[asterisk-users] Questions on musiconhold.conf custom mode

[Olivier]

Hello,

I need to play some musiconhold content starting at a random duration
from the start.

Thanks to mode=custom option and either madplay or mpg123 programs, I
could successfully get what I was after on a Debian Wheezy system.

Now I realized sox version on my target system (Debian Squeeze) cannot
convert to MP3 format.
So I'm looking after workarounds.

0. I've read many  mpg123 or madplay examples. All of them are
clutered with option converting MP3 input file into an appropriate
format that Asterisk requires for music on hold.
What is the name of this appropriate format ? sln ? wav ?

1. Is there a player like mpg123, that can repeat content in
appropriate format (see above)  to stdout but can read from anything
different from MP3 ?

2. Is there an option on Squeeze to convert audio files to MP3
(reverse coversion works OK).

3. Which options could I have for such custom MOH, if I was building
on system without g729 transaltion capabilites ans with g729-only SIP
trunks or phones ?

Regards