playing audio CD ... WinXP OK, RHEL WS not ... until ...

[Corey Fong]

 I thought playing an audio CD was pretty straightforward ... if Windows can
do it, then certainly Linux can too.  But I ran into a difference ...
thought I'd share the experience, and see if anyone on the list can explain.

Situation.
. Dell Optiplex280
. WindowsXP and RHEL WS v3update4 (dual-boot)
. Boot WinXP ... Win Media Player plays an audio CD fine
. Boot RHEL ...
- sound detection works ... test sound plays
- various Gnome alert sounds play
=> sound card works fine
- data CD mounts, access is fine
- audio CD is detected, gnome-cd automatically starts
- no music
- tried working with gnome-volume ... volume levels, record selector ... no
success

So, when in doubt ... think hardware :-).  I opened the box ... no audio
cable connecting the CD drive's audio out to the sound card's CD audio in.
Get a cable ... audio CD on RHEL plays just fine.

I am guessing that Win Media Player is getting the audio data from the CD
drive, but the gnome-cd player merely controls the CD drive (play, stop,
pause, etc) and lets the audio come out of the CD drive's audio out jack.

Is this the right conclusion about gnome-cd?
Are there other audio CD players for Linux that read the audio data , like
Win Media Player seems to?

Thanks and regards,
Corey