Tips on Sounds

or, How You and Your Web Browser Can Make Beautiful Music Together

1. Your computer must be capable of playing sounds. While most Macintoshes have been sound equipped for some time now, Intel (Windows) computers are only recently coming with sound capabilities as a given. If your Windows computer came with "multimedia," that is, it probably has a CD and even speakers, you should be OK.

2. Your computer must have sound playing software installed. There are several sound formats and software for playing them. The sounds presented in these files are actually QuickTime movies with no picture. Unlike some other sound formats, QuickTime offers an easy way to record and play sounds that works consistently well across platforms. To get and install the appropriate QuickTime bits and pieces for your computer, got to Apple's QuickTime Software page. and choose the appropriate platform. The Easy Install is fairly quick and relatively painless. Full instructions are available at the site.

3. Use a "sound happy" browser. Recent versions of popular browsers like Netscape 3.0 and Internet Esplorer 3 make sound a more seamless proposition. They also tend to require more horsepower and memory than older versions of browsers. If you have enough memory, consider using the newer versions of these browsers. They are available from Netscape and Microsoft, respectively. Early morning is the best time to download. Or, if you're looking for a faster source, Steve Cavrak usually keeps a local copy of Netscape available for download.

4. Depending on how your browser is setup, you may need to tell it how to handle sound files when it encounters them. It should try to play them automatically. If it doesn't, you will need to do a little configuring. This is easy. Just look in your browser's menu for an item like "Options" or "Preferences" and then find the Helpers File Types. You will see a list of all kinds of file types with information on how the browser handles them. If you don't see one for QuickTime videos, with a MIME type of video/quicktime, and extension of .mov, then add it. Choose what the browser should do when it encounters such a file. Again, depending on the browser your choices will vary. On some browsers you can choose to have the sound played by a built-in Plug In. On others you will have to use an external program like Movie Player or Play32.

5. So you've tried to hack through all of the above and things still don't work right. Don't worry. Call the Helpline (656-2604) or send them e-mail at helpline@uvm.edu. They handle browser questions every day and should be able to help you or direct you to someone who can!