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- Listening to Music
How Did You Do it?
If you're "old" like me, you probably remember that 20 years ago, there were a plethora of ways to listen to music. Some used Napster and Limewire while others bought CDs (compact disks) and "ripped" them onto the computer.
Today, we're going to discuss all of the options we had for listening to music in the early 2000s.
From The Archives
I remember lugging around a CD player when I went on runs as a teenager. Like the picture below, the CD player had to have the "anti-skip system" in order to continue playing while bouncing around. While it kinda worked, it never worked well.
Then, came the invention of the MP3 player. The first one that I had was a Dell version. I wasn't going to go mainstream with that new Apple iPod thing, that company won't stick around anyway! Just a little wrong on that one...
I remember the first time I used an MP3 player (eventually an iPod) and could have hundreds of songs with me in my pocket. Do you remember this feeling? It was like having a soundtrack to your own life.
Then, you hook up that bad boy to your car (via cassette adapter) and you could rock out to any song you wanted pretty much 24/7.
A great time to be alive.
Obtaining Said Music
I remember my friends using Napster. It was a "free" peer to peer program where you could download music from other people and then upload it to your MP3 player/burn it onto a CD. After Napster came Limewire.
Eventually, both of these got shut down for copyright infringements, as the artists of the music were not getting paid for their music. After a quick Google, I think both of these may still be in business, somehow?
Like those in the 80s and 90s did with mixtapes, we Millennials could do the same but with CDs. There's nothing like making a playlist for your boyfriend/girlfriend of Backstreet Boys and KC & JoJo songs to let them know how much you care.
Additionally, you could purchase CDs (from Best Buy) and then put them onto your computer. The audio quality was allegedly much better and then you could take the best songs from multiple CDs and make your own "greatest hits" album.
The early 2000s were a pivotal moment in music playback. CD players were becoming common in cars and you could make your own CDs and listen to whatever music you wanted. You were no longer at the mercy of radio stations. Again, what a great time to be alive!
That's all I got, folks!
As always, the struggle is real, but you got this!