music playback problems

[gnarly_buttons]

In the past my computer ran mp3s with no problem, but it has started having problems. Usually it will play the playlist for about 30 to a minute. Then it just stops. Sometimes it will let me start the music again, but sometimes it just freezes my keyboard. I usually use xmms, but I also tried with amarok. With amarok, it sometimes gives me an error message, along with the previously stated effects. The message is as follows.

Sound server fatal error:
cpu overload, aborting

It is contained in a box called "error- artsmessage" (I think).

Does anybody know what might be the problem? Any solutions?

Thanks,
Scott