MooSB is a freeware package for Mac OS X that was last updated for Jaguar in 2002. Nevertheless, it was great to stumble upon it, and I'm happy to report that it was not only very easy to set up, but so far it works flawlessly as well! MooSB installs as a system preference pane, with a tabbed interface that lets you install and choose sounds to coincide with a large variety of system events--USB, Firewire, CD/DVD, Mounted volumes, Applications, and more. What's more amazing is that within each category, you can select different sounds for each different item in the category! Well worth the zero dollars expended.
Now, if the prospect of fine-tuning your system to such a degree strikes you as overkill, you're not alone. Only those with way too much time on their hands would actually take the time to customize their Mac to such a degree... right? Well, let's hope so, for my sake! I could get addicted to this, unfortunately.
You see, I had purchased Xounds a couple of years ago, from Unsanity, the makers of the infamous APE (Application Enhancer) plugin. Xounds was really cool, too, and even easier to use in some ways. Xounds has a much nicer interface and is actively being developed. It also costs $10 and can't customize sounds for particular applications and devices. Plus, I found I wanted to turn it off after a few months because a few quirks began to be annoying.
In the meantime, Apple actually began reintroducing system sounds into OS X. Interface sounds had been eliminated in the transition from OS 9, a loss that many--myself included, obviously--sorely missed. Then, in Panther, a few sounds began to appear again, and a few more in Tiger. But they were nowhere near the interface standard they had been in OS 9.
So, system sound utilities like Xounds and MooSB can really help bring back some of the fun and feedback that user interface noises can provide. And I can heartily recommend MooSB if you want the most control possible for associating sounds with particular applications and devices, as well as with particular events. Xounds goes all the way to enable the widest range of sounds associated with user interface events (mouse clicks, drags, specific user interface widget actions, etc). But all of those sounds occur the same way in every application, though you can specify some applications to exclude.
Where MooSB really won my heart was letting me define a unique sound for the launching of iTunes, one for Safari, Mail, etc. And I could have a different sound for my scanner being unplugged from the one I set up for unplugging my mouse. Well, you get the idea!
To top it off, a small application is available (again, for free) for MooSB that makes it a breeze to collect sounds of your own creation into Sound Packs that can be installed for MooSB. The MooSB Sound Packer walks you through the process and helps you install the pack afterwards.
So what does this mean? Well, I immediately made a little snippet from James Brown to use when Soundtrack Pro launches, and a few beats from a Grace Jones dance track to announce the launching of iTunes. The possibilities are limitless--including all manner of vocal chords made by my own throat!
Like many other useless applications, MooSB exists almost purely for fun. And now that I've replaced my system startup chime with the classic Warner Brothers cartoon opening sequence, fun is definitely the order of the day here at the Scott G5 PowerMac!
