Do you remember the .wav sounds? They’re still around, of course. But you just don’t get exposed to them very much anymore. Back when I got my first home computer and went online in 1997 with my Windows 95, the .wav sounds were sweeping the internet, livening up emails and logins everywhere. They were genuinely fun. I was new at the digital communications scheme and had no idea about how they worked or what was going on with all the 1′s and 0′s that made the sound tracks play out, but I sure knew how to attach them to my emails and such.
I even had them hooked into the computer’s programmed sounds that play automatically when you perform certain functions. For example, you know that little musical interlude you get when you boot up the computer? I had mine set so that when it booted up, instead of the Windows music, I got the sound clip from Mel Brooks’ Frankenstein movie where Gene Wilders calls out: “Alive ….. it’s alive …. IT’S ALIVE !!”
The young internet abounded with websites that had various collections of clips from movies and tv shows, and some that specialized in sound effects that you could download. My collection naturally includes the station tone-out from Emergency! I built up my own personal library of favorite sounds and clips sorted by subject matter on 3″ floppy discs (or is it “disks”? I can never remember) in a special file box. I got a kick out of attaching them to emails, usually something appopriate to the topic of the email. I’ve still got those floppy’s, but neither of my computers have slots for floppy’s now.
I have no idea what popped that into my head this morning and got me to thinking about it. But I began to wonder if the granddaddy of all .wav dispensers, The Daily.Wav was still doing it’s thing. So I went to the handy-dandy search engine and looked it up. Sure enough, it’s still there! Posting a new .wav every day for fourteen years and still going.
Just for the fun of it, go to the site (HERE) and look around. I’d recommend starting with the Alphabetical Archive and picking one of your favorite movies or tv shows and see what he’s got. The Wizard of Oz has a choice collection, for example. (Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.) Or for fun, try a cartoon character (filed under Looney Tunes). If you want Station 51′s tone-out, it’s filed under Emergency!
I suppose that you can go online and buy a floppy reader with a USB connector which would permit me to download my collection onto a CD-ROM. I’ll check that out.
But first, we’ve got to check out our own equipment, so let’s get started. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of coffee.
(And thanks, Flavie!)
