How to easily play MP3 files in (K)Ubuntu Installations

After some searching, I've found the fix to repair or install MP3 support in (K)Ubuntu distributions. It is actually a pretty simple process. Please follow the instructions below exactly:

• Close your favorite player (Amarok, Juk, etc)
• Delete the .xine folder from your home directory. Beware that the folder is hidden and you must first activate the 'Show Hidden Files' option in your file manager.
• Open your audio player and enjoy all your MP3 music files.

Please Note: This will also fix the problem with the thumbnail generation of your video files in Konqueror.

The above fix is for systems with MP3 support already installed, but I think it's a good idea to let everyone know that Ubuntu doesn't ship with MP3 support and to fix this problem as well, follow the instructions below:

For Kubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)

• Open Amarok and play an MP3 file. Amarok will ask if you would like to add MP3 support.
• Open Synaptic Package Manager and install the libxine-extracodecs package.

For Kubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)

• Open Synaptic Package Manager, search and install the package libxine1-ffmpeg.

Be advised that in Kubuntu 7.04 there is also a new package that contains some restricted software (Flash 9, JRE 6, Gstreamer Ugly plugins etc) called ubuntu-restricted-extras. You can install this package as well.