15.1. Playing Sounds

Chapter 15. Sound, Movies, Speech, and Handwriting

For years , as other computer companies whipped themselves into a frenzy trying to market one multimedia computer or another, Mac fans just smiled. Macs have been capable of displaying sound and graphics ”no add-on sound, graphics, or video boards required ”from day one, years before the word multimedia was even coined.

The Mac's superiority at handling sound and video continues in Mac OS X. QuickTime, for example, is software that lets you play digital movies on your screen and watch live "streaming" broadcasts from the Internet. This chapter covers both creative pursuits: creating and using sound, and playing and editing movies.

As a bonus, this chapter also covers Mac OS X's speech features (how to command your Mac by voice, as well as making your Mac talk back) and even Ink, Mac OS X's bizarre little handwriting-recognition system.