Your Kazaa Library
March 17, 2013 3:56 PM Subscribe
Your Kazaa Library. All the best music, in an easy to download format that might just fill all 20 Gb of your hard drive.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's Request -- frimble
Jewel- Sunny Came Home
ahahahahahahahahahahahaha
ha
haha.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 4:08 PM on March 17, 2013 [14 favorites]
ahahahahahahahahahahahaha
ha
haha.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 4:08 PM on March 17, 2013 [14 favorites]
This post should come with winAmp visualizations,
posted by The Whelk at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [29 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [29 favorites]
The bane of my Kazaa existence was
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [12 favorites]
bob_dylan_duet_janis_joplin_I_got_you_babe.mp3.posted by Alvy Ampersand at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [12 favorites]
Now the hard part: choosing which songs to put on your 64MB Rio mp3 player.
posted by scose at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by scose at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
No the solution is to get an MP3 CD player and make a 300 song mp3 cd that you play on random.
posted by The Whelk at 4:12 PM on March 17, 2013 [24 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 4:12 PM on March 17, 2013 [24 favorites]
Monty Python-Many Uses Of The Word Fuck.mp3
posted by saturday_morning at 4:16 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 4:16 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
Anybody remember soulseek?
posted by Doleful Creature at 4:17 PM on March 17, 2013 [17 favorites]
posted by Doleful Creature at 4:17 PM on March 17, 2013 [17 favorites]
In a similar vein, you can have a hours of fun perusing lyrics sites for such gems as "Eve of Destruction" by Bob Dylan, "One" by The Beatles.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Hell yeah, I used to spend good hours in the slsk IDM chatroom.
posted by scose at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by scose at 4:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Anybody remember soulseek?
Is it wrong that I am picturing this comment said like this?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Is it wrong that I am picturing this comment said like this?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Fully half of the internet still believes that 'Stuck in the Middle with You' was Bob Dylan.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [27 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 4:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [27 favorites]
Aaah the slsk IDM channel. Many a misspent hour did I burn there.
posted by basicchannel at 4:25 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by basicchannel at 4:25 PM on March 17, 2013
Fully half of the internet still believes that 'Stuck in the Middle with You' was Bob Dylan.
Yup. And that poor Pearl Jam sang positively every bad grunge song of the 90s. (When really, they sang maybe 10% of those terrible songs, tops.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:26 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
Yup. And that poor Pearl Jam sang positively every bad grunge song of the 90s. (When really, they sang maybe 10% of those terrible songs, tops.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:26 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
They Might be Giants - Beer Song.mp3
posted by Space Coyote at 4:26 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by Space Coyote at 4:26 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
I think Weird Al had it worst.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [14 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [14 favorites]
Hand to God I came here to post UGH GOD DAMN BEER SONG THE ACTUAL FUCKING WORST
posted by clavicle at 4:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by clavicle at 4:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
For a minute I thought It said Kazoo Library. Damn.
posted by jonmc at 4:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 4:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
c:\program files\corel\corel paint shop pro 5\brushes\new folder\new folder\xxxorg~1.mpg
posted by griphus at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [24 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [24 favorites]
CRAP WAIT HOW DO I UNSHARE A DIRECTORY SHIT
posted by griphus at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [19 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [19 favorites]
The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who downloaded it did so thinking it was by Nirvana.
posted by shakespeherian at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 4:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Phish - Gin and Juice
posted by sporkwort at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [26 favorites]
posted by sporkwort at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [26 favorites]
Fully half of the internet still believes that 'Stuck in the Middle with You' was Bob Dylan.
I'm going to start attributing Wilco MP3s to Stealers Wheel.
posted by drezdn at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
I'm going to start attributing Wilco MP3s to Stealers Wheel.
posted by drezdn at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
I thought the Beer Song was by Weird Al and South Park.
posted by mediated self at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by mediated self at 4:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Rolling Stones - Like A Rolling Stone
posted by griphus at 4:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
It took me years, years to find the source of "U2 - One (best live acoustic ever)." And still I have to keep re-finding it when they remove the videos from YouTube.
And it wasn't even acoustic!
posted by nicebookrack at 4:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
And it wasn't even acoustic!
posted by nicebookrack at 4:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Strokes- An American Girl
posted by drezdn at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Who - American Woman
posted by griphus at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm also still pretty amused by how many people think (Acoustic) means 'down-tempo, minor key.'
posted by shakespeherian at 4:36 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 4:36 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Aphex Twin - Pac Man (Techno Remix)
posted by scose at 4:37 PM on March 17, 2013 [15 favorites]
posted by scose at 4:37 PM on March 17, 2013 [15 favorites]
All of the punk covers! YES!
posted by asnider at 4:37 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by asnider at 4:37 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Even though Rolling Stones did a version of Like A Rolling Stone?
posted by stevil at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by stevil at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013
A list of songs that are not by Weird Al.
posted by straight at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by straight at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
Paul Oakenfold - Definitely Not A Track Made In Someone's Dorm Room With A Pirated Copy of FruityLoops (Sasha + Digweed Ibiza Remix)
posted by griphus at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [27 favorites]
posted by griphus at 4:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [27 favorites]
Trogdor.wma. That is all.
dah dunh dah dunh da dununununh
posted by Ghidorah at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
dah dunh dah dunh da dununununh
posted by Ghidorah at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
A list of songs that are not by Weird Al.
"Have ICQ?" Not since I also stopped using Napter and Kazaa.
Here's a quote from Weird Al about the misattributed songs:
If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly image – and some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just … well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 4:51 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
"Have ICQ?" Not since I also stopped using Napter and Kazaa.
Here's a quote from Weird Al about the misattributed songs:
If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly image – and some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just … well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 4:51 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Porn.avi
And that's when I laughed so much I knocked a whole stack of paperwork over.
posted by a hat out of hell at 4:55 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
And that's when I laughed so much I knocked a whole stack of paperwork over.
posted by a hat out of hell at 4:55 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Doleful Creature: "Anybody remember soulseek?"
I swear by it. Lots of stuff on there I can't find anywhere else.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:56 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
I swear by it. Lots of stuff on there I can't find anywhere else.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:56 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
iMesh, Napster, Kazaa, i2hub, Soulseek, Limewire. From 28.8 kbps to 100 Gbps. An endless sea of free culture. Hours of manually correcting ID3 tags. Not a single tear shed for the plight of the RIAA.
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:00 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:00 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
Semisonic -- Closing Time (Tom Waits Cover)
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:03 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:03 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
All of the punk covers! YES
Me first and the Gimmie Gimmies will someday be brought to justice.
posted by The Whelk at 5:06 PM on March 17, 2013 [13 favorites]
Me first and the Gimmie Gimmies will someday be brought to justice.
posted by The Whelk at 5:06 PM on March 17, 2013 [13 favorites]
Genuinely curious if this thread is complete gibberish to the young'ns out there, and how young you'd have to be. Are 20 year olds totally in the dark here?
If ur mother only knew CRAZY BEAT