Totem is probably the most reviled piece of software included with Gnome. Read
any forum and you will see what I mean. I would remove it and use another
program. For audio use Amarok, Exaile, or Banshee. For video use VLC. Amarok and
VLC can handle almost any multimedia task from watching DVDs to listening to
streaming audio and managing your iPod. There is no reason to use Totem and put
up with its idiosyncrasies.