Some of the common problems that result in questions asked of me are discussed here:
Netscape and SoundApp:
Q: I窶况e configured Netscape to use SoundApp as the sound helper application. However, whenever Netscape launches SoundApp, it reports an end-of-file error and won窶冲 play the files. Why isn't it working?
A: The 窶彷ile type窶 pop-up in Netscape窶冱 helper configuration pane is not set properly. 窶弃LAY窶, which Netscape seems to default to, is a Play List. This setting will confuse SoundApp, since the file downloaded is not a Play List.
To setup Netscape to play Windows 窶.wav窶 files via SoundApp, to the following:
1. Open the 窶廨eneral Preferences窶 dialog and select the 窶廩elpers窶 pane.
2. Edit the the following entry or create it if it doesn窶冲 already exist:
a. MIME Type: 窶彗udio/x-wav窶 and Suffixes: 窶忤av窶.
b. Then under 窶廩andled By窶 click the 窶廣ppliction:窶 radio button.
c. Click the 窶廝rowse窶ｦ窶 button, find and select SoundApp.
d. Using the 窶廡ile type:窶 pop-up menu, select 窶弩AVE窶 for the File Type.
3. Repeat for the 窶彗udio/wav窶 MIME Type.
For other file formats, either edit an existing audio MIME type or create a new one for the desired type. Typically you窶冤l receive an alert from Netscape telling you that it can窶冲 find an apropriate plug-in for a type. See the 窶廡ormats窶 section for likely suffixes, for example 窶彗u窶 for Sun Audio files.
MPEG:
Q: Why can窶冲 I play MPEG files?
A: SoundApp can only play MPEG files on PowerPC-based computers.
Q: Why does SoundApp refuse to play some MPEG audio files but not most others?
A: The MPEG audio files that will not play are most likely encoded using MPEG-2 instead of MPEG-1. MPEG-2 files can include multi-channel information and use a different encoding format for the MPEG bitstream. SoundApp cannot currently play MPEG-2 Layer I or II files, but it can play MPEG-2 Layer III files and Shockwave 窶.swa窶 files.
Sound Playback:
Q: Why do some files (especially MPEG Layer III) start to play then stop?
A: Your computer窶冱 processor or disk drive is too slow.
Q: Why doesn窶冲 clicking in the progress bar work for some files?
A: Not all file formats inherently support random access and SoundApp doesn窶冲 yet emulate this capability for those formats. File encodings that do not support random access are: MOD/S3M/MTM files using the ZSS driver, Amiga IFF Fibbonacci-delta compressed files, DVI ADPCM and any of the G72x compression formats.
AppleScript Ranges:
Q: Why does the start at and stop at AppleScript parameters work for some files and not others?
A: SoundApp doesn窶冲 support these parameters for stereo SoundEdit, non-block based compressed files (Fibbonacci-delta, G.72x, Huffman and DVI ADPCM), MOD/S3M/MTM and MIDI. Future versions may support some of the compressed types for conversion.
