Audio Greetings - Myra Faye Turner

StepByStep
HowTo,,r
boxfor youto addyourpersonal
mesage;
simin thetextbox,andyou're
plytypeyourmessage
almostreadyto go.Somesiteswill alsoallow
oneofmoreof thefollowingadditional
features.
Selectyour music.Someof themusical
funes,andyoucannot
cardshavepreselected
change
them,but manysiteslet youselectthe
musicyouwantto use.Whatareyourchoices?
Eachsite'sselections
vary.Wefound,Bobby
"Don'tWorytBeHappp"Whihey
McFerrin's
"l Will Alwayslove You,"andNeil
Houston's
"L,ove
Will KeepUsTogether,"
aswell
A HolldayFor Eueryllay, Sedaka's
Mostsitesfollownearlythesameproce asthefuchies'versionof "Sugar,Sugar."For
therearemanypopular
dure.Oncevoulocate
thesiteyouwant ttreyoungergeneration
/
indudingWill Smith's"Gettin'|iggy
to us€,r'ouwill bepresented
withvari- selections,
to choose
from. Wit'1t."Thenumberof musical
selections
varies
ouscardcategories
/
by
If
you're
not
how
find
site.
sure
a
particular
selecSome
of
the
categories
you'll
I
include Special tion sounds/you cangenerallylistento a clip
(Birth- beforemakingyourfinalselection.
Occasions
\
day,Anniversary, Famousquotes. Can'tfind the right
yourundyingloveor to tell
Care& wordsto express
g Weddings),
all of the
rn (Get Well yourmomhowmuchyouappreciate
shemadefor you?Don'tworry,
CheerUp,Think- sacrifices
Of You),Romance, somesiteshavea stableof famousquotes
foryouruse.
OfficeHumor.You'll available
Colors,backgrounds,and borders.
find seasonal
cards,
for kids,andgreetings Manyof the sitesgiveusersthe optionof
thecolors,
backgrounds,
andborden
teens.Wefoundcardsfor changing
your
from
the
preselected
of
card
schemes.
traditional holidav and
Delayeddelivery.Don'tevenstartworfor some,well,notsotaditional
"l love you, you love ffi€, rve're a
birthdav,
ryingthatyou'llforgetanimportant
huppy
fam-i-Iy...",
as
plays
open
anniversary,
milestone.
vou
Running
The
or
Many
of
thesites
Beautidan's
Dayflune25),
Bulls
Of
I
I youraudiogreeting
card.Yes,thegreat Dav(Jul1'7), and,everyone's
give
you
the
option
of
delaying
the
deliverv
favorite,Ugly
purple one himself,Barney,has a special TruckDavfiuly20).
dateof yourcards(up to 17monthsaway)
m es s agewait in g fo r y o u fro m a l o v e d
youwant,the Youcancreateyourcardsmonthsin advance
Oncevouselectthecategory
A
udio
fu
n
w
a
y
c
ard
s
a
re
a
to
one.
s e n d nextstepis to choose
thecardtype.Select
your andthensit backandrelax.Yourlovedones
personalizedgreetingsto family, friends, cardh'pe,birthday,
forinstance,
andthenexam- will think you arethemostthoughtfulanC
and lovedones.Findinga cardis easy:There inevourchoices.
person
onearth.
Thenumberof choices
avail- considerate
ar e lit er ally t h o u s a n d so f s i te so ffe ri n g ablein each
Onceyouhavecompleted
theabovesteps
varieswitheachsite'soffercategory
v is it or s f r ee c a rd s fo r p ra c ti c a l l y a n y ing.You'llhaveasfew asfiveselections
to youcanpreviewyourcard,editingit asncesoccasion.We'll show you how easyit is dozens
withyouraeation
of cardsfor someof themorepopular sary.Whenyouiuesatisfied
to send greetingsusing one of the many categories,
andmajorholidays. selecta deliverydate,andyou'rereadyto senc
suchasbirthdays
freeonlinesites.
youreye,reviewit, and it. Eachsitewill havea sendbutton,sucha.
