Filed under: Software
StartupSound.prefPane
This one is for all you folks who hate the OS X startup sound. StartupSound.prefPane allows you to control the volume of the startup chime on any Mac running OS X 10.4 or later. This little prefPane is in beta, and the developer recommends that you back up your important data before you install it (which is always a good idea).
I enjoy the startup chime, so I see no reason to use this but I suppose someone out there is angered every time they hear it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris said 6:53PM on 12-28-2006
Doesn't changing the volume while holding down Command do this for you?
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Michael said 6:58PM on 12-28-2006
Who ever hears a startup sound anyway? Don't you just put your Mac to sleep?
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Twist said 6:59PM on 12-28-2006
Might be neat if it actually let you change the sound to something else. But all in all I don't restart my Mac often enough to really care.
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jbstingray said 7:04PM on 12-28-2006
Same here, but it would be nice if they gave you the option to output it to your external speakers...
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Hamicide said 7:04PM on 12-28-2006
I have been using this for about a month now and I love it.
I was annoyed everytime I had to restart or turn on my iMac in the morning or late at night when everyone in my house was asleep.
It's the little things that matter.
:)
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Richard said 7:24PM on 12-28-2006
Thank god! I HATE the startup sound, it's so obnoxious an un-mac.
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Tom Morris said 7:51PM on 12-28-2006
Doesn't help if your Mac crashes (which mine does often due to sloppy programming in Apple's Bluetooth dialup support). It used to be that the older Apple laptops (like my G3 iBook) would play the startup sound through headphones if they were present. The Intel laptops (MBP in my case) don't, and it's quite, quite annoying.
I've gotten so many looks on the train as I've had to restart my machine only for the bloody chime noise to play at full volume. This hack doesn't fix it. Apple needs to release something to restore the expected behaviour for Intel laptops upon startup, otherwise they are unusable in quiet environments (classrooms, libraries, public transport etc.)
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Eric said 8:01PM on 12-28-2006
That's nice, since I usually have the volume set up quite high and when I turn on the Mac at night, it wakes everybody up.
If it has a time control, like stopping the startup sound after, say, evening, it would be even better.
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Gsol said 8:40PM on 12-28-2006
My Intel iMac's chime volume definitely has a mind of its own and it's not down to whatever volume I left it at when I shut down. Sometimes it's reasonable, sometimes full volume (which is horrible and tinny) , sometimes it is mute (even when system volume is not muted). It's like Startup Chime Roulette™ every time I switch on.
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David said 8:52PM on 12-28-2006
This is great, could never understand why Apple doesn't let you disable the start up sound.
I use my MacBook in class and have occasionally forgot to turn the volume down before going to class and turning it on and that sound annoys me and other people.
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cristian said 9:15PM on 12-28-2006
psst! daemon already does that ._."
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unclejerry said 10:12PM on 12-28-2006
I have a G4 iBook and all I have to do is hold down the mute (F3) button on the laptop keyboard or the external keyboard after pushing the power button. Makes no sound.
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mark said 11:27PM on 12-28-2006
..... i don't even want to THINK about holding a button while i restart or boot my machine. i want it OFF, FOREVER, and ALLWAYS PERIOD.
the startupsound.prefpane is actually one of the first 10 things i download whenever i reinstall mac os or, like recently i get a new machine :)
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JkEw said 2:20AM on 12-29-2006
YAY!!!!!!
I HATE the startup sound HATE IT HATE HATE IT seriously I HATE IT!
I would actually pay $10.00 for this.
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cristian said 1:16PM on 12-29-2006
PSST DAMEON ID FREE
DONT PAY FOR THIS
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RichardFranco said 1:32PM on 12-29-2006
hmm, or you can simply mute the sound (F3 key) on your Mac and whenever/ before you restart, you won't hear the Startup sound (even if the compyer crashes and you have to force quit).
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Scott said 2:22PM on 12-29-2006
I've used StartupSound.prefPane on all of our Mac for over 4 years, and some posters here are missing the point of what its use is for.
Here's just one example: If you have a really loud speaker system hooked up to your Mac, and you shut down your Mac each evening, and if you have it automatically restart at 4am to do automatic backups, you don't want to wake the house (dog, cat, kids) with floor-shaking loud startup sound.
Of course, you could remember to turn the volume down each and every night. But who'd do that? Of course, the startup sound can give you clues as to the condition of your Mac. But how many times has that happened? We've run a 100% Mac office since 1992, and we've had exactly zero times that the startup sound went bad.
StartupSound.prefPane rocks. Simple, tiny, stable, and does exactly what it's supposed to do.
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Occh said 3:53PM on 1-02-2007
I just mute the machine before I shut it down.
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Occh said 3:53PM on 1-02-2007
You are all idiots. Not one of you thought to mute the computer before restarting?
Try it. Intel, PPC, doesn't matter. Muted system volume will keep the startup sound from playing.
Surrounded by morons, I swear.
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