WEEK1 Digital Music, when did it start?

In the late eighties German engineers from Fraunhofer were working on a digital format for music and sounds. In the early 90s they succeeded. Not only was the MPEG file usable on computers, but it could also be stored in less space than cassettes or discs.

In 1992 the Olympic Games were broadcasted using the mp3 technology and was soon implemented as the standard. Although being used in computers, before the MP3 player came along, there was a need of technological innovation. The issue was the size of the storage discs, which was solved with the Multimedia Card brought to the market by Siemens and SanDisk in 1995. The same year the German company Pontis released a prototype of the MP3 player.

Digitalized music sprouted millions of copies of copy right protected songs, causing a legal and ethical debate. Its practicality was undisputed, however the lack of control over copies and distribution of those, posed a threat to record companies and producers, which never really ended, however was slowed down by lawsuits and security measures.

The first commercially available Portable Media Player is known to be the Rio PMP300, which some argue to be the second as the South Korean company SaeHan released one earlier that year. However, it was the iPod, although being released three years later, through Steve Jobs’ marketing skills, the iPod is the device most people associate with an MP3 player.

Over time however the MP3 player became obsolete, as phones and tablets were able to provide the same experience and after apps such as Spotify and Soundcloud allowed unlimited access. The MP3 is now old fashioned, however its simplicity is often welcomed.


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