Clicka cardthatcatches
orClickHereToSend.
if you'resatisfied
with yourselec- C]ickHere,Send,
Clickit
mailyourgreet- andyourcardwill beofftoyourrecrpient's
tion,beginpersonalizing
deliverydate.
ing.Startby enteringtherecipient's box,unlesyouhaveadelayed
Mostservices
senda confirmation
thatyou:
andname,andyou'll
emailaddress
Takeadvantage
ofthemyriad
ofsources
online
wantto double-check
thee-mail cardhasbeensent,alongwith anID number
whereyoucanfindfreeaudiocardstosendfor
openshise-mailinbox,h.
addres.Althoughmostaskforboth When*re recipient
traditional
holidays,
birthdays,
andsomerather
fromthesitealertinghir
nameande-mailaddres,somesites will havea message
obscure
celebrations.
will request
theemailaddress
only. thatyou havesenta greeting.A link will h
andtherecipientca:
Next,you'll beaskedto addyour includedin themessage,
ll youdon'twanttosenda premade
card,comit
reffieve
simply
dick
to
the
card.If therecipier:
name
and
address,
and
finalemail
your
mercialsoftware
isavailable
tohelpcreate
is
not
an
program
thatsuppor,,
lvhere
using
e-mail
ly,
here's
you
add
yotu
own
youwhere
own;we'llshow
tofindsome.
special
touch:yourpersonalized linla, shewill haveto copyandpastethemehaveL;*
greeting.Eachsitewill havea text sageinto herbrowser.Someservices
Find& Greate
AudioGreetings
122 rctips/ Learningsenes
StepByStep
mr're
f,w
5.
cal
:lot
the
es?
,by
ley
.eil
;ell
For
rlar
rs'
:ies
l ^ ^
trL-
:lip
tht
tell
tne
messages
sailacrossyoru screenlike actorson a
in what'shapstage.You becomeso engrossed
peningyou forgetit's a card.And thenseemingly out of nowhere,poof,the message
appears.
Unlike the otheroption,\:0u can savevour
Message
Matemessages
to readoverand over
againor forwardto others.
Anothervariationis the Desktope-cardor
MoreThanJust A Message. mini card.Theselittle cardsaresmallself-exeSomesitessendthe cardsase-mailattachments cutingprogramsthatlooklike realcardswhen
Thevarealsosentaseinsteadof havingrecipientsgo to the service's openedon your screen.
Mates mail attachments
and canbe savedbv the
Web site to retrievethe card.Message
(http://www.messagemates.com)
is onesuch recipient.You canfind an ertensiveselection
(hti p:i ,/n' w w
site,but be preparedto encountera bit of low- o f mi n i cardsat W otch.com
Mi ni cardsal socomervi th a
as an e-mail .w o tc h.com).
brow humor.To senda message
thatsitson your
you'll follow the sameprocedures Desktopornament(animation
attachment,
outlinedabove.Therecipientwill receivea mes- Desktop)for you to keep.
sagethat you havesenta customizedgreeting.
To readyour card,the recipientcansimply
GreateYour Own Gards.
Arguably,usingoneof the manr':reesitesis a
downloadit (about30 seconds)and view it.
Matecardsarepopularand just plain goodway to impressand n't-tr'r our friends
Message
Mate and loved ones.But suppoSrvt'run ant to
neat.More thanjust a card,Message
recipientsvisit the Web site to retrievetheir
cards.At the homepa1e,recipientswill click
PickUp CardandenteranID, andtheircardwill
be displaved.Thecardsyou createwill be availablefor a limited time only,generallyfor around
tlueeweels.Thee-mailtellsthe recipientsexactly horvlongtheyhaveto pick up theircards.
createyour own spectacular
greeting.If you
decideto go this route,thereare a numberof
commercial
softwareproductsavailable.
One exampl ei s Greeti ngCar d Expr ess
(http:I I w w w .greeti ngc ar dexpr ess. com ) ,
which lets you customizeyour own text and
program(software
photos.This shareware
that is freeto try for a limited time,usuallv30
days,and you pay the developer
if you decide
to keep i t) costs$9.95an d com eswit h a
WelcomePackof morethan100cardsand stationary.Themessage
is sentasthee-mailitself,
no links or downloadsnecessary.
