Problem:
AOL handles attachments incorrectly when received from Zend. Here are the best articles I've been able to find on this subject:

Research:
What is MIM? - a definition from Whatis.com - see also: MME
eMailman® -- AOL alternatives

"Depending on the mail system that the sender used, the AOL software may or may not be able to automatically decode the MIME file."

You need a MIME decoder / unpackager if it cannot decode.
eg. 7-Zip, WinZip, Fastcode32, Decoder (for MAC)



Thoughts:
Ok so ASCII is 7-bit, binary is 8. I believe the problem comes in the conversion from one to another. My guess is that my installation of Zend Mail is using uuencode and AOL is using base64 (or vice versa). I have changed encoding from Zend_Mime::ENCODING_QUOTEDPRINTABLE to Zend_Mime::ENCODING_8BIT in "Zend/Mail.php". This may be the issue. I do not want to switch it back as quotable/printable adds a space after every 76 characters. This is not preferable for text messages (or any message at that) and I am not changing a currently working model to accommodate old programs.


Help??
Chances are people who are using aol mail are computer illiterate... sorry AOL users, but it's generally true. You will not be able to tell these people to go download WinZip and unpackage the file. I have been unable to find a workable solution for this. Attachments are working beautifully through Zend Mail with all other email programs than AOL. I REALLY don't want to sign up for AOL to test it. Has anyone else had any experience with this? Does Anyone have any suggestions?