Some of our foreign Digest members are having problems "unwrapping" and
decoding Midi files sent via e-mail.  Correspondent Philippe Rouille in
Paris asks if there is a simple book for non-specialists, which
explains these matters, including how to install and use utilities on
his Powerbook Macintosh for operations like UUdecode, BinHex and
PKUNZIP.  I'm in somewhat the same situation -- as an "off-line" e-mail
user with a Macintosh -- and I don't have the automatic services which
are included by many Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  Fortunately I
have an old PC with which I can do PKZIP and PKUNZIP.

Can someone tell our foreign members (and me, too!) where to find
Macintosh utilities and information about these off-line operations?
Remember, we don't have WWW-browsing or ftp, either; only e-mail.

 [ Editor's Note:  Several of you have, from time to time, offered to
 [ "assist" me with my digest duties.  This may be a good time for
 [ those of you who have had success with receiving MIDI (and other)
 [ files from this Digest or elsewhere on the 'Net to help out.
 [
 [ Its certainly the case that some of you have have received and played
 [ files don't understand _why_ it worked.  Thats OK.  It would still be
 [ useful to know who is receiving files OK.  Since there are so many
 [ different ways of connecting to the Internet, I'll try to get
 [ people with similar circumstances together.
 [
 [ *********** *********** *********** *********** *********** ***********
 [
 [ Please consider replying to the following questions if you have ever
 [ successfully received a MIDI file or want help doing so:
 [
 [  Name: ____________________________________________________________
 [
 [  E-mail address: __________________________________________________
 [
 [  I want help: _____________________________________________________
 [
 [  I can provide help to others: ____________________________________
 [
 [  I have received a MIDI file successfully:   ______________________
 [
 [  I have received a .ZIP file successfully and unzipped it.: _______
 [
 [  Name of Internet Provider: _______________________________________
 [
 [  I use a  (PC, Mac, Unix Workstation, Other(specify)): ____________
 [
 [  I run (DOS, Unix, Windows, Windows 95,
 [                 MAC OS, Other(specify)): __________________________
 [
 [  I use the following program(s) (specify all that apply):
 [
 [        Eudora: ______________________________________
 [
 [        Pegasus: _____________________________________
 [
 [        PPP  (specify vendor): _______________________
 [
 [        SLIP (specify vendor): _______________________
 [
 [        UUDECODE (specify vendor): ___________________
 [
 [        BINHEX: ______________________________________
 [
 [        BASE64: ______________________________________
 [
 [        PKZIP: _______________________________________
 [
 [        STUFFIT: _____________________________________
 [
 [        COMPACTOR: ____________________________________
 [
 [        Others (please specify: ______________________
 [
 [        For shareware programs, _PLEASE_ specify where they
 [        can be obtained if you know
 [
 [  Type of sound card: _________________________________
 [
 [  Type of MIDI Interface: _____________________________
 [
 [  Type of Synthesizer: ________________________________
 [
 [ *********** *********** *********** *********** *********** ***********
 [
 [ Please fill out and send back to:  rolls@foxtail.com
 [
 [ Thanks!
 [
 [ Jody