(Updated February, 1998) Q: Will the current version work with System 8? A: Apple again changed the way that the zoom rectangles are drawn and the way that Empty Trash works. So the zoom open, zoom closed, and empty trash sounds will not work with OS8. However, Apple may be adding event sounds to System 8.2, so it may not matter much longer. Before I can fix any of this, I will need to have some time on a 68040 Mac running OS8 to find out what has changed. Q: What is the latest version of SoundMaster? A: 1.8.4. No version earlier than 1.8.2 should be used on a PowerPC machine under any condition, and the other two stable older versions are 1.7.3 and 1.6.5. (1.6.5 is recommended if you're running System 6 because you get the old style Finder Sounds.) Q: Where can I get the latest version SoundMaster? A: My master home page is located via: http://members.aol.com/btomlin/ The SoundMaster home page is located at: http://lonestar.texas.net/~btomlin/soundmaster.html The download files are in: http://lonestar.texas.net/~btomlin/ftp/ And, as always, I do *not* make the sound files. Any sounds you are already using should still work with the latest version. Please do not ask me where to find new sounds, as I don't know where to look, nor do I have the time to hunt them down. Note: Netscape seems to have a problem downloading binary StuffIt files (it apparently tries to download them in text mode), so I have put up a .hqx version which hopefully will work. However, this may really have been a problem with my previous ISP. I have just noticed that lonestar.texas.net does not support anonymous ftp access. I will soon put a copy in members.aol.com for people who only have ftp access. Q: What is your current mailing address? A: Bruce Tomlin 645 Weatherly San Antonio, TX 78239-2026 E-mail: btomlin@aol.com I also have the same user name at texas.net. (Note: Please do not send e-mail to my Fidonet or GEnie addresses.) Q: I tried getting it from the internet but it says the file is corrupted. A: If you are using Netscape, download the .hqx BinHex file instead. Netscape apparently has a problem with trying to download it as a text file (which corrupts the file) when it is quite obviously a binary file. However, this seems to really have been a problem with the web server of my previous ISP. If you were using FTP, remember to use the "BINARY" command in FTP to set binary mode, and don't forget to download it with a MacBinary aware terminal program. Q: Why won't it play this sound file I got off the Internet? A: Because .au and .wav are not Macintosh sound file formats. You will have to find a sound conversion program. Search for a program called SoundApp. Q: Will there be a new version? Will you add more sound events? A: There will probably not be a new shareware version, unless some kind of major bug is found. I have the core of a 2.0 version written, but I haven't done any work on the user interface, and have been too busy lately with a full time job (which pays my bills) to care. 2.0 will be a commercial version when it is finished because I won't have time to deal with the mail, but there is the chance of a "Lite" version with some features disabled. However, I have heard that Apple will *finally* put some sort of sound events capability into 8.2. So maybe there won't be a new SoundMaster after all. It's rather difficult to keep up with changes in the system software. On the other hand, if Apple does things right, it may make a program like SoundMaster significantly easier to write. Q: I have Kaboom 3.0. That's SoundMaster, right? A: Nope. They got someone to write a clone of it. And they probably had him do it for hire so they wouldn't have to pay any royalties. In any case, I'm getting nothing from Kaboom now. Zero, zip, nada. If you don't like this practice, don't buy anything from Nova. On the other hand, everyone who purchased an AudioClips set from Sound Source Unlimited is eligible to go ahead and use the latest 1.x version of SoundMaster. Currently the =only= money I'm getting from SoundMaster is a trickle of direct registrations. If you recently paid to get SoundMaster ANY other way, you are NOT registered.