diff -durN esound-0.2.28.orig/esd_config.c esound-0.2.28/esd_config.c
--- esound-0.2.28.orig/esd_config.c	2002-06-19 16:14:24 +0400
+++ esound-0.2.28/esd_config.c	2002-06-19 23:33:26 +0400
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
   char aline[LINEBUF_SIZE];
   char *key, *value, *start;
   int i;
+  int k=0;
 
   while(fgets(aline, sizeof(aline), fh))
     {
@@ -118,7 +119,12 @@
 	}
       else if(!strcasecmp(key, "spawn_options"))
 	{
-	  strcpy(esd_spawn_options, value);
+    /* permit multiple lines with spawn_options in esd.conf */
+	    k++;
+	    if(k == 1)
+	    strcpy(esd_spawn_options, "");
+    	    strcat(esd_spawn_options, " ");	  
+    	    strcat(esd_spawn_options, value);
 	}
       else if(!strcasecmp(key, "spawn_wait_ms"))
 	{