[CentOS] Sound drop out with totem. mplayer Can't open audio device /dev/dsp

Hey all.

This morning I found that my audio playback is randomly sprinkled with 
sound skips and dropouts.  I went to /var/log/yum.log and found this:

Feb 09 20:18:22 Updated: lame-3.99.4-2.el6.rf.i686

I'm not saying that caused the problem but it's all I could find that 
changed.

When I ls in /dev there is no dsp entry.
That would explain why mplayer Can't open audio device /dev/dsp.
I don't know why there is no /dev/dsp.
MPlayer 1.0rc4-4.4.6

aplay just makes a nasty hiss.
aplay: version 1.0.21

I'm using pulesaudio

$ rpm -qa | grep pulseaudio
alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.21-3.el6.i686
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-libs-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-utils-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-module-gconf-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-module-x11-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-gdm-hooks-0.9.21-13.el6.i686
pulseaudio-libs-glib2-0.9.21-13.el6.i686

$ uname -a
Linux mushroom.patch 2.6.32-220.4.1.el6.i686 #1 SMP Mon Jan 23 22:37:12 
GMT 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

CentOS 6.2

Any of these may, or may not, be related.

-- 
     _
    °v°
   /(_)\
    ^ ^  Mark LaPierre
Registerd Linux user No #267004