Playing movies and music, ripping DVDs, and making Skype calls – that's all possible with Ubuntu. Although the Ubuntu installer already provides basic "third-party" multimedia codecs, these options might not fulfill everyone's wishes. At least, the distribution loads the legitimate MP3 codec from Fluendo onto the computer through the ubuntu-restricted-addons package, along with components for the GStreamer framework (plugins-ugly, plugins-bad, ffmpeg) and a Flash plugin installer from Adobe.

As a result, you can play MP3 files, burn audio CDs, and view more than 90 movie formats right after installation. However, the installed package is not compliant with the ubuntu-restricted-extras package that you should install after the installation. It provides additional codecs for GStreamer, some typical Microsoft fonts (for which you need to sign an EULA first) and the UnRAR unpacker. You'll also need to install the LAME library so that you can create and play MP3 files from audio CDs.

GStreamer

Generally, numerous programs in Ubuntu play music and movies, but there are also some standard apps. Rhythmbox (Figure 1) is the preinstalled solution for playing music. You can use the software to convert CDs to MP3 format, although RipperX [1] is much better suited for it. Totem is the very simple default video player, and it uses the GStreamer format. The drop-down menu used to access the videos and podcasts from YouTube and the BBC in the past is missing in the current version (Figure 2). Many users, however, still also install VLC: The multimedia player plays everything, provides more features than Totem, and can be extended easily through modules. You can find these modules in Software Center if you search for vlc-plugin-.

Figure 1: Rhythmbox plays MP3s as well as radio stations, and it provides integrated music shops. Better software exists for converting from audio CDs.

Figure 2: The Gnome developers removed some functions from the current Totem. On the right, the drop-down menu that previously allowed access to YouTube is missing.

Brasero is still used as a CD burner, and it provides an integrated cover editor. Burning Blu-rays works only with the commercial Nero Linux 4 product that has a demo version [2].

Running in the background for the previously mentioned programs is GStreamer, which is a modular multimedia framework that's available to many audio and video apps. Thus, many programs don't need to support special codecs because GStreamer provides the playback capability. To play an MP3 file, Rhythmbox hands over the task to GStreamer, which rummages through its resources for a plugin that takes care of the MP3 format. Using the contained codecs, GStreamer converts the files into audible material (Figure 3). To teach Totem and Rhythmbox new data formats, often you can just install the matching GStreamer plugin.

Figure 3: Rhythmbox and Totem rely on the GStreamer framework that provides the necessary plugins with new codecs.

Dangerous Liaisons

Although you can use these "limited extras" for multimedia formats, you can't watch encrypted DVDs – which covers just about all commercial DVDs. Bypassing the Content Scrambling System (CSS) requires libdvdcss2, provided by the VideoLan [3], but this is considered a legal gray area in many countries. Use of this software is banned, because it cancels the CSS playback protection and is therefore considered to violate the "effective copy protection mechanism."

In some countries, you can resort to two commercial Linux programs for legal playback: LinDVD from Corel [4] and the Fluendo DVD player [5], whose developers also participate in GStreamer. You can find the latter in the For Purchase repository. Until a couple of months ago, you could use the Medibuntu repository. It used to house – apart from MPlayer and Mencoder – other codec packages that you needed to play and edit movies in all formats. Medibuntu has since been closed (see the "Bye-Bye, Medibuntu" box), and all its packages have been moved to the main repositories (except for libdvdcss mentioned above).

Partners and Shopping Sources

Some proprietary applications like Skype and VMware View Client aren't offered in Ubuntu's standard repositories. Although these programs might be free, they're often under proprietary licenses and are not open source, and, in the case of Skype, very insecure.

These third-party apps can often be found in the Canonical Partners repository that you must first activate. In Software Center, select Edit | Software Sources, click the Other Software tab, then activate the Canonical Partners entry. Again, it might take a while before the sources appear in Software Center.

The For Purchase repository contains mainly software that you can purchase through Software Center – including this magazine in various language editions. Developers usually release the content of these sources on their release date. When you select the software and click Purchase, Software Center links to the Launchpad login page. You can log in to (or register at) the Ubuntu One service and pay via credit card. Apart from official DVD players, you'll also find nifty games such as Family Farm (Figure 4), Oil Rush, and World of Goo. The same payment plan applies to the repository named Independent. There, you'll find mainly apps of external developers that put some minimal time into Ubuntu. Some of them are quite useful, however, because they're meant to handle smaller tasks.

Figure 4: Running under Ubuntu, you'll find not only 1990s style graphics but also visually appealing games, such as Family Farm.

Adobe Products

Loading the flashplugin-installer package on the computer brings in the latest Flash versions from the Adobe website. You might have installed Adobe's PDF Reader from the partner repository in the past. But, you will only need it if Ubuntu's Evince built-in PDF viewer breaks down – which happens in rare cases with PDF files with 3D content or complicated graphics with many levels. For security reasons, you should avoid using Adobe Reader.

Skype and Google Video

Even the new version 4 of Skype is in the Canonical Partners repository. Apart from videotelephony, it also provides desktop sharing: To make collaboration easier, your conversation partner can peek at your desktop. Thanks to the new version, the image quality of Skype for Linux is gradually matching that of the Windows client. Be aware, however, that Skype is one of the pieces of software that most spies on your communications. If you value your privacy, don't use it.

As an alternative to Skype, check out Google's Hangout video platform, which also allows calls among multiple participants (Figure 5). You'll need a Google account, so register at the Google website and go to the left at the top of the Google+ profile. In the right-hand column, select Start Hangout and install a video plugin for your system. You can simply download the corresponding DEB package and double-click the file manager.

Figure 5: Like Skype, Google Hangout provides video chat capability.

Google Earth

If you enjoy using Google Earth [6], you can install it in Ubuntu 13.10, too. Just download the corresponding Debian package for your architecture, then go to Software Center and install the lsb-core package. Double-clicking the Google Earth package loads it onto the computer; this step can take a while, mainly because the package grabs additional files from an online server. Be sure you have enough free space reserved. Then, you can start Google Earth by entering goog in the Dash. Be forewarned, however, Google Earth is no fun without proper 3D acceleration.

The New Java

To use Java applications, you need a Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Ubuntu does not provide Oracle's proprietary Java version anymore – only the free OpenJDK. Because some Java programs had problems in the past with OpenJDK, many users often resorted to the proprietary Java (sun-java). But, that you wont's be able to find it any more because Oracle put it under a nonfree license. Because the proprietary Java is compatible with OpenJDK 7 – the official Java reference – most Java programs should be able to work just fine with the free Java. You can install all the software from the openjdk-7-jdk and icedtea-7-plugin packages, and the older version from openjdk-6-jdk and icedtea-6-plugin using the following command:

$ sudo update-alternatives --config java

This step activates one of the parallel installed Java versions. If an app refuses to run, it's best to submit a bug report at the Ubuntu wiki [7].

Seek and You Shall Find

You can install many proprietary apps and multimedia codecs from the existing repositories. Numerous proprietary Windows programs also run in the Wine Windows-compatible environment [8]. But always take a look in the Ubuntu package manager, because almost every application has a free alternative.