This is caused by a new default in php5, compared to php4:

; Allow the <? tag.  Otherwise, only <?php and <script> tags are recognized.
; NOTE: Using short tags should be avoided when developing applications or
; libraries that are meant for redistribution, or deployment on PHP
; servers which are not under your control, because short tags may not
; be supported on the target server. For portable, redistributable code,
; be sure not to use short tags.
short_open_tag = Off


ampache works with 
	php_value short_open_tag On
in the apache config.


Other php applications might break with the new default as well... Petr,
do you think the default should be reverted, for compatibility?

should'nt harm reverting the short_open_tag  setting to On.

there are still a lot of broken code using short tags out there..**sigh**

BTW.. 

Poeml : a little correction :) 
apache directive for that is

php_flag short_open_tag On 

in htaccess

and php_admin_flag short_open_tag On

in httpd.conf

not php_value 

;)

ps:voted in favor of the proposed change to the default PHP config,and I'll sumbit a patch to ampache upstream to get short-tags removed. (trivial) 

Thanks for your help!
What is the difference between php_value and php_admin_flag?

fixed and submited to STABLE (thx Cristian)

Poeml  php_value should be used only for non bool settings.

http://cl.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php

additionaly using php_admin_flag (can be used only in httpd.conf) mean the user cannot overrride ht perticular setting , via .htaccess.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/configuration.changes.php

;-)

Thank you for the explanation!

I removed the change in ampache now, since the default in php5 has been
reverted.