Oddly enough, I've noticed it happen on my system as well. I'm using an SB Audigy2ZS on Win98, with what I think is the last driver set they made for Win98, and the sound effects are cutting out at random times, including during battles. I'm not using FF7music either (MIDI playback continues to function after the sound effects disappear), and it still occurs with a fresh stock 1.00 version of the game as well.....