Gnutella Forums - Sudden change in document type for music

There's been threads discussing this issue over the past mth or 2. What happens is that the files being dwnlded by LW lose their creator identity. Generally I start with the easiest solutions, but today I'll start the other way around.

Get a file utility (there's a few of them around). My favourite for this purpose is Mac Army Knife. Open the File Attribute Editor, dag & drop the file into there & adjust what's needed. Generally just the creator, but sometimes also the Type. To be sure of what you're doing, drag & drop a file of the same type that doesn't suffer the same problem & make a note of all its attributes. Then replicate the Creator & Type (& perhaps version-but be careful unless you're sure). This should be the only changes you need to make. After u press Update, bingo...the appropriate icon,etc. returns.

Easier methods: Go to your Apple menu items & control panels & open File Exchange Control Panel. Add the file & other examples to the list & add the application that should open it (u may need to open the advanced section here.) Listen I haven't used it for donks so if u need me to go thru it in detail with u I'll get back to OS9 & try it out (I'm in OSX at present.)

Make sure u keep your system properly maintained. For eg: occasionally rebuild your desktop by holding down both your Command+Option keys during startup & press yes to rebuild. Run 3rd party utilities such as Norton, DiskWarrior & TechTool Pro, etc. to repair any minor / major issues. Generaly u shuld rebuild your desktop after installing software to be on the safe side.

Any files that have an extended name, shorten. U can do this within LW whilst the file is dwnlding by using the Annotate button. Add appropriate name to any files that are missing their extension.

I suffered this problem intermitently on a G3 using os 8.5 & LW2 And then moving the files to an older computer.