alsaplayer O.99.74 too will play your audio cds
digitally, allowing visual
effects on music (although you can find a similar plugin for xmms).
xmms can do visual effects on any music source, as far as I can tell. One
person I knew (an old-school raver) wanted to stick with Window Media Player
because he'd discovered the visuals and thought they were unique to the
program. Aciiiieeeed!
Daniel