.htaccess is more appropriate for shared hosting.  I think by default, Apache has it disabled - it's better to edit the apache2.conf file anyway.  Check /etc/apache2/sites-enabled (can't remember the exact path, it's something like that) and try adding the stuff that you'd put in the .htaccess file somewhere in there.  Don't forget to reload Apache once you've edited and saved the configuration file
(from memory, /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload )

PSPkiller Wrote:Can't do a reboot at the moment as it's currently making an MP3 128Kb/s VBR copy of my entire music collection for streaming purposes (yes, i know i can probably set it up so that it's converted on-the-fly as it's streamed but I can;t really be assed to do it that way...)

Streaming over HTTP with Flash?  AAC/Vorbis gives smaller sizes :P