Netscape 3.0 Issues Netscape added a plug-in MIDI player with this release that has caused a lot of headaches because now Netscape will start the MIDI player and play the file upon completion of the download. Most people want to save the file, here's two things you can do:

1 Once the MIDI player has completed downloading the MIDI file, right-click on the MIDI player and a pop-up box will appear, select save as from this menu.
2 From the Options drop down select General Preferences then select Helpers. From this screen, click on Create new type... This will bring up a pop-up titled Configure New Mime Type where you enter audio for the Mime Type: and midi or x-midi or x-mid for the Mime SubType: then click on OK. Click the Save to Disk button. Click on OK and now when you click on a MIDI file to download, a pop-up box should be displayed asking where you want to save the file.

Time Outs This sometimes happens if the ftp server is overloaded. If this happens to you, please send me an email with the time of day when experienced this and the name of the MIDI file you were trying to download. Try selecting another MIDI file to make sure that it wasn't a fluke.
Garbage Displayed Some browsers will try and display the contents of the MIDI file if it cannot figure out the MIME type. See the tip above for more info about defining the correct MIME type.

At this point you can also just save the file, File/Save As, from the drop down menu...you'll just have to make up the name of the file as Netscape will not have one listed.

File Not Found Hopefully you will never have this problem, because it means that I screwed up...probably mis-typed the name of a MIDI file. If this problem happens, please send me an e-mail of the file you were trying to download so that I can fix it.
Disable Netscape's MIDI Player Thanks to Ken Paquette for this one!
Rename the npaudio.dll file in Netscape's directory on your computer (Windows 95...not sure about Macs & UNIX), to something like npaudio.dl0. This way the plug-in doesn't get loaded when you start up Netscape and the first time you access a .mid file, it will prompt you for Save, Launch, etc. And if you ever want to turn the plug-in back on, just rename it back!
Any Other Errors If none of the tips above help you, please send me e-mail at thumper@webthumper.com with the following info:

  • the MIDI file you tried to download
  • the type of browser you are using and version number
  • your experience level of using the browser
  • any other info you think would be helpful