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How to Play WAV and AU Sounds With Windows 95
By Dan Pacheco
WashingtonPost.com
The following instructions explain how to configure Netscape Navigator, the most popular Web browser, to play WAV and AU sound clips. These instructions assume you are using Windows 95. We also offer help for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh.
Check Your Hardware
Before your computer can play sounds the way they were intended to be heard, it must have a sound card. If you purchased your PC within the last year, it's probably already set up for sound.
But if you're one of the many PC users who fall through the cracks, there are two things you can do:
- Buy a sound card. Take a trip to your local computer store and ask for a 16-bit Sound Blaster-compatible card. Good sound cards are generally available for well under $200, and software designers these days tend to assume your machine can play the blues, if not a full Mozart piano concerto.
- Cheat. If you want to get wired now and don't mind settling for a tinny imitation of the real thing, try out Microsoft's PC Speaker Driver. It allows you to listen to any .wav file through your computer's built-in speaker. But beware: future versions of Netscape Navigator and other programs
will not support this driver.
To use the driver, download it (21K) and double-click on "Speak.exe" to extract the program, and follow the instructions in speak.txt. (If you don't know how to read our guide.).
Check Your Browser Version
If you are using Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0 (or higher), you already have everything you need to hear standard sounds. To find out which version you are currently using, click on the "Help" menu at the top right-hand corner of your screen and choose "About Netscape" or "About Internet Explorer." The version will appear on a Web page. Then click the "Back" button to return to this tutorial.
If you don't have either one of these browsers, upgrading is easy. Just go to our browser page to learn how. If you don't want to upgrade, you will still need to download and configure a separate helper application. Skip ahead to the section labeled "Get a Sound Tool."
If you're already upgraded, playing sounds is simple enough for almost anyone to figure out (if you've ever used a VCR or tape deck, the process will be intuitive). But if you need some help, read our quick sound guide.
Get a Sound Tool (Older Browsers)
Before you go on, make sure you have the Winzip decompression tool.
Now create a temporary folder on your desktop. We'll use this folder to save a couple of sound files later on.
To create a new folder: minimize Netscape and any other open programs and go to your desktop. Click the desktop with your right mouse button and select "New" and "Folder." Rename that folder by clicking once with the right mouse button on the test "New Folder," and choose "Rename" from the menu that pops up. The text of "New Folder" will be highlighted, and as soon as the pop-up menu disappears you can type in the new name that you want; in this case, let's call it Test.
Download the following sample .wav and .au sounds to the Test directory. To do this, click the links with your right mouse button and choose "Save This Link As...". Then use the file browser box to choose the directory c:\windows\desktop\test. (If you don't know how to find files and folders in a dialogue box, read our guide.)
 Download a sample .wav file (WAV, 19K)
Download a sample .au file (AU, 81K)
Get Wplany
Now you're ready to download Wplany. You'll actually download Wplany.zip, a compressed package that includes several files. If you have the Winzip Wizard turned on, click "Next" and extract the files to the directory Winzip chooses.
If you are using Winzip classic, create a new directory from Winzip called wplany. Select all of the files in the file browser box and click the extract button. Using the directory box, find the directory C:\ and create a new directory called "wplany" by clicking the "Create Dir." button at the lower right hand corner of the Winzip window. When the files have been unzipped, close the program and go on to the next step.
When Winzip has finished its job, close the program and minimize Netscape. If you wish, rename the folder in c:\unzipped to wplany and move it elsewhere on your hard drive.
Win95, Meet Wplany
In Windows 95, you can tell your computer to always use the same program when it encounters a certain type of file. This is called associating. You need to associate the sample .wav and .au files you just downloaded with wplany.
First, we'll associate a .wav file.
On your Windows 95 desktop, click on the My Computer icon (or if you choose, go to the Windows Explorer by clicking your right mouse button on your Start button and choosing Explore.)
From the explorer, go to the View menu and choose Options. Then choose the File Types tab at the top of the window.
In the window labeled "Registered File Types," find "Wave Sound." Select "Wave Sound" by clicking it once. (Some users have reported that WAV does not appear as a choice. If this is the case, refer to these special instructions for associating new file types in Windows 95.)
At the bottom of the new dialogue box, click Edit again. Click the Browse button and use the browser window to find the directory c:\wplany (or the directory chosen by Winzip, if you didn't remove or rename it.) In the file box, click once on the icon "wplany.exe" and click the Open button. Association completed!
To get out of this ugly mess of configuration screens, click OK, Close and Close again. Phew! You're out of there!
Repeat this process, but this time choose Sound Clip Basic or AU. (If you don't see this entry, refer to these special instructions for associating new file types in Windows 95.)
Play It Again, Netscape
The next step is similar to the last. You need to tell Netscape to always use Wplany to play a Windows .wav and .au sound files. But because Netscape is probably already set up with its own sound program (NAPlayer, NOT recommended by the Outfitter), you also need to tell Netscape not to use that program.
From the task bar at the bottom of your desktop, maximize Netscape.
Go to the Options menu and choose General Preferences. Then go to the Helpers tab.
The tiny scroll box full of cryptic words is really not that complicated. These are "MIME types," or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. MIME is the language Internet programs use to exchange anything that is more than text.
If you look closely, you should notice separate columns for File type, Action and Extensions. Fix your eyes on the Extensions column on the right and look for one of our two sound file types: AU and WAV. When you've found any one of these, do the following:
Click once on the file type. At the very bottom of the Preferences window, click on the Browse button. Navigate to c:\wplany and click twice on the wplany.exe program (seem familiar?) Then click OK.
When you leave the configuration menus, make sure you save your setup by choosing "Options" and "Save Options."
Try It Out
Now that you have your sound tool, go ahead and use it to hear these two sample sounds:
Download a sample .wav file (WAV, 19K)
Download a sample .au file (AU, 81K)
Is That All?
For WAV and AU sound clips, yes. But more and more sites are using "Real Audio," a more efficient sound system that makes it possible to broadcast sound live over a standard phone line. Read our Real Audio guide to learn how to get the Real Audio Player.
Wav/AU for:
 Windows 95
Windows 3.1
Macintosh
Real Audio:
Follow this tutorial for all platforms.
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