Alan Templeton's Web Site
Home

Corvette

Family

Hiking

Palace

Contact Me

Palace Sounds on Mac OS

The Macintosh Palace client is able to play some types of WAVE files but can not play MPEG (including MP3) files and may or may not play MIDI files (depending on tje client and Operating System). In order to play MPEG and possibly MIDI files:

  • Palace Owners must name MPEG files "name_m", and,
  • Macintosh users must install a sound program capable of playing the files and set up their Mac to modify the files as they are downloaded.

Palace owner's responsibilities are pretty clear - just name your MPEG files "name_m".

The following instructions describe what must be done for a user to listen to Palace sounds on Mac OS. They do not apply if you are using Mac OS X:

MPEG

You will need:

  • the Macintosh Palace client version 3.0 or later,
  • the program SoundApp (or equivalent) which will play the MPEG files,
  • the utility Internet Config which will assign the MPEG files to SoundApp as they are downloaded, and optionally,
  • a file utility such as File Buddy which can be used to modify MPEG files previously downloaded.

Additionally, the sound files you download must use the following naming convention:

  • MPEG files must be named 'name_m'.  The _m extension allows Internet Config to identify them.  Internet Config can be modified to recognize different extensions than _m if required.

The following steps will allow you to play MPEG music at Palaces.  If the Palace from which you are downloading uses a different suffix in their MPEG names you will have to modify these instructions appropriately.  Similar changes may help you play sound files from other sources, as well.

Step 1:  Configure Internet Config to modify MPEG files as they are downloaded:

  • Open Internet Config.  This application is found in the Palace folder and also in the QuickTime and Netscape Communicator folders.
  • Press the 'File Mappings' icon.  This will open a window listing standard PC extensions (e.g. .midi) and which Mac application should handle them (e.g. SoundApp).
  • Select 'Add'.  This will open a blank window where you will define the MPEG file modification.

  • Press 'choose example' and navigate to SoundApp (or other MPEG player) and press 'Open'.  This will automatically identify SoundApp as the program to play MPEG's. Write down the File Creator code (SCPL for SoundApp).
  • Enter the following into the fields specified:
    • Name:  Palace MPEG
    • Extension: _m
    • Type:  MPEG
  • Select the 'Binary Data' button.
  • Your window should now look like the example shown if you have selected SoundApp as your sound program.
  • Press 'OK'  You should now see a new entry at the bottom of the File Mapping list for 'SoundApp PPC - Palace MPEG' with extension '_m'.
  •  Repeat the above for any other extension that may be used for MPEG sound files.  For example, if the sound files you want to play are named 'name.mpeg' or 'name.mp3' you will have to change the existing 'Internet Config' entries for 'mpeg' and 'mp3' to match the example above, retaining 'mpeg' or 'mp3' as the extension name.


Step 2:  Install SoundApp:

  • Go to a shareware site, such as VersionTracker, and download a copy of the SoundApp.  Other sound programs will work for MPEGs but MMMMM, which your Mac may need for playing MIDI files, requires SoundApp.
  • Install it on your Mac.
  • Currently MMMMM looks for the SoundApp application.  If you have downloaded the PPC version it will be named "SoundApp PPC".  To resolve this inconsistency, make an alias of SoundApp PPC, name it 'SoundApp' and leave it in your SoundApp PPC folder.


Step 3.  Modify music files already downloaded:

If you have already downloaded MPEG sound files from a Palace you have two choices.  You can delete the existing files and download them again or you can modify the existing files using an appropriate utility.  Deleting and downloading them again is the easiest way for most people but this will require quite a bit of download time.  If you are comfortable using a utility that allows you to modify Macintosh files, you can modify the files to work without downloading them again.

If you wish to modify the existing MPEG files, use a utility such as 'File Buddy' (also available at VersionTracker):

  • Open the utility.
  • From the utility, open each MPEG file and change the 'Creator' to the File Creator code you wrote down in Step 1 (this will be 'SCPL' if you used SoundApp) and the 'Type' (or 'Kind') to 'MPEG'.


MIDI

If you can not play MIDI files from Palace you will need to do the following:

You will need:

  • the Macintosh Palace client version 3.0.
  • tthe program SoundApp (or equivalent) which will play the MIDI files,
  • the program MMMMM which will send the MIDI files from Palace to SoundApp,
  • the utility Internet Config which will assign the MIDI files to SoundApp as they are downloaded, and optionally,
  • a file utility such as File Buddy which can be used to modify MIDI files previously downloaded.

Additionally, the MIDI files must be named 'm_name'.  The m_ prefix allows MMMMM to identify them.

Step 1:  Configure 'Internet Config' to modify MIDI files as they are downloaded:

This is pretty much the same as you did for MPEG except here you will change an existing file mapping rather than create a new one.  As mentioned previously, this may or may not be sufficient to allow you to play MIDIs downloaded from Palace.

  • Scroll the the File Mapping window until you see the mapping for the extension ".midi".  Select it.
  • Select 'change'.  This will open the default window where you will change the MIDI file modification.

  • Press 'choose example' and navigate to SoundApp (or other MIDI player) and press 'Open'.  This will automatically identify SoundApp as the program to play MIDI's. Write down the File Creator code (SCPL for SoundApp).
  • Your window should now look like the example shown if you have selected SoundApp as your sound program.  If it doesn't, change the appropriate fields so it matches the example.
  • Press 'OK'  The '.midi' helper should now be identified as 'SoundApp PPC - MIDI Music'.
  • Repeat the above for any other extension that may be used for MIDI sound files.  For example, you may want to change the file mapping for ".mid" the same as you just did for '.midi' (retaining the '.mid' Extension name).
  • Under the 'File' menu select 'save'.


Step 2:  Download and install 'MMMMM'.

  • Go to a shareware site, such as VersionTracker and download MMMMM.
  • Follow the instructions for installing it in your Palace folder.


Step 3:  If you have not done so already, install SoundApp:

  • Go to a shareware site, such as VersionTracker, and download a copy of the 'SoundApp'.  Other sound programs will work for MIDIs but MMMMM requires 'SoundApp'.
  • Install it on your Mac.
  • Currently MMMMM looks for the SoundApp application.  If you have downloaded the PPC version it will be named 'SoundApp PPC'.  To resolve this inconsistency, make an alias of SoundApp PPC, name it 'SoundApp' and leave it in your SoundApp PPC folder.


Step 4.  Modify music files already downloaded:

If you are using MMMMM you will not have to do anything with the MIDI files.  MMMMM will modify them the first time they are played.

If you are not using MMMMM and you have already downloaded MIDI sound files from a Palace you have two choices.  You can delete the existing files and download them again or you can modify the existing files using an appropriate utility.  Deleting and downloading them again is the easiest way for most people but this will require quite a bit of download time.  If you are comfortable using a utility that allows you to modify Macintosh files, you can modify the files to work without downloading them again.

If you wish to modify the existing MIDI files, use a utility such as 'File Buddy' (also available at VersionTracker):

  • Open the utility
  • From the utility, open each MIDI file and change the 'Creator' to the File Creator code you wrote down in Step 1 (this will be 'SCPL' if you used SoundApp) and the 'Type' (or 'Kind') to 'MIDI'.

You're done!  You should now be able to play sound files directly from Palaces.

Warning: Because so many programs install Internet Config entries, you may have to delete ones you don't want in order to keep your Palace entries active.

This procedure was developed by Alan with the assistance of 'Lil Spinner' (Spinner's Playground) and Ken Marks, the author of MMMMM.

 Last updated April 20, 2001
Last Modified Monday, April 3, 2006