Using Chat Room Sounds--
Transmitting Sounds in a Chat Room

America Online offers you the feature of sound--a new dimension to chat and conference rooms. 

While in a chat or conference room, you can "broadcast" sounds to other users who are in the same room.  The way this works is that the sound itself is not sent, but rather a request to play the sound is sent.  The digitized sounds are typically too long to be transmitted, so only the name of the sound is sent.  If a user has this particular sound available on his or her disk, it is then played.  

For a sound to be heard, it must reside as a named 'SND ' resource on the user's disk in a file visible to America Online. There are two easy ways to make 'SND ' resources available to America Online:

-Save all sounds to the America Online file named "Online.sounds."  

-Or, save your sounds in a file called "Online One," or "Online Two", or "Online Three" in the folder entitled "Online Files."  Then, they'll automatically be opened by America Online at the beginning of the session, so the "SND" resources will be available.  Note that the file "Online Two" will only be opened if "Online One" is found, and "Online Three" will only be opened if both "Online One" and "Online Two" are found.

HOW TO USE SOUND

Transmitting a sound in a chat room is easy.  Choose the "Get Sound" option from the People menu in People Connection.  A list of the sounds available will be presented.  Point to the one you want to broadcast.  If you choose "OK," the sound command will be transferred into the input portion of the chat room.  To listen to the sound first, choose "Play."  

You can also type the sound command into the input field manually, such as in the example below (including brackets):  
 
	{S <name of 'SND ' resource>} 

There can be no space between "{" and "S" but there 
must be a space after the "S";  be sure to end with a "}"

Remember, a sound will be heard by you and other chat room members who: 

-are using System version 5.0 or later.
-have a 'SND ' resource available with the correct name.
-Have Chat Sounds enabled (in other words, they haven't chosen to disable via their "Preferences" options their ability to hear chat sounds).

A good place to check for sound files to download is the Music and Sound Special Interest Forum.  So, get online and download or trade sound files with your friends -- and be heard!