Sound Server Issues
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Why Jack?
The reason we use a sound server is to multiplex audio streams. There are three commonly available sound servers: esd, arts, and jack. They all provide the advantage over directly accessing the sound devices (oss or alsa) of being able to multiplex multiple sound streams to the same device, so you can still hear your IM beep while you are listening to an MP3.
The one reason we use Jack is for its low latency - you just can't watch a DVD or use VOIP (voice over IP) on a system that uses Arts. Some people have trouble with the Jack sound server and would like to get rid of it. In my opinion the latency issue is too important to sacrifice.
-dsf
