Listen to the sounds of network traffic

Feb 21, '06 04:53:00AM

Contributed by: rumirocks

Although it seems this program has been around since 2004, it's still fascinating: Sound of Traffic

The blurb from the site says:

Sound of Traffic is a Java "application" [that] converts TCP/IP header information into midi notes via the Java Synthesizer. The purpose is to listen in on network traffic in ordered time, via a tempo, rather than realtime, which could be more chaotic. In this sense it becomes closer to music then noise.

Play back of traffic is sorted by source and destination addresses and ports. Ports are assigned individual midi instruments and played on odd or even ticks depending upon whether it is a source or destination packet. The note played by the port is based upon the number of hits (amount of traffic) occurring on the port.
Only works on OS X and UNIX.

[robg adds: I tested it, and it works. It asks for your root password, but your admin user's password is sufficient. I had Little Snitch set up to block any outbound traffic when entering the password, and nothing came up, so this appears to be safe to use (but as always, use at your own risk, as my testing really cannot be considered all-encompassing).]

Comments (3)


Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060215145550381