E l ectroni ccards,the po st car dsof t he
Internet,are a wonderfulway to sendsmiles
to family, friends,and loved ones,and you
don't evenneedan excuseto sendone.Don't
wait for a specialoccasion.
Now that you
know horv easythey are to create,go ahead
andmakesomeone's
day. E
byMyraFayeTurner
'71 '
tes
WhereToGetTheGreetings
rs.
,-;
ier:
thatoffer
Vou canfindsites
I greeting
cards
byusing
any
waded
engine.
We've
search
you
through
severalto
bring
some
ofthebest.
withhundreds
to
ofsongs
from.
choose
tabtoget
ClicktheGreetings
tothecards.
.com)features
a neatselection
ofhumorous
andwacky
cards.
Multimedia
EverydayGreetingCards
thepocket.com
(htp/ Mtw.123greetings.com) EmailCards
(http
re
hasa nicecardsforspecial
com/g
/Avww.thepocket.
features
occasions.
eting.htm)
self-executandeveryday
Balloon
Boutique
(http://www,
balIoonbou
tique.com/index.shtml)
has
. 1001Postcards
ForeverYoursMusical
a customizable
cgllection
postcards.
(http//www.
flowers,
org/post ofvirtual
balloons,
GreetingGards
(htp/ trww.
zworks.comlforev
hasanexhaustive
list
andgreeting
cardsandlets
cards)
you
voice
it
adda recorded
er)letsyouaddJPEG(Joint
ofcategories
andselections;
Photographic
Expefts
Group)
features
fromcards messages.
evefihing
Interchange
forleft-handers,
tokissand
orGIF(Graphics
images
files
Format)
ormusic
make
up,toloveyourself
or
BlueMountain
youhavetheURL)
(http/^M^
(provrded
/,bluemountain.com)
loveyourtoilet.
features
inseveral
lanandhasmorethanonehuhcards
. AllYours
Digital
Postcards guages
including
French,
dredmusical
selections.
(http
:i/www.
sllryou
rs.net)
Spanish,
Chinese,
andKorean.
hasloads
GreetingCardsDepot
ofcustomization
(http:i/www.
greetingsdepot
forgreeting
DAlRgram
cards
options
pic(http
://www.
.com)features
andpostcards,
including
nd
caricatures,
dairgram.
com/i
Des*top
and
tures,
music,
backgrounds, ex.cgi)
hasanexcellent
animations,
collection
flashanimations.
colors,
dateofdelivery,
card
of3-Dcardswith
Youcan
layout,
manycategories
tochoose
andmore.
evensendanypicture
or
from.
Hallmark
(http://www.
has
music
fileyouhavesaved
hallmark.com)
on
yourharddrive,
Expressit.com
ofcards,
many
3DGreetings a nicBseleclion
(http/M,w.expressit.com)
has
withsounds
andanimation.
. AudioCards
greeting
really
cool3-D
cards
plus3-D
(http
formanyoccasions,
HumorGreetings
//www.
audiocards.
com)
greeting
(http://www.
humorgreeti
ngs
offers
singing
cards kisses,
hugs,
andflowers.
ingmultimedia
cards
compatiWindows
The
only.
blewith
cards
runfullscreen
orappear
ina window,
andtherecipient
need
onthe
onlydouble-click
.EXE
fileinherFileManager
Explorer
area.
orWindows
willeven
software
Some
e-mail
letyoudouble-click
fromwithin
themailprogram.
Regards.com
(http://www.
regards.com)
has
hundreds
tochoose
ofcards
fromforalloccasions.
Youcan
recipisendcarGtomultiple
tobe
entsandschedule
cards
inadvance.
sent17months
WeGotCards
(http//www.wegotcards.
com
)
features
a niceselection
ofall
occasion
cads,plusafreecaricature
need
ofyou,butyou'll
toupload
a photo
ofyourself.
i parninn
\eries
/ PtTins123