OpeanAl is a low level api for play sound samples in allocated soundbuffers; it dosent have procedures for open and play OGG or MP3 files automatically; it allow to open a WAV file automatically but that is most like an utility procedure; it is not compared to libs like FMod where you just pass the file name and the play the sound.

In OpenAL the users is responsable for Open the sound files, like a OGG or MP3, or big WAV files, then you allocate one or more sound buffers with openal, then the user is responsable to extract a chunk of the sound from compressed Ogg or MP3 in uncompresed sample sound data into the alocated sound buffer; then you can play, stop, pause, rewind, etc the sound buffer; you can play several sound buffers at the same time.

OpenAL allow you to check the current sound buffers state, mean it tells you if the sound buffer is curently playing, paused, stoped, or finished, it also tells you the current position of the sample been played; that info is usuful for you for to code a sound manager.

The technique used for play OGG files with OpenAL is:
- you allocate two sound buffer chained, (let's called "front" and "back" sound buffers).
- You load a Ogg file and file and you put about 1 minute of audio data into front and back sound buffers.
- Then you tells Openal to start playing front sound buffers, and when finished then start playing the back buffers.
- meanwhile the soundbuffers are playing you can do somthing else in your app but you have to keep checking the current front buffer state, when the state returns finished then it mean back buffers is now playing, so you have now to load from Ogg another minute of audio and fill again the front buffer; then you move the front buffers back in the chain so now it is a backbuffer and the current playing buffers is now front buffer.
- you keep doing that until all audio in the ogg (or Mp3 or big WAv) is played.

Like you see, OPENAL is not a ready to use sound manager lib, (neither directx sound i thik), you have to code your own sound manager on top of openal.


good luck.

tp.