Multimedia Recommendation

I'm simply looking for the best Multimedia options within Linux.
Right now I'm concerned with Playing DVD's, CD's, and The most common
Audio and Video Formats.

These include MP3, WAV, RealAudio etc for Music
and Mpeg2, Mpeg4, and Windows Formats for video

I'd like to be able to play protected content if possible, because well,
I paid for it, and it sucks that many programs won't play my DRM'd
material.

Also, I'd like a player that's easy to use and can communicate with
my aging mp3 players. I have a Zen Touch and an older Nomad Juke Box from Creative.

All ideas and suggestions appreciated.

I don't know about hooking up with your existing players but I use Xine for DVDs, and XMMS for mp3s and ogg files. With the right Win32 codecs installed Xine will handle most formats. If you install the correct libraries it will also manage to play your DVDs.

Some people use Amarok for playing mp3s etc., but I find it a bit resource hungry on my older hardware. I've always found media players on *nix to be a bit challenging at first, but once they work they are very very stable.

If you have any trouble with RealAudio, you might consider downloading the Linux version of RealPlayer from their website. It's a bit more sparse looking than the Windows version, but it works well. It's based on the open source Helix player.