Solution: Amarok Won’t Play Anything After An Upgrade To Ubuntu 9.04

I was happy to discover earlier today that Ubuntu 9.04 includes Amarok 2. But once I figured out how to queue up some music (which took a little time), I realized that nothing would play.

This was the standard output when I ran it from the command line:
balleyne@balleyne-laptop:~$ amarok
amarok(14270) Phonon::KdePlatformPlugin::createBackend: using backend: "GStreamer"
Object::connect: No such slot MainWindow::showStatistics() in /build/buildd/amarok-2.0.2mysql5.1.30/amarok-2.0.2/src/MainWindow.cpp:692
Object::connect: (receiver name: 'MainWindow')
QLayout: Attempting to add QLayout "" to MainWindow "MainWindow", which already has a layout
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
amarok(14270) Plasma::Applet::save: saving to "1"
amarok(14270) Context::ContextView::setContainment: "" Line: 599
amarok(14270) Plasma::ThemePrivate::config: using theme for app "amarok"
amarok(14270) Plasma::Applet::save: saving to "2"
amarok(14270) Plasma::Applet::save: saving to "3"
amarok(14270) Plasma::Applet::save: saving to "4"
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) Context::ColumnContainment::insertInGrid: "" Line: 603
amarok(14270) Context::ColumnContainment::insertInGrid: "" Line: 603
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
Object::connect: No such slot FileBrowser::Widget::setDir( const QString& ) in /build/buildd/amarok-2.0.2mysql5.1.30/amarok-2.0.2/src/browsers/filebrowser/FileBrowser.cpp:112
Object::connect: (sender name: 'KBookmarkHandler')
Object::connect: (receiver name: 'FileBrowser::Widget')
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
link XMLID_7_ hasn't been detected!
Couldn't resolve property: radialGradient3986
balleyne@balleyne-laptop:~$ amarok(14270) MagnatuneConfig::load: load
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
QPainter::begin: Cannot paint on a null pixmap
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) CoverFetcher::CoverFetcher: ""
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok - No track playing., 0:00
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) CurrentTrack::dataUpdated: CurrentTrack::dataUpdated
amarok(14270) Context::ContextView::clear: "" Line: 165
amarok(14270) Context::ContextView::clear: "" Line: 165
amarok(14270) Context::ContextView::clear: "" Line: 165
amarok(14270) Context::ContextView::clear: "" Line: 165
amarok(14270) CoverFetcher::~CoverFetcher: ""

The “QString::arg: Argument missing: Amarok – No track playing., 0:00” seemed to be the problem. I found the solution from Xavier Merino:

sudo apt-get install phonon-backend-xine

I restarted Amarok and now it works fine.

Update: People are reporting mixed results in the comments. This fix doesn’t work for everyone. Let me know if you become aware of a better solution and I’ll update here.

Another suggestion is sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg

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