I was getting the same error message when running Fedora 18 in VMware Player 5.0.1 and I fixed it with a couple of configureation changes in Fedora.
In recent distributions of linux sound has been handled by PulseAudio. In the past, I have had much better luck with Alsa. However, I had found a fix that worked for pulseaudio in "real" installations and decided to try it in "virtual."
1) (in the guest host) modify /etc/asound.conf to contain only these lines:
pcm.pulse { type pulse }
ctl.pulse { type pulse }
pcm.!default { type pulse }
ctl.!default { type pulse }
[ I may have rebooted the guest host and or the virtual machine at this point ]
2) reconnect the "virtual" sound card
right click on the speaker icon to the right of the VMware toolbar
3) from within (the guest host) linux (in my case Fedora) select the appropriate sound configuration hardware profile:
in my case since, I just had stero speakers, I chose "Analog Stero Output"
Hope this helps you and others.