If you want to, I mean if you really want to, you can add some weird sound effects to your incoming email.
Chapura, better known for its KeySuite Outlook synchronization software, today launched Email Sound FX, “an Outlook add-in for customizable sound notification of Outlook email on a Windows-compatible PC”. Users can then assign sender-specific sounds enabling them “to decide to read or ignore emails as desired, which minimizes toggling to and from Outlook and improves time management,” a press release says.
According to the blurb you pick the sender’s address from your address book, assign the sound to a person, group or domain, so that when any email from those people arrives, you’ll get the sound. And not just once: All emails you’ve assigned sounds to will, er, sound.
As long as it’s not overdone this kind of thing can be useful. I do it using filters in my email program of choice, Courier. Assuming you’ve already set up filters you can easily add sounds for any particular person, domain, or type of email based on subject or content. In my case I once, in a drunken moment, recorded some WAV files along the lines of ‘somethingsh jush arrived from the offish’, etc. Yes, I know it’s nerdy but it means you know when something important’s arrived in your inbox.
Email Sound FX is available for $10, via the Chapura Web site, www.chapura.com or on Amazon at www.amazon.com.
The Monty Python “Message for you sir”, is by far my favorite new mail sound.
You’ve always been able to do this is in Outlook for free. Just have a bunch of “nice” wave files (.WAV) in a directory somewhere then set up your rules wizard so that it “plays a sound” (ie chosen WAV) depending on sender. I’ve been using this for years to quickly know when I have to hop to a reply (a siren for my boss) or if it’s from someone who can wait. This will give you the flexibility to use rather rude sounds that are probably not offered with a commercial product…
http://www.tagolf.net/wavs/asshole!.wav