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How to Play Wav and AU Sounds With Windows 3.1
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 soundblaster-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. Just download the driver (21K), double-click on "Speak.exe" to extract the program, and follow the instructions in speak.txt.
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've 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)
If you are not upgrading to a 3.0 Web browser, you need to download and install a separate sound tool. Click on the computer that most closely matches yours:
Getting Set Up
Before you go on, make sure you have the Winzip tool.
Minimize Netscape and run your Windows File Manager. In the file browser box, go to your root directory by scrolling to the top of the list of folders and clicking twice on the directory C:\ (not to be confused with the button c at the very top of File Manager.) Click on the File menu and choose "Create Directory," and name the directory Test. (If you have already created the test directory in another exercise, skip this step).
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.
 Download a sample .wav file (WAV, 19K)
Download a sample .au file (AU, 81K)
Get Wplany
Now you're ready to get the sound player Wplany. Download Wplany.zip, compressed package that actually includes several files. When
Winzip displays the contents of the zipped file, use it to
create a new directory 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.
Windows, Meet Wplany
In Windows 3.1, 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
.wav and .au sound files with the program Wplany. Here's how to do it:
Minimize Netscape. Run the Windows File
Manager and open the c:/Test folder you
created earlier.
Find sample.wav. Click on it once, go
to the File menu, and choose Associate. In the dialoge box that appears, click on the Browse button and select the directory c:\wplany. In the left window, click twice on wplany.exe.
Do the same for the file piccolo.au in c:\test
To make sure the associations have stuck, return to the File Manager and click twice
on test.wav. If
you hear a famous ex-president scrambling to defend himself, you're home free! Then click twice on piccolo.au to hear Homer Simpson.
Play It Again, Netscape
The next (and final) 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 as annoying as it seems. 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 tool for:
 Windows 95
Windows 3.1
Macintosh
Real Audio:
Follow this tutorial for all platforms.
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