Linking music to emails

[Tony Osime]

How do you link music to emails so the music plays automatically when the
email is opened?

How do you reverse the process to extract the music from the email. I am
sure it is on my hard disk somewhere since it plays even when I don't have
an internet connection.

 

[Brian Tillman]

How do you link music to emails so the music plays automatically when
the email is opened?
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/addingsound.htm

How do you reverse the process to extract the music from the email. I
am sure it is on my hard disk somewhere since it plays even when I
don't have an internet connection.

Examine the HTML source of the message and look for the reference to the
sound file.

 

[tosime]

Thanks Brian,

Is it right to assume the music file is on my hard disk? - i.e. in some temp
directory. If so I should be able to find the file there. How would I go
about that? Is this what you you mean by examining the HTML source?

Thanks again...Tony

 

[Brian Tillman]

Is it right to assume the music file is on my hard disk? - i.e. in
some temp directory.

It couldn't play on your machine if it wasn't present on your machine.

If so I should be able to find the file there.
How would I go about that? Is this what you you mean by examining the
HTML source?

Right-click on the body of the message and choose View Source. You should
see the HTML. Also, the sound file is most likely in your Temporary
Internet Files folder.

 

[tosime]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for staying with me so far.

This is my problem. I receive regular email from a Yahoo group that often
contains very nice music attached to it. This music plays any time I open
the email. I am now trying to locate the music file on my hard disk but find
it very dificult.

Using the approach you suggested, I located the MID file in the HTML view of
the email. I then did a search for the music file but could not find it on
my hard disk.

It is very frustrating to only hear the music when viewing the email (for
instance, I have to click on the email each time the music ends just to hear
it again), yet I know the file is somewhere on my hard disk. How do I find
the file?

Thanks again...Tony

 

[tosime]

An interetsing development today.

I got an email from my email server telling me that my they had to suspend
my service due to some fault. They asked me to look into a zipped file (I
hope it was virus free!). Anyhow, the file was empty (now I am very
suspicious!). But the zipped file was located in what seemed to be a hidden
subdirectory in my temporary internet file directory. I found the music file
I was looking for in this "hidden" subdirectory.

I will explore this some more since I did not find any of the other music
files in that subdirectory.

....Tony

 

[Brian Tillman]

Using the approach you suggested, I located the MID file in the HTML
view of the email. I then did a search for the music file but could
not find it on my hard disk.

WHat was the location the message specified? What was the link contained in
the HTML?

 

[tosime]

The message specified a website location. I know I could retrieve the music
file from there but I prefer finding the file on my hard disk for a number
of reasons: 1) In case I loose my internet link 2) Some times the emailed
song is not yet posted on their website or it is misreferenced.

From what I have gathered so far Outlook uses a hidden subdirectory to store
downloaded music and image files that it displays or plays when the email is
accessed. Detting to this subdiectory has been hit and miss for me. I think
the directory is named OKI something.

Any suggestions on how to identify the subdirectory?

Thanks in advance...Tony

 

[Brian Tillman]

The message specified a website location. I know I could retrieve the
music file from there but I prefer finding the file on my hard disk
for a number of reasons: 1) In case I loose my internet link 2) Some
times the emailed song is not yet posted on their website or it is
misreferenced.
From what I have gathered so far Outlook uses a hidden subdirectory
to store downloaded music and image files that it displays or plays
when the email is accessed. Detting to this subdiectory has been hit
and miss for me. I think the directory is named OKI something.

Correct. Open a command prompt window and enter the following:

cd %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
dir /a

This will display the name of the OLK folder (among other things). Once you
have the name of that folder, you can use Windows Explorer to look in it.
Let's say, for example, that you observed the folder name OLK24E. Open
WIndows Explorer and enter the following in the Address field:

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK24E

and click Go. You should now see the contents of the OLK folder and should
be able to locate any WAV file it contains.

 

[Tony Osime]

Thanks a million Brian!

I followed your instructions and eventually got to the OLK13 subdirectory.

However I saw no WAV files.

So I went to Outlook and selected the email that automatically plays the
music. I then went back to the OLK13 directory and still did not see the
file, even though the music playing in the background. I decided to refresh
the directory listing and "surprise surprise" up popped the WAV file and the
picture file associated with the email.

