs from both of these stores online, or directly from within Rhythmbox if the appropriate plugins are enabled (see the Rhythmbox manual for more information).

Downloading music from the Internet without the permission of its copyright holder is considered illegal in many countries. You should check that you are within your rights to download a music file before saving it onto your computer.

## Recording sounds

You can record sounds onto your computer if you have a microphone or other recording equipment connected to it.

To start a basic sound recording application, press &soundrecorder;. See the Sound Recorder manual for instructions on how to use it.

For more advanced recording needs, you may like to try a multi-track audio editor such as Jokosher or Audacity.

Many other professional-level recording tools are available for Ubuntu. See the Ubuntu Studio website for more information.

## My microphone does not work or is too quiet

- Check that the microphone is connected to the correct socket

  Most computers have three or more similar-looking audio sockets, so you should check that the microphone is plugged into the correct one. It is usually colored pink and has a microphone icon next to it.

  In some rare cases, sockets do not work as labeled. For example, your microphone socket may act as the Line Out socket and vice versa. If this is the case, use trial and error to find the correct microphone socket.

- Check that the microphone is not muted in the settings

  The microphone input may have been muted or its volume reduced in the system settings.

- Right-click the speaker icon on the panel at the top of your screen and select Open Volume Control. If you do not have a speaker icon on your panel, press Alt F2 , type `gnome-volume-control` and click Run instead.

- When the Volume Control opens, click Preferences and make sure that all of the items related to the microphone settings are checked. Click Close to return to the volume control.

- Under the Playback tab, make sure that all of the microphone settings are unmuted and that their volume is set high enough. If a microphone is muted, a speaker icon with a red cross over it will be displayed underneath its volume slider; click that icon to unmute the microphone.

- You may also find it necessary to change other settings to get your microphone to work properly. For example, the Mic Boost and External Amplifier settings under the Switches tab and the Mic Select setting under the Options tab can all affect the volume of your microphone.

- Check the volume control on the microphone

  Some microphones have an integrated volume control. Check that the volume control on your microphone is turned up.

- Check the volume control in the recording application

  Some applications allow you to change the volume of the microphone from within the application. Check the volume settings in the application that you are using.