WizardMen: are you running at a full install, or the small one? It may be your CD-ROM that's having to access the sound files if it's the small install.
Other than that, I'd say follow the advice I gave to Adam Warlock and do a thorough Disk Defragment on your hard drive. As your hard drive becomes fragmented, it takes longer and longer and longer to look for files...which can become quite noticeable after awhile.
Hope this helps!
-Sazerac
P.S. Wyvern, can we remove some of the bumps?

(And thanks, guys, for keeping it bumped up!)
"S"
[This message has been edited by Sazerac (edited 05-30-2001).]