[clue-tech] RealPlayer doesn't play

[Matt Gushee]

Well, I thought I'd listen to some Web radio. I click on the link 
[http://foo/bar.ram], and RealPlayer comes up ... does its buffering 
thing, then starts playing, or so it claims--but no sound comes out. 
Similar results with several sites, both with *.ram and *.smil URLs.

Now if, instead of clicking on the link, I try File -> Open Location in 
an already running Player (using an rtsp:// URL), I get the following error:

   Cannot open the audio device. Another application may be using it.

No, there are no other audio applications running.

And I've checked all the obvious trouble spots: checked the RealPlayer 
volume controls and the mixer, made sure the master volume and PCM are 
unmuted and the volume turned up to a reasonable level, etc. I also 
played some music w/ XMMS--no trouble there.

The only thing that comes to mind is that I use ALSA, and maybe 
RealPlayer wants OSS devices? I think I have the OSS compatibility layer 
installed, but I've never really used it and I'm not sure it's 
configured properly. Other than that, I'm stumped. Any ideas?

Oh, and here's a little system information:

     Linux kernel 2.6.10
     ALSA 1.0.8
     RealPlayer 10.0.2

--
Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA