PlaySound replaces Beep

In the old DOS days there was a program called Beep.exe that made the PC speaker beep when you ran it. It no longer works in Windows, so I wrote this simple utility to play a sound file. You can specify the sound file, and the time delay before playing it.

The sample download includes "torvalds-says-linux.wav" which is famous in the Linux community but not often heard on a Windows PC. To install it, extract the ZIP file contents to a convenient location, and create a shortcut to PlaySound.exe. You'll need the Visual Basic 6 Runtime libraries, but try running it first because most likely they are already installed.

Next, edit the shortcut properties to include the name of the sound file you wish to play. By default, Windows keeps its system sounds in C:\Windows\Media so if you don't specify a file path, the program will try finding the file there. In the example shown, the "tada.wav" file will be played, with no time delay. The time delay is specified after the file name.

If you specify the delay time as a -ve number, then a "countdown" progress bar is displayed on the screen while the time delay is in progress. The current date and time is also shown. A positive number omits the display, and the program runs with no graphical display at all.

You can download the setup program for PlaySound Version 1.0 build 25 (1667kb), which works on Win98, WinXP and Windows Vista. I have not tested it on Windows 2000. If you are willing to sign my standard non-disclosure agreement you can have the full source code (173k) as well.

Please note: PlaySound is not to be sold, and will always remain freeware. You can't make it available for download anywhere else either. Icon by Benno Meyer with thanks.

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All information copyright © 2005-2009 Black and White Inc. All rights reserved. First published 1st September 2006. Last Updated: 28-1-2009 23:29