Now, why would it work that way? It does not make sense to me, especially as
the OLK13 folder already had a set of files in it. I tried it with other
emails and I got the same result. In general, OLK13 stores some email
content permanently (I see no logic to how it selects them). OLK also stores
the files in the currently accessed email - however, only after you have
refreshed the view. This tells me there might be another location where all
the email associated files are stored and OLK13 is a temporary storage area
that becomes permanent when something happens to the email i.e. deleting it
or something.

Thanks again for your help. Do you have any answers to these questions?
Also, pardon my forwardness, how come you know so much?

Cheers...Tony

 

[Brian Tillman]

I followed your instructions and eventually got to the OLK13
subdirectory.

However I saw no WAV files.

Well, it is a _temporary_ folder, after all. The way Outlook's supposed to
work is that any files stored there while Outlook has the message open are
supposed to be deleted when the message is closed. Now, I don't know if
this happens a message at a time or only when Outlook itself closes. If you
open the message that plays music and look in that folder while the music is
playing, does the file appear then? It also may be that the message is in
the normal Temporary Internet Files. Go up a level in WIndows Explorer and
see if you can find it. Otherwise, open a command prompt window as before
and change to the Temporary Internet Files folder as before. Then use the
DIR command to see you can find the music file. Let's assume it's a WAV
file. Enter this:

dir /p /s *.wav

The /p will pause the display one page at a time, the /s will scan all
subfolders. There will be a header line written for each subfolder so you
can determine which subfolder holds the files. For example, I just looked
for all JPEG files like this:

dir /p /s *.jpg

and received a display like this:

Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXXXX\Local Settings\Temporary
Internet Files\Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW

06/21/2005 03:17 PM 462 0,1311,i=23529,00[1].jpg
06/21/2005 03:17 PM 338 0,1311,i=23531,00[1].jpg
06/21/2005 03:17 PM 4,355 0,1311,i=97396,00[1].jpg

so I know these JPEGs are in the subfolder Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW. I can then
open WIndows Explorer, enter

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW

in the Address filed and click Go. I can then sort by file type and see all
the JPEGS in one place. The same should work for WAV or MID or whatever the
sound file is.

 

[tosime]

Thanks again Brian. This has been a great help. I appreciate your patience
and the time you took to respond.
I wish there was a way I could repay you. Well, your name is forever
imortalized in my memory! Maybe one day...

....Tony

I followed your instructions and eventually got to the OLK13
subdirectory.

However I saw no WAV files.

Well, it is a _temporary_ folder, after all. The way Outlook's supposed
to work is that any files stored there while Outlook has the message open
are supposed to be deleted when the message is closed. Now, I don't know
if this happens a message at a time or only when Outlook itself closes.
If you open the message that plays music and look in that folder while the
music is playing, does the file appear then? It also may be that the
message is in the normal Temporary Internet Files. Go up a level in
WIndows Explorer and see if you can find it. Otherwise, open a command
prompt window as before and change to the Temporary Internet Files folder
as before. Then use the DIR command to see you can find the music file.
Let's assume it's a WAV file. Enter this:

dir /p /s *.wav

The /p will pause the display one page at a time, the /s will scan all
subfolders. There will be a header line written for each subfolder so you
can determine which subfolder holds the files. For example, I just looked
for all JPEG files like this:

dir /p /s *.jpg

and received a display like this:

Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXXXX\Local Settings\Temporary
Internet Files\Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW

06/21/2005 03:17 PM 462 0,1311,i=23529,00[1].jpg
06/21/2005 03:17 PM 338 0,1311,i=23531,00[1].jpg
06/21/2005 03:17 PM 4,355 0,1311,i=97396,00[1].jpg

so I know these JPEGs are in the subfolder Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW. I can
then open WIndows Explorer, enter

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\7TOKPKPW

in the Address filed and click Go. I can then sort by file type and see
all the JPEGS in one place. The same should work for WAV or MID or
whatever the sound file is.

 

[Brian Tillman]

This has been a great help.

Did you find the file?

 

[Tony Osime]

Yes I found the file.

More important, I feel, is that I have a much better understanding of what
happens with email attachments. I understand now how the process is designed
to thwart security breeches.

I now have a simple way of locating and saving the attached music file of
the emails.

Thanks again...Tony