Archive for the 'Sounds' Category
Audio Improvements in Windows Vista
Saturday, December 9th, 2006A few weeks ago I wrote about the new sounds of Windows Vista and I made the point that sound is an important component of your experience using a Windows PC. As important as the new sounds are as an interface to the Windows UI, of equal importance is the system infrastructure that enables [...]
The Windows Vista Volume Mixer
Saturday, December 9th, 2006Windows Vista puts sound at your fingertips. Literally. The amount of control introduced with Vista feels like a breath of fresh air compared with the limitations of Windows XP. The adjacent images
feature the overhauled audio stack in Vista, driving up both the performance and quality of the audio and sounds compared with XP.
The old Windows [...]
Windows Vista vs. Mac OS X: The Startup Sound Debate
Thursday, November 16th, 2006Microsoft has crafted a new startup sound for Windows Vista’s Aero experience along with a complicated back story. But Apple’s Macintosh has long used sounds to alert users to system problems at startup time and this Vista ditty may be heard by Windows customers as mere "ear candy."
The sound of Vista
Sunday, November 12th, 2006Some musicians spend 18 months working on a whole album. At Microsoft Corp., that’s how long it took to perfect just four seconds of sound.
Of course, this isn’t just any four-second clip. It’s the sound — a soft da-dum, da-dumm, with a lush fade-out — that millions of computer users will hear every day, and [...]
Download Windows Vista Sounds
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006The user experience is a high priority for Windows Vista, and part of that “experience” are the sounds that come with the operating system. It’s incredible the amount of work that goes in to capturing that perfect sound to represent different events in Vista, and we went to the trouble of drafting in Robert [...]
HOW TO: install iTunes 7 on Vista RC1
Thursday, September 14th, 2006If you’ve had problems installing the new iTunes 7 on Windows Vista RC1 today, here’s how to work around the problem. First, the error: “Some files that need to be updated are currently in use. The following applications are using files that need to be updated by this installer. Close these applciations and click Retry [...]
Vista audio enhancements revealed
Friday, September 8th, 2006Much of the hype surrounding Windows Vista has been concerned with its graphics: the new, DirectX-powered Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) graphics engine, and the translucent Aero Glass visual themes laid on top of it. Visuals are perhaps the easiest feature to sell a new operating system with, and Vista has pulled out all the stops [...]
Defining the Vista feeling through sound
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006Windows Vista users will be unable to disable the start-up chime that the computer plays when they boot up the system.
Microsoft believes that forcing its users to listen to the same music every time they boot up their computers is part of the "branding experience". Hearing the noise notifies users that the system is ready, [...]
