Thanks Everyone for you help. It led me on the right track to solving the problem! After finding that the definite file was /etc/asound.conf, I copied the rest of the file from the wiki into it and now most of my alsa applications work and many work better. You should add to the wiki that you have to specify "pulse" as the device in Avidemux preferences. Unless, you think that is a little too obvious. I even got flash working in Iceweasel which was a bit more complicated, and I may post that in a How-To on the Debian forums. Audacity also does not work but I understand that it doesn't work for anyone period, so I don't mind having to kill the server just for one program. On the other hand, I think I am going to take a stab in the dark here and see if anyone knows how to get the NES Emulator Mednafen to work with Pulseaudio. It gives me the following error message. It gives a similar error message when I specify "pulse" as its device, except it says "operation not permitted." Using "ALSA" audio driver with device "hw":ALSA Error: snd_pcm_open(&alsa_pcm, id ? id : "hw:0", SND_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK, 0) Device or resource busy Error opening a sound device. If no one has any ideas, it does not matter, I don't mind killing the sound server just for a few minor applications. Whats important is that it works very well in general and it is a success. You all did a very great job creating a fine program. You solved the Linux Sound Problem!!! Congratulations and Thank You!!