Comment 14 for bug 14333

I have more information (it may or may not help other people):

If (*before* I log in to gdm) I switch over to a virtual terminal (using
CTRL-ALT-F1) I can then use aplay to play a wave file and it works. If I then
switch back over to gdm (using ALT-F7) and log in, aplay will always hang
(whether I try it from virtual terminal 1, or from an instance of
gnome-terminal). If I log out from gnome, I can use aplay again (from virtual
terminal 1). So basically, provided I'm *not* logged into a gnome session, sound
works OK for me.

Does anyone know if there's something in Gnome which opens (and exclusively
holds open) the sound device?

Jaime