Possible to play sound files without launching app? A la System 7

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Level 1

31 points

Possible to play sound files without launching app? A la System 7

If any of you recall, in System 7, you could double-click a sound file and it would just play without launching an app. The OS itself was capable of playing sounds, like system sounds or even music files (you could also use QuickTime). This was pre-iTunes.

I miss those days. The other day, I was trying out some sound effects, and double-clicking them launched the behemoth bloatware app, iTunes. Of course, I could pick another app, but I would prefer no app at all, i.e., system-level, ready-to-eat sounds; just click and it plays.

Does anyone know of a system-level plug-in or background app that works in this way? An analogous system function would be clippings. Double-click one of those and it just pops up; no app launches. This is how System 7 worked, and I sorely miss it. I use sampled sounds a lot, and I just want to click on them to quickly hear what they sound like in that same simple way we once could.

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 8:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Niel

Level 10

726,623 points

Mar 21, 2012 8:55 PM in response to Mr. Mellow

Select it in the Finder, choose Get Info from the File menu, and start playing it in the Preview section.

(64998)

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Answer 2

X423424X

Level 6

14,265 points

Mar 21, 2012 9:10 PM in response to Mr. Mellow

View the file as an icon and make the icon at least 64 x 64 and you will see a play button as you mouse over the icon.

You can also play it when viewing the file in finder column view.

And of course, for the sake of completeness, as Niel says, you can play it from a finder Get Info of the file using the Get Info Preview.

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Answer 3

fane_j

Level 4

3,697 points

Mar 21, 2012 9:26 PM in response to Mr. Mellow

Mr. Mellow wrote:

I just want to click on them to quickly hear what they sound like

In Finder (any view), click on the file.
Press spacebar.

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Answer 4

Mr. Mellow Author

Level 1

31 points

Mar 22, 2012 2:27 PM in response to Mr. Mellow

Holly smokes, I've never noticed that before. I wish I could give all of you the problem-solved credit, but X423424X got to the "just click" solution first (without launching an app or opening a window). But the Get-info, and especially the spacebar solutions... thank you!

I'm still living in a Tiger world (straight from System 7), where I lived without this for 5 years, and thought it was gone forever. If someone tells me I could have done this in Tiger, also, I'm going to jump off a bridge! LOL, kidding.

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