Trouble with Debian unstable sound

[Tom Epperly <tepperly@gmail.com>]

I've been running Debian unstable for a while, and I can't figure out 
how I am supposed to configure sound applications. For a long time, I 
had things configured for Alsa, but it seems now that GNOME is starting 
Pulseaudio which locks that sound device. Other programs seem to want 
jack. It seems that nothing is working now (e.g., xmms, vlc). Can 
someone explain how it's all suppose to work together, so my sound 
applications will work again?

I've got pulseaudio and jackd running.

Thanks,

Tom
P.S. Please Cc me no replies.