There is a problem with Amarok 2.2.0 playing music CDs. I'm running Kubuntu 9.10 (2.6.31-17-generic i686 (32 bit)) w/KDE 4.3.5.

The problem presented itself when I tried to use the Device Notifier action "Play Audio CD with Amarok" - which fails to launch Amarok. I resolved that by changing amarok-play-audiocd.desktop as follows:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Play Audio CD with Amarok
changed to
Name=Open Audio CD with Amarok
Actions=play;
changed to
Actions=open;

[Desktop Action open]
Exec=amarok --playcd %u
changed to
Exec=amarok -p

These were necessary as Actions=play; just doesn't work -- I don't think it's a valid action; and Exec=amarok --playcd %u is not a valid amarok option in 2.2.0.

Once I made those changes, Amarok would launch via the Device Notifier when selecting the Open Audio CD with Amarok and would show the music CD and list the tracks. This was great. I could select the CDs contents and add to the Play List and Amarok would play. All is good. Until you ejected the CD to play another one.

Amarok would in this scenario, show the CD and it's contents from the previously played CD. Shutting down Amarok (after ejecting the 'new' CD) and putting in another music CD, and again selecting Open Audio CD with Amarok via the Device Notifier would either, launch Amarok and display no CD, or, display the previously played CD!

This makes using Amarok for playing ones music CDs unacceptable. I've opted to use VLC to play my music CDs, as the Device Action .desktop file I wrote for it works flawlessly. Wrote one to use VLC to play my DVDs as well. It too, works flawlessly.

My vlc-playcd.desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
X-KDE-Solid-Predicate=[ StorageVolume.ignored == false AND OpticalDisc.availableContent == 'Audio' ]
Type=Service
Actions=open;

[Desktop Action open]
Name=Open Music CD with VLC
Exec=vlc cdda://
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/vlc.png
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdemultimedia

My vlc-playdvd.desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
X-KDE-Solid-Predicate=[ StorageVolume.ignored == false AND OpticalDisc.availableContent == 'Data|VideoDvd' ]
Type=Service
Actions=open;

[Desktop Action open]
Name=Open DVD with VLC
Exec=vlc dvd://
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/vlc.png
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdemultimedia

I Saved both files in ~/.kde/share/apps/solid/actions and rebooted the PC for the changes to be recorded and show in Device Notifier. I've tried both, and they work flawlessly.

Please upgrade to a current version of Amarok. 2.2.2 is current, and we'll soon be into either 2.2.3 or 2.3.

From your description there is an error in either your distribution or in KDE, it tend to the distribution.
Please report this to Kubuntu.

Mr Snowhog's prob and simtoms are the same on Amarok-2.2.2 on KDE-4.3.5 Kubuntu-9.10 Kernel-2.6.31-17-generic

the problem seams to me eneyway to be sevrall smaler things making 1 big problem .

1- the action caled by the device notifier (amarok --playcd %u) isent recognised by Amarok.

2- Amarok it's self dosent seam to be abel to mount the cd by it's self or mabey Know whare to look for it.

I bace the usumtion in 2 on the fact that Amarok dosent display or acnowlege that thar is a cd in the drive if you just open amarok......but if you first open the cd with dolphin and then open Amarok it is displayed.

however making a custom entry in device actions "open with Amarok" that uses (amarok -p) it dose open the cd (but not play it or populate the playlist) so I know it can..........

but you cant chang the cd and have Amarok see it ....withought closing and reopening Amarok.

if distro spacific problem whar would one begin to look ?

VINNY

You can help figure out what is going on by running Amarok from the console. You can help even more by running it:

amarok -d --nofork

You can understand more of what is happening moment by moment in Amarok by reading the output there. If you don't see Amarok doing anything when a CD is loaded, that may mean Solid is having a problem seeing it (Solid is the part of the system which allows use of devices). More about Solid: http://news.softpedia.com/news/KDE-4-Re ... 3250.shtml

I didn't re-read this whole string, but if you have not yet updated to Amarok 2.2.2, please do so.

vinnywright wrote:1- the action caled by the device notifier (amarok --playcd %u) isent recognised by Amarok.

Distribution problem, I already told you, ask your distribution.

vinnywright wrote:2- Amarok it's self dosent seam to be abel to mount the cd by it's self or mabey Know whare to look for it.

Did you even bother to read what several others have told before? Amarok doesn't do anything which should be done by the underlying system, and mounting a device should be done by Solid, certainly not by a GUI application. Please report this to your distribution, they are responsible to provide a working mounting system. It works in KDE for other distributions, so it is clearly distribution specific.

vinnywright wrote:I bace the usumtion in 2 on the fact that Amarok dosent display or acnowlege that thar is a cd in the drive if you just open amarok......but if you first open the cd with dolphin and then open Amarok it is displayed.

It has been said for a couple of times already, but here it goes again:
this is a bug in the audiocd KIO slave, a newer version will be available in KDE SC 4.4
So please, report a bug in Launchpad against Kubuntu (or even better, search in the bugs list, this is most likely already known).

Upgrading to Amarok 2.2.2 requires that one also upgrade KDE, which at this time, I do not wish to do. With a music CD mounted - Dolphin reports it under Places as Volume with a URL of audiocd:/ - from the CLI, I ran Amarok -d --nofork as suggested. Amarok launched, but the CD was not identified at all.

Distro ubuntuDistro Ubuntu 9.10 karmic
DE: KDE 4.3.5
Kernel 2.6.31-19-generic i686 (32 bit)
Amarok Version: 2:2.2.0-0ubuntu2

Absolutely not, you can upgrade to Amarok 2.2.2, it is even built against KDE 4.3.2 AFAIK

Okay. Followed the instructions at http://amarok.kde.org/wiki/Download:Kubuntu

Added the two ppa.launchpad.net repositories and the key, which was reported as already added.

Ran sudo apt-get update && aptitude safe-upgrade which reported amarok amarok-common amarok-utils for upgrade. Said yes, and I now have Amarok 2.2.2.

Amarok still unreliably recognizes a loaded music CD. The first two times it did. The third music CD was not recognized. The 'tests' were performed as:

1. Insert music CD.
2. Wait for device notifier to pop-up showing the Optical Disc identified as Volume.
3. Start Amarok via the K Menu.
4. Loaded CD was listed by Amarok.
5. Quit Amarok.
6. Eject music CD.
7. Load new music CD and repeat steps 2-6.

As I said, this worked for the first two music CDs. The third would not be reported by Amarok.

Additionally, this new version of Amarok now crashes after the first track is played. This is repeatable. Any music CD that is played - when Amarok actually displays it - will cause Amarok to crash after the first track is played.

I like Amarok, but the 'de-evolution' since 1.4 that has been remarked on by many, really is cause for concern. I'll keep it around for a bit, and see if any updates to it improve its ability to actually recognize a music CD 100% of the time, and not crash after playing just one track. If it doesn't improve, I'll just have to dump it in favor of VLC (which just works flawlessly).

Sometimes playing a CD crashes Amarok for me too, and I've submitted a bug. However, it's been assigned to Phonon, since that's what's crashing. I've been assured that the developers are working with the VLC devs, and soon VLC will be the backend for Amarok.

That will improve a LOT of stuff, including the Windows version of Amarok!

Speed the day,

Valorie