AFAIK, Ubuntu wants everything that outputs sound to go through pulseaudio. (a software mixing daemon). Not everything supports pulse, though, and will find the audio device unavailable if something else already has it open through pulse.
sudo lsof /dev/snd/* will almost always tell you what process you need to stop to free up the audio device, if you don't want to convert everything to pulseaudio. Or I think it's appropriate to report bugs on any program that doesn't/can't use pulseaudio by default. -- audacity does not play a sound since Gutsy upgrade https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/162594 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs