for the universe located apps like xmms, beep and vlc you have to set the right output plugin in the preferences (esd). its pretty weird that totem for you doesnt use gstreamer as rhythmbox does, are you sure you use the default totem ? or did you install totem-xine ?
gcompris playing through the server is indeed a bug, could you file one against gcompris ? -- Sound coming out of server instead of terminal in ltsp edubuntu https://launchpad.net/bugs/73346 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
