ok, here is how i would get most available codecs and players in a pure Debian install (just now i run Slackware current (downloaded and installed it tuesday) and Debian lenny (http://www.us.debian.org/releases/testing/) on most my machines.

also adding repositories to the apt repository list is not much trouble, I got Mplayer and all codecs needed that way, same with audaciopus (audio)...

if you want to "apt-get install" mplayer add one of the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list (preferably choose the line with the one you have)
Stable: deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian/ etch main

Testing: deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian/ lenny main

Unstable: deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian/ sid main
and DEFINETLY
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org stable main
or
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org testing main
and if you want more options add "non-free contrib" at end of each line in sources.list, like this;
Testing: deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian/ lenny main non-free contrib
now you should be able to install MUCH more in a "pure" Debian and you should also get mp3 and most other media (some encrypted stuff is NOT supported without of tinkering) by just typing
Code:
apt-get install programname-version
and hitting enter.

EDIT
if you want to search for something try
Code:
apt-cache search program
more here (google is good)
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/ap...search.en.html
/EDIT

if that is not enough you will find codec packages on the net for mplayer. same goes for most other players.

here you have a site i found describing how to install latest Mplayer. found it just now using google, looks right but...

http://www.princessleia.com/MPlayer.php

here is a second (non Debian) site on installing Mplayer http://www.debianadmin.com/install-m...h-and-sid.html

here is the original mplayer site
http://www.mplayerhq.hu

i would recommend installing lenny and