Frequently Asked Questions

I would like to use tha Xine backend instead of the GStreamer one. How can I enable it?

All you have to do is make sure the developmental libraries for Xine are installed on your system. Now you can run:
./configure --with-player=xine .

When I start Rhythmbox, I get this "failed to activate the shell: (null)" dialog box. What can I do about this?

This issue is caused when Rhythmbox is not installed in the same prefix as GNOME (bonobo-activation, specifically). The easy workaround for this is to pass --no-registration to Rhythmbox. You may also link the GNOME_Rhythmbox.server file into your prefix/lib/bonobo/servers directory.

Some of my mp3s will not play. They give me a "Could not find media type" dialog box. Why is this?

Some mp3s are not detected properly by GStreamer . Check to see if you have the recommended version of 0.6.4, then submit a bug report with a location link to the mp3 that isn't detected correctly. Also, keep on the lookout for files that have .mp3 extensions on them but are really just wave files.

Why will preferences not let me edit my song tag info?

Some mp3s are not detected properly by GStreamer . Rhythmbox currently doesn't support id3 tag editing. This is a feature that will be added at some point in the future.

So if I cannot edit my song tags in Rhythmbox, what is the best way?

A 3rd party application like EasyTAG will allow you to edit your song information.

I can't compile Rhythmbox because of some linc thing.

This is a common problem in Debian Unstable. The simple way to take care of this is to run the following as root:
$ for f in /usr/lib/*.la; do sed -e 's,/usr/lib/liblinc.la ,,' < $f > $f.new && mv $f.new $f; done
    

F.A.Q. maintained by Sean Harshbarger .