Sounds are important, since many people can appreciate the beauty of good music. However, many people use the same day (birds chirping) and night (crickets chirping) sounds, as well as the same day start (rooster) and night start (howling wolves) sounds. While these sounds are masterfully made, it really doesn't make sense that there is birds chirping in a tundra, lava, or desert tileset. For good sound, it's best to try composing it your self, with a USB microphone. (Rockband and Singstar mics do work) If you have a desktop this is harder said than done. In that case, either make the sounds artificually or download some from the web. Always check policies regarding use, for if you violate the TOS, you're on your own.

I prefer to use Wavosaur for all my sound needs. It is a freeware program, but has little help documentation, and may seem a little confusing. Once installed, just conect your mic and choose record. Once done, hit record again. It can only save in .wav format, so it may be neccessary to convert to .ogg for longer audio tracks. Converting to .ogg is not neccessary, but it is a good idea since it has much better compression.
















Wavosaur is a handy audio capture and editing program. Most of the editing is pretty basic, including cutting and pasting, but it also can increase/decrease volume, add fade in/out, and do a bunch of other things I have no idea what to do with.

Save the audio. It's time to move on to the next catigory, the XML.