Although, after doing as suggested by Sebastian Dröge, paying back http://ff123.net/samples/1.flac (FLAC sample file) using "$ gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location="./1.flac" ! decodebin ! {fake, oss, alsa}sink", all three sinks functioned correctly - sound was played back.
possibly related to of 40023: "totem & rhythmbox will not play Ogg Vorbis, Ogg Theora or Ogg FLAC on fresh Dapper install"?
https:/ /launchpad. net/distros/ ubuntu/ +source/ gstreamer0. 10/+bug/ 40023
Although, after doing as suggested by Sebastian Dröge, paying back http:// ff123.net/ samples/ 1.flac (FLAC sample file) using "$ gst-launch-0.10 filesrc location="./1.flac" ! decodebin ! {fake, oss, alsa}sink", all three sinks functioned correctly - sound was played back.