How then do we synchronize animation and sound; two process operating on such different principles? Unfortunately, we don't - at least, not really. All we can do is plant sounds where they need to occur and hope for the best.

Hope and play. And work smart. Realize that sound requires thousands of samplings each second and is therefore likely to be the bulkiest addition to any Flash animation. If sound is optimized, and then used and placed properly, it can be a wonderful thing. Use sound improperly and the results can be painful to watch (and excruciating to listen to).

Flash provides two methods for incorporating sound into an animation, and while neither will guarantee seamless synchronization, they can both contribute to a better experience:

	Event sounds function very much like automatons (animated symbols) in that they are placed at key frames and then run their course when triggered. In fact, the only functional difference between event sounds and automatons is the sound's ability to be placed into any of the states of a button. Whatever the use, event sounds are slaves to the animation.
	Streaming sounds work like a sound track to the animation. Upon export, all sounds designated to stream are merged into a single sound track which then plays the entire length of the animation. This method gives precedence to the sound and drops animation frames accordingly to maintain synchronization.

The obvious advantage of using streaming sound is the ability to synchronize sound with animation. Unfortunately, if the forum is the Internet, the unpredictable delivery to unpredictable computers will produce unpredictable results. When a Flash movie is intended to be played directly, such as in video format (QuickTime or Windows AVI) or via the Flash Player, a much more successful synchronization can be expected.

Note: Don't think only Flash movies with streaming sound will stream upon playback. Actually, all Flash movies, regardless of the sound method, will stream if they are accessed prior to being completely cached. Lengthy or complex event sounds may behave sporadically if data is still catching up, but chances are this is no more annoying than having frames drop due to the streaming sound method. You decide.