On top of Debian I use XBMC as my media center, it can be fetched from XBMC. Current version as of writing is, Dharma. It is relative stable, with only few minor bugs. Fairly easy to install.

A plugin for integrating XBMC with grooveshark can be found here. Groveshark

Plugin for XBMC and Boxee which provide a lot of movie content for streaming, even in HD quality. navi-x

After upgrading to xbmc Dharma the mp3 playback doesn't work when playing mp3 files. XBMC seems to be waiting as the music time counter stands still and the equalizer doesn't move. Pressing pause, and play again, fixes the problem, and music starts playing. To resolve this problem i found a fix at xbmc forum and the bug bug.

To fix the problem create a file advancedsettings.xml in ~./.xbmc/users/advancedsettings.xml

$ nano ~./.xbmc/users/advancedsettings.xml

Save the file with the following content.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<advancedsettings>
<audio>
  <!-- Default audio player: paplayer or dvdplayer (or mplayer on Xbox) 
-->
  <defaultplayer>dvdplayer</defaultplayer>
</audio>
</advancedsettings>

More details on advancedsettings.xml can be found here.

After upgrading to Debian Squeeze it is now possible to take advantage of the HDMI interface. However et least on the acer revo 3610 it requires a little more configuration to set up sound through analog and hdmi interface. Paste the following code into /etc/asound.conf and everything should be fine.

# ~/.asoundrc or /etc/asound.conf
# ALSA configuration file

##### USAGE #####
# Save this file as "~/.asoundrc" (for user-specific sound configuration) or
# "/etc/asound.conf" (for system-wide sound configuration) and specify ALSA
# device names ad described in the next section.


##### DEVICE NAMES #####
# This configuration file defines four devices for use by the user.  Those
# devices are "analog", "mixed-analog", "digital", and "mixed-digital".  The
# user may also re-define "default" to be identical to one of the above-named
# devices (i.e. to send all sound output to the digital output unless otherwise
# specified).  Use the device names as described below:
#  - "analog" outputs to the analog output directly and (at least on software
#  sound cards) blocks other audio output.  After playback completes, "queued"
#  sounds are output in sequence.
#  - "mixed-analog" mixes audio output from multiple programs into the analog
#  output (so you can hear beeps, alerts, and other noises while playing back
#  an audio stream).
#  - "digital" outputs to the digital output directly.  Since most (all?)
#  digital outputs expect 48kHz PCM audio, this may not work for some playback
#  (i.e. CD's--which are 44.1kHz PCM audio--or 32kHz audio streams from TV
#  recordings, etc.).
#  - "mixed-digital"

# All other devices created within this file are used only by the configuration
# file itself and should /not/ be used directly.  In other words, do not use
# the devices "analog-hw", "dmix-analog", "digital-hw", or "dmix-digital".


##### IMPORTANT #####
# To make this ALSA configuration file work with your sound card, you will need
# to define the appropriate card and device information for the "analog-hw" and
# "digital-hw" devices below.  You can find the card and device information
# using "aplay -l".

# Alias for (converted) analog output on the card
# - This is identical to the device named "default"--which always exists and
# refers to hw:0,0 (unless overridden)
# - Therefore, we can specify "hw:0,0", "default", or "analog" to access analog
# output on the card
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is different from "default" and
# allows playback while blocking other sound sources (until playback
# completes).
pcm.analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "analog-hw"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Analog Output - Use analog outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for (converted) mixed analog output on the card
# - This will accept audio input--regardless of rate--and convert to the rate
# required for the dmix plugin (in this case 48000Hz)
# - Note that as of ALSA 1.0.9, "software" sound card definitions redefine
# "default" to do mixing, meaning this device is identical to "default" for
# "software" sound cards.
pcm.mixed-analog {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmix-analog"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Mixed Analog Output - Use analog outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary. Allows mixing with system sounds."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.mixed-analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for (converted) digital (HDMI) output on the card
pcm.digital {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "digital-hw"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Digital Output - Use digital outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for mixed (converted) digital (HDMI) output on the card

pcm.mixed-digital {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmix-digital"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Mixed Digital Output - Use digital outputs, converting samples, format, and rate as necessary. Allows mixing with system sounds."
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.mixed-digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# The following devices are not useful by themselves.  They require specific
# rates, channels, and formats.  Therefore, you probably do not want to use
# them directly.  Instead use of of the devices defined above.

# Alias for analog output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.analog-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
  device 0
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.analog-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Alias for digital (HDMI) output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.digital-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
  device 3
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.digital-hw {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for analog output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.dmix-analog {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1234
  slave {
    pcm "analog-hw"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 4096
    rate 48000
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.dmix-analog {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Direct software mixing plugin for digital (S/PDIF) output on the card
# Do not use this directly--it requires specific rate, channels, and format
pcm.dmix-digital {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1235
  slave {
    pcm "digital-hw"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 4096
    rate 48000
  }
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.dmix-digital {
  type hw
  card 0
}

# Make joint analog/HDMI the default
pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm multi
    rate 48000
  }
  ttable.0.0 1.0
  ttable.1.1 1.0
  ttable.0.2 1.0
  ttable.1.3 1.0
}

# Control device (mixer, etc.) for the card
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 0
}

pcm.xbmc {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm multi
    rate 48000
    channels 4
  }
  ttable.0.0 1.0
  ttable.1.1 1.0
  ttable.0.2 1.0
  ttable.1.3 1.0
}


ctl.xbmc {
  type hw
  card 0
}

pcm.multi {
  type multi
  slaves.a.pcm "analog-hw"
  slaves.a.channels 2
  slaves.b.pcm "digital-hw"
  slaves.b.channels 2
  bindings.0.slave a
  bindings.0.channel 0
  bindings.1.slave a
  bindings.1.channel 1
  bindings.2.slave b
  bindings.2.channel 0
  bindings.3.slave b
  bindings.3.channel 1
}

ctl.multi {
  type hw
  card 0
}