Mail has no trouble playing sounds from /System/Library/Sounds.

True enough, it's considered bad form to mess with anything in /System, but I've done it since the first incarnation of Mac OS X w/o any problems.

Yes, Mail will play default System Sounds in AIFF format; but, last I checked it could not play AIF (note the lack of a second 'F'), MP3, SND, WAV, et al. This script can be modified to generate a script to play any sound type that Play Sound can play, and thus allow any other program that can trigger an AppleScript to play any such sound.

If I'm wrong about Mail and other file types, then, yes, this script is of no use to Mail users.

I have sounds in wav format inside ~/Library/Sounds...they seem selectable in mail preferences. extension is ".wav".

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chiccorosso@email.it