I prefer to surf in silence. Same with the on-line arcade-type games I play. I don’t need some silly fanfare when I score. The only time I turn my speakers in is to specifically watch something on YouTube or if I want to listen to some streaming audio. Otherwise, they’re off.
The volume on my computer at work is very low, and it’s only on because I like to hear the email notification. When I use shared terminals (no internet at the desk - gotta use a common terminal) the first thing I do is turn the volume way down. Unfortunately, many of my coworkers aren’t as considerate, so I’m frequently treated to sound effects when I’m trying to work.
I had a cube neighbor a few years ago who had a .wav from Monty Python for his email alert. He got LOTS of emails. I was so glad when they moved him to another office. And yes, I remarked on the volume of his machine, to no effect.
So, home/work/whatever - do you prefer sounds or silence?
I leave them on, because if I’m away from the computer, I like to hear if I got an IM or an email. Also, sometimes I will put on an internet radio station.
Off. I usually have either the stereo or the TV on when I’m the computer. And at work off because I’ve never had a work computer that had speakers – a policy I’m good with.
I leave them off, because I hate the unexpected bursts of sound. I also hate how the sound control button (the little speaker) disappears from the icon tray, which makes it harder to turn the sound on when I need it. I wish I knew how to fix that.
I just keep a set of light headphones plugged into the audio jack. Most of the time they are hanging from a little hook on athe edge of my desk, but if there is something requiring sound it’s the work of an instant to put them on. An I don’t ever disturb anyone with the sound from my computer.
I’m with Daylate on this one, at least at work. I have headphones plugged in so even though I have the speakers turned on, no one else will hear anything. Before I brought the headphones in, I kept the speakers muted because I didn’t want to take the chance that something embarrassing would suddenly come blasting out.
At home, I keep the volume down to its lowest setting and only turn it up when there’s something specific I want to hear.
I have to admit–when I was living alone, I left them on more often. But I spent a lot of time at the library using my lap top, and now I’d rather not make it obvious to others in the household when I’m goofing off, so I turn my speakers off unless I’m alone in the house AND there is something I want to hear. Well, OK, sometimes I turn my speakers on even if I’m not alone, so long as what I want to hear is important enough.
**Daylate **- my cube neighbor does the earphone thing, too, and it’s wonderful. On behalf of your officemates, I thank you! I have 2 small speakers tucked behind my monitors that I keep very low when I have to use them, like for our stupid required on-line training. I rolled back 6 feet and couldn’t even tell my speakers were on, so I’m pretty sure I’m not disturbing anyone.
A couple of months ago, I sat in a different office. Behind me was a clueless guy who loved watching CNN or Fox news on streaming video. At least three times a week, I had to say “Ken, please turn that down - I can’t concentrate.” He never seemed to catch on. Plus he’d frequently laugh or make loud comments about whatever he was watching. Now that I think of it, I don’t know if he actually worked…
I use the headset for gaming, which puts the desk speakers as ‘off.’ The new mail icon for Outlook express is enough for me. If I need to hear to sound from the speakers for whatever reason, I’ll flip the switch - but otherwise in my chaotic world I like my quiet.
Both my TV and my computer are connected (via digital cable) to my audio receiver and 5.0 speaker system. Because of that, I can only have either my TV (which 95% of the time is used to play DVDs) or computer playing audio at a given time, so it’s usually set to whichever I am being entertained by. I turn off the receiver if I’m not watching/listening to anything and don’t plan to for a while. If I come across some website playing audio-spam, I usually just switch it back over to the TV input, rather than shut or turn it down.
I should also note that I have the default sounds for windows and AIM set to “no sounds” as I seriously don’t need stuff dinging at me every 5 seconds, nor do I understand HOW other people tolerate it.