Where Did Those mp3s Come From?  ⚐

This New Yorker story about the music ripping scene of the mid-to-late 90s is amazing in so many ways. I was in college during this time, and I can distinctly remember the first time I head of an mp3 and thinking “4MB, who’s going to want to spend time downloading a 4MB file to get one song”.

I was still on dialup.

The next year, on broadband, I figured out why folks would want to do that. Fast college broadband and people like Benny Glover (from the article) opened up an entire array of music to me that I never would have heard. It was the closest thing to Spotify in the 90s.

I never thought about how all those groups got their mp3s online so quickly …

Hide the disk inside the glove; hide the glove inside a machine; retrieve the glove and tuck it into your waistband; cinch your belt so tight it hurts your bladder; position your oversized belt buckle in front of the disk; cross your fingers as you shuffle toward the turnstile; and, if you get flagged, play it very cool when you set off the wand.

The music industry certainly hates the 90s and the rise of the mp3. For me, it opened up a huge avenue of music I’d never heard and lead to me spending thousands of dollars in the last 15 years on music and concerts. I hear a song I like on Spotify or the web, open up iTunes on my phone, buy the song or album, and have immediate gratification.

I kind of miss the days of hunting for that special album or missing song across IRC and FTP sites.