OS X V10.6 Snow Leopard :: Play Sound Files Without Launching App?

If any of you recall, in System 7, you could double-click a sound file and it would just play without launching an app. The OS itself was capable of playing sounds, like system sounds or even music files (you could also use QuickTime). This was pre-iTunes. I miss those days. The other day, I was trying out some sound effects, and double-clicking them launched the behemoth bloatware app, iTunes. Of course, I could pick another app, but I would prefer no app at all, i.e., system-level, ready-to-eat sounds; just click and it plays. Does anyone know of a system-level plug-in or background app that works in this way? An analogous system function would be clippings. Double-click one of those and it just pops up; no app launches. This is how System 7 worked, and I sorely miss it. I use sampled sounds a lot, and I just want to click on them to quickly hear what they sound like in that same simple way we once could.