get usb headset working with Amarok or Xine

It is a little bit tricky to get a USB headset working with Ubuntu and Amorak.

(i never use KDE, but this tool is my current favorite music player under Ubuntu. Things changes, may be there
is a another favorite player anytime. For now, Amarok 1.4.10 rocks! I donated a small amount of money for the guys of Amarok -> good job !!!).

My current Amarok version from Ubuntu Hardy or Intrepid distributions (XFCE desktop) identifies on-board soundcard only.

But i want to listen to music from my USB headset!.
So a small little manual configuration, let Amorak play music out of my USB headset:
First you need to identify the sound card identifier, i took alsactl, but other ways are possible of course:
sudo alsactl names

This creates /etc/asound.names and there you can find your assigned device, for example:
alsactl24 {
name 'plughw:1,0'
comment 'Physical Device With Conversions - USB Audio (Duplex)'
}


Now open Amarok and configure
Settings / Amarok / Engine
– Sound System: xine Engine
– Output plugin: alsa
– Mono and Stereo: plughw:1,0
– 4 Channels and 6 Channels: leave empty (i left it untouched).

or look on this screenshot:

OK

Now you can here sound from your USB headsets!