Support
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## Support

### Getting Help

The MPD project runs a forum and an IRC channel (`#mpd` on Freenode) for requesting help. Visit the MPD help page for details on how to get help.

### Common Problems

1. Database
  Q: I can't see my music in the MPD database!
  Q: MPD doesn't read ID3 tags!
2. Playback
  Q: I can't hear music on my client!
  Q: "Device or resource busy"

##### 1. Database
Q: I can't see my music in the MPD database! Q: MPD doesn't read ID3 tags!
Q: | I can't see my music in the MPD database!
A: | Check your `music_directory` setting. Does the MPD user have read permission on all music files, and read+execute permission on all music directories (and all of their parent directories)? Did you update the database? (mpc update) Did you enable all relevant decoder plugins at compile time? mpd --version will tell you.
Q: | MPD doesn't read ID3 tags!
A: | You probably compiled MPD without `libid3tag`. mpd --version will tell you.
##### 2. Playback
Q: I can't hear music on my client! Q: "Device or resource busy"
Q: | I can't hear music on my client!
A: | That problem usually follows a misunderstanding of the nature of MPD. MPD is a remote-controlled music player, not a music distribution system. Usually, the speakers are connected to the box where MPD runs, and the MPD client only sends control commands, but the client does not actually play your music. MPD has output plugins which allow hearing music on a remote host (such as `httpd`), but that is not MPD's primary design goal.
Q: | "Device or resource busy"
A: | This ALSA error means that another program uses your sound hardware exclusively. You can stop that program to allow MPD to use it. Sometimes, this other program is PulseAudio, which can multiplex sound from several applications, to allow them to share your sound chip. In this case, it might be a good idea for MPD to use PulseAudio as well, instead of using ALSA directly.

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