+- CDIH (https://www.cdih.net/cdih)
+-- Forum: Techie Geek Forums (https://www.cdih.net/cdih/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Über Geek Zone (https://www.cdih.net/cdih/forumdisplay.php?fid=13)
+--- Thread: ...When and How did you start with mp3s? (/showthread.php?tid=6906)
- The Jays - 07-23-2003
... I first got a computer in 1997, and while taking my first steps into the water in order to surf the Information Superhighway, I thought to myself "You know, there must be a way to download entire songs, and not listen to these shitty MIDI versions of popular titles.."
And then one day, I got an e-mail from my friend with a file attached, with the .mp3 suffix. I downloaded it to my computer, and found that the format was not recognized by any software. So, I went on my merry way and continued chatting away with supposedly hot women in the AOL chat rooms.
Later, I had an internet conversation with my friend, and he told me about WinAmp, software that will play mp3 files. So I downloaded it, it didn't do anything, so I went back to Staten Island chat room, trying to meet girls.
Then, he told me the way you get mp3's is by going into secret private chat rooms, named "mp3". So, one day, I tried to get in, and the chat was full, but luckily, I had my special AOL proggie, the chat room buster, and I was in.
What I found was 22 people typing /KeWlDuDe send list, /KeWlDuDe send 374, /KeWlDuDe find ICP...
so, I typed /KeWlDuDe send list, and what appeared in my e-mail box? A list half filled with incoherent 1337 haX0r babble shouting out his peeps, and the rest a huge numbered list of song titles. So, I entered in the command for one particular title, and the next e-mail I received had an attachment, supposedly my song request in mp3 format. A large file to be sure, at well over 3 mb. But, I began downloading, and upon such action, I was rendered incapable of doing much else but watch the file get downloaded.
About one hour later, I heard those magic words "File's done", and I quickly scurried through my windows explorer to find the file. There it was, and it was recoginized as a WinAmp file. I double clicked, and I listened to my first mp3 ever, "Lollipop", by Aqua.
I was in awe of modern technology. Here I sat, listening in 128kb quality sound, to this wonderfully delicious piece of bubble gum pop. I must have listened to that one song for hours, in disbelief that I was able to do such a thing for free.
For monthes, I lurked in these rooms, gathering more songs for my collection. But, alas, it had to be better than this.
And it was.
I found the site called audiogalaxy.com. Here, you searched for a song, and it spit back to you lists of ftp sites that had your song, and the folder in which they were in. All you had to do was have an ftp client, such as CuteFTP, use the logon info that the search gave you, and then follow the upload/download guidelines, which usually meant for every 1 bit of info, you could download 5. So, upload one large song, such as Guns n Roses- November Rain, and you might very well be able to download an entire album. I spent another few monthes exploiting these sites, and increased my mp3 collection at a much higher rate than the AOL chatrooms.
I did this throughout 1998, until I got to school, where I used it rarely, because my campus network was a veritable goldmine of assorted mp3 files, and now whole tv shows and movies. My mp3 collection grew, and my movie collection began.
And then Napster came out, and well, that ended all the effort.
So, how and when did you guys start? Remember the first song? What you used to get it?
- HedCold - 07-23-2003
/The Jays send list
- Galt - 07-23-2003
I grew up with Shawn Fanning on the Cape. He went to high school the town over from me and we knew my little sister's group of friends during the summer. Had buddies who went to college with him. I was part of the initial beta test of his program. Which was always called Napster.
I tried it. Hated it. Said it would never work because it took too long to download songs (I was on a 28.8 modem at the time and it took over an hour to download a song). He asked me a bunch of "what if we do this..." "but if we start with students and LAN access...". Sent me an email asking for some advice (since he knew I went to business school and was working in technology) I totally blew him off. I thought it was just a stupid idea.
I didn't think about it again for about a year. Probably early '99, I heard a story about Napster, and I couldn't believe it.
- QuickStop - 07-23-2003
napster.....scour.....morpheus.....kazaa.....maynards ftp.....irc
- The Jays - 07-23-2003
... I did a search for the history of mp3, it seems to jump from the creation of the format back in 87 to Napster quite quickly... I'd like to know the in between... how did sharing start...
- criticslovesnatch - 07-23-2003
audiogalaxy was the best...i was incredibly pissed when they shut that one down.
as for me, napster in about 1998/1999 or so was my first venture to online music.
- Velociti - 07-23-2003
aol proggies were great. I think AOL suspended my account after I went into too many massmailing chats and mp3 chats
- Danked - 07-23-2003
I learned to share in kindergarten.
Before that it was all mine.
- Paper Boy - 07-23-2003
Quote:my little sister's group of friends
post pics please
- The Sleeper - 07-23-2003
I started by going to mp3 websites and downloading hosted songs, then napster, audiogalaxy, etc. I think the first mp3 i ever downloaded was Q-Tip - vivrant thing
- SYNTuesday - 07-23-2003
Started for me in what must have been the fall of Freshman year in high school... so... 1998? I think my first was "Ozzie - Back on Earth"... i think the site was audiofind.com... they just hosted a jillion songs on their site; it was great for a few months, then I guess they ran into legal trouble. Someone in my Spanish class said "well, when I can't find something, I use this thing called Napster, but only as a last resort." Well, I downloaded it, tried it, and thought to myself "wow, what an idiot, this is the best thing ever, this is gonna be my first place to look",... and so it was. I got Morpheus shortly after Napster went down, and when Morpheus turned into a gnutella client, I went over to Grokster and then Kazaa Lite... still there. In the middle somewhere there, I found audiogalaxy and used it for stuff I couldnt find elsewhere... I couldn't have filled out my Spaz Week In Review collection without it. [Paul Harvey] And now you know,... the REST of the story. [/Paul Harvey]
- Kid Afrika - 07-24-2003
MP3 Sites ---> Usenet.
BTW... USENET > p2p :5:
- PlasticMan - 07-25-2003
Let's see. Bought a shitty Packard Bell computer when I started college (1995, you pups) and plugged it into the glory that was a shared T3. Shared a lot on the local network (also a lot of movie quotes), then got onto mIRC and found some FTP sites. I still remember how blown away I was that I was exchanging files with some guy in Texas at more than a MB/min. Pretty much been downhill since then. By the time I finally got broadband at home, Maynard's FTP is down, I can't find anything on Kaazaa Lite, and all my friends listen to and share crappy music.