Ichat Buddy Alert sound problems

i like to be alerted with a special custom sound when my family members log in to ichat, but the sounds i have been sing doesnt work now for some reason. it is odd. when i assign a song file (just a few seconds of a song that i have editied down) or a sound clip for a movie to play when a certain contact comes online, it wont play. i just get an error sound (which is also a sound file that i have chosen, so it works fine as a part of leopard, jut not for ichat). if it is a premade apple sound then it is okay and i will be alerted properly when that contact comes online. i have a bunch of sounds in the sound folders but i cant play any of them now through ichat as an event….. strange. anyone else have this problem? does anyone else use this feature?
oh, these are the exact same features i used in tiger....

Very.
Does this Buddy have an entry in the Address Book that shows both these Screen names ?
If they actually have two Address Book entries, what happens if you add the other Screen name then delete the current one (So you effectively swap the Address Cards' iChat details).
(I am not sure if that will tell us it is the Address Book entry/Link to Info Card or just something about the Info Card).
If you have Developers Tools and therefore Property List Editor you can check the com.apple.ichat.plist and expand the bits about the Sounds/Alerts played.
It is beginning to sound like (pun intended) iChat plays the sounds differently for the different Buddy lists - but that would be crazy.
I have nothing new on this.
6:14 PM Saturday; December 1, 2007

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