Music Fan Club: Soundbytes FAQ

The Official Soundbytes Instructions

Contents:

Why does it play the clips from the last game?

What exactly is Soundbytes?

How is the game organized?

How does scoring work?

What format are the sounds in?

How do I register to play?

How accurate do my answers have to be?

Why don't you tell me the right answer on the ones I miss?

I think my answer was close enough, will you give me the points if I send you e-mail?

I know that my answer was right, and I think there is something wrong with the game because it said I was wrong. Is there anything I can do?

Can I skip a turn?

Are there any prizes?

Why does it play the clips from the last game?
If you play the game and find that the game is loading old music clips from previous games, the problem is usually the result of your browser calling up the old clip from your disk cache instead of downloading the new clip from our site. To alleviate this problem, clear the disk cache on your browser, exit the browser program, restart the program, and reload the page. If you can not clear your cache or do not understand how, you can also hold down on your SHIFT key when you load the sound clip. For more information on how to clear your browser's disk cache, check your browser's help file.

What exactly is Soundbytes?
Soundbytes is Music Fan Club's version of 'Name The Song,' utilizing snippets of popular songs from every genre throughout the decades. Try to identify the title of each song. (Do not include the artist or your answer will be judged as incorrect.) You compete against all the other players, and the winner of each game is listed forever in our Hall of Fame. Top

How is the game organized?
Each game consists of seven rounds, and each round consists of 5 sets of sound clips and clues. For each of the 5 songs, there is a text clue and sound samples in lengths of 1, 3, 5, and 7 seconds. Points are awarded based upon which sample you have to listen to to identify the song.
A new game begins every Monday and there is a new round for each day of the week. We do not recommend that you play near update times, the game could be updated right out from under you. (Updates occur at midnight Central Time. That's GMT -5:00 April-October, GMT -6:00 the rest of the year.) If you are playing close to an update time, you'll be warned. Top

How does scoring work?
Points are awarded based upon the amount of each song you must listen to before you can identify the title:
1 second - 40 points
3 seconds - 20 points
5 seconds - 10 points
7 seconds - 5 points
Can't identify - 0 points
It is possible to score up to 200 points per round and up to 1400 points per game. Your total score reflects the total for the game, not for the round. You can see how you rank among other scoring players by viewing the Current Standings. The list of winners can be seen in the Hall of Fame. Top

What format are the sounds in?
The sounds are in 8-bit au format. Netscape version 2.0 or above should have the ability to play this format. However, if you are not using Netscape (why wouldn't you be?) or have trouble playing the sounds, sound players are available that can handle au files:
SoundApp (Mac)
WPlany (PC)
You'll need to refer to your browser's documentation for instructions on installing either of these programs as a WWW helper application.
We are assuming, by the way, that your computer has sound capability... :)
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How do I register to play?
Just visit the registration page. You get to pick your own UserID and password (for security reasons, please pick a username and password unique to this site). You must also supply a valid e-mail address to be able to play. When you register, a confirmation number will be immediately e-mailed to you. Keep this confirmation number handy in case you have any problems with your login.
Your UserID and password can only contain alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers). Any other characters will be stripped out, and uppercase letters will be reduced to lowercase. This is why your UserID and password are displayed right after you register, so you can be aware of any changes from what you typed.
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How accurate do my answers have to be?
Spelling tolerance is always being tweaked. Hopefully we now have a fair balance between accepting acceptable answers and disallowing unacceptable answers. Type as much of the title as you can. Our new spell checker will allow you to enter titles such as "whisper to a cream" in order to score points for "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)". However, this does not mean that all close answers are accepted. If a song title contains a segment in parentheses, your best bet is *usually* to type the entire title. However, in cases where the song is *commonly* known by a shorter version of the title, the commonly-known title is usually sufficient.
Another thing to consider is that the shorter the title of a song, the fewer incorrect letters it takes to make that song wrong. Be careful! :)
There is one hitch. If there is a number in the song title, in most cases you will need to type the number as it appears on the album. "Ninety-Nine" and "99" aren't interchangeable.
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Why don't you tell me the right answer on the ones I miss?
What are you talking about? The answers are now revealed! :) After each full game, the answers to the previous seven rounds will be archived in our "Answers" area.
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I think my answer was close enough, will you give me the points if I send you e-mail?
Nope, that wouldn't be fair to other players.
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I know that my answer was right, and I think there is something wrong with the game because it said I was wrong. Is there anything I can do?
If you are 100% certain that your answer is correct and that the game is malfunctioning, email Eddie. If we determine that the game did indeed malfunction, we will credit you and everyone else we find affected by the malfunction the number of points that should have been earned. Please don't send bug reports frivolously, but also don't be afraid to if you are certain something is wrong. (It has happened before.)
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Can I skip a turn?
You can now skip on to the next song by hitting the "Skip to the Next Song" button. Keep in mind that if you do so, you will not be allowed to go back and try to identify the song later.
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Are there any prizes?
Yes, the satisfaction of seeing your name forever emblazoned in the Hall of Fame! :)