Bad idea. Website doesn't go with 'sound.' If you want to play background music, then you should give the user the option to turn it on. Default set up should not be 'on'.

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online.education

Agree with the whole lot, I don't like sound either. Also, having sound might slow down your loading speed. Visitors don't like to wait.

A BIG NO to the websites, which plays music in the background. People don’t find it interesting. That makes people leave your site very quick and for sure you will lose your traffic. I strongly suggest you to make websites with light colors and good content. Not with the flash designs and sounds.


-Rocky

Your all narrow minded.
http://www.templatemonster.com/

Majority of their designs have sound to them. Some of the background music (nearly all actually) is very annoying, however this can be turned off by the user.

The main thing I strongly agree with are the sounds caused by roll overs, clicks, etc.
It is this thing called "User interactivity", its an amazing tool in getting users back to your website.

Yeah, I find that when I'm browsing a site, Its not like walking in a mall listening to muzak. It becomes rather annoying at a t point, unless of course its like stairway to heaven or something

But I think its a bad idea to add music to your site.

Don't you think those two views are contradictory?
The only place where "music" on web pages is really acceptable is for a musicians or a band website. Even then it should be at the users request NOT forced on them

Any web page that has sound effects for every action gets intensely annoying, if a user wants sound effects they offer a way to turn them on, but leave them OFF.

I choose to have a radio station on or a CD playing when I'm working and browsing, I DO NOT NEED whatever clicks, pops or farts that YOU find amusing or "cool" over the top of that.

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And how can we win, when fools can be kings

Majority of websites I browse over whilst surfing (excluding forums) are made by very passionate web designers who utilize everything they can.
Sound is acceptable everywhere and it makes the site just that little bit more appealing. We are not talking about specifically music, rather, we are talking about sound in general and in nearly all websites these designers have made, they give the user the offer to either select whether sound is play via a control in a pre-loader or splashscreen, or they have a little icon down the bottom for volume control, or muting.

I strongly agree with roll over sounds, and yes these can be easily turned off via controls. End-users LOVE to have an interactive site, and majority of the people I have designed things for are either gamers or designers, so naturally they want something impressive according to them, this is where the sounds come in.

I am not talking about stupid websites how when you click "Home" it makes a farting sound, I'm talking about proper, professional websites that make a "click" or a soft "ding" when a user rolls over it, and maybe a ruffling sound or something when its switching from the Home tab to the About us tab.
I personally dont care about the sounds that come from a website, I understand you may feel a bit uncomfortable about websites making noises, with the boss assuming you may be on something your not supposed to be on, however, there are some professional websites out there that utilize this sound, and the purpose of my discussion is not to back up your "farting sounds", rather to back up professional and sensible sounds created for professional and sensible corporate websites.

As a side thing, I am wondering why you would have sound at work... what do you work as?
I know for a fact that in a lot of office-like buildings I have been in (living where I am and the way I do, I have been in quite a lot) they either have a small headset for conferencing, or they will have the sound cut out of them, and my last school only allows sound to come out of headsets which can be purchased from the school, or brought in from home (my current school has built in speakers for presenting things in media classes like Software Design, however these are often turned off).

I don't have a "boss" (unless you count the girlfriend) because I work for myself in my own office, with two workstations, a laptop and two development servers and currently listening to Yes and "Yours is no Disgrace" on PlanetRock.

I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) that you haven't ever spent any time actually working in a "sensible corporate" workplace.
Take it from me, after having spent 12 years in corporate IT environments, the only person who thinks that sounds are "useful" on a company website is the designer.

Exactly! The important part being to them.
Given your limited experience, please do NOT extrapolate this to the rest of the "on-line" populace.

When you have to spend any amount of time on any particular site, sounds become very very annoying.
Consider the case of assistive technologies. Absolutely the very LAST thing you want on a page is the "clicks", "dings" and "ruffling" sounds when you are listening to the page reader annunciate the anchor text or the title attribute.
What would your thoughts be if you were partially sighted or completely blind and when you open a page you are "treated" to the latest (C)rap artist yelling in your ears? Or you suddenly had a German "Death Metal" track assaulting your senses?

Sound effects and music on web sites/pages have their place but it is NOT on general sites intended to be used by the internet buying public.

And before you decide that I am simply a short sighted, decrepit old fogy who hates anything different, my current project is a bespoke CMS for a entertainments booking agent and the site has playable/downloadable videos and sound clips of the artists and bands.

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And how can we win, when fools can be kings

For a designer company, especially web designer companies, don't you think it is of importance to have your website as one of your best quality pieces?
When I had my portfolio website up, I had a flash-base website with sound, and I got nothing but positives on it, only complaint was when I messed up the mailing form.
Sorry for using nearly all my mates, all my family, 90% of the people who I interact with over then internet (excluding this website) and majority of the people I know in real life to base my defense.
I used the opinions I have gathered previously for my statements, and I could assume that maybe we have a cultural difference when it comes to this? Non-the-less, it really does come down to practicality and niche preference.
This is why the "mute sound" feature is available on nearly every website, so that people who are intolerent of the sounds can turn them off, but people who do like them may leave them on.

It would take an utter fool to put unneccersary and distracting audio OR visual on a website aimed at visual and/or hearing impaired users.
In some cases, roll over effects WILL help the disabled person, such as when you roll over home you get a cool, female voice saying "home page, click to view". (Note, not "cool" as in the slang term, "cool" as in the adjective/adverb (not sure what it would go under))
However, having sounds play ontop of each other would harm the end user experience for anyone.
Sounds interesting, however, sounds on websites aren't a new addition, iirc, I think the AOE2 websie from microsoft has VERY annoying rollovers, which are a great example of innovative webdesign gone horribly wrong. (Correct me if I'm wrong on the AOE2 site, but I have seen it somewhere, lol)

He was referring to a short sound to indicate an event (wrong password, missing field, etc), not the latest symphony from the Syndey Orchestra playing in the background.

Sorry for double post, my phone hates editting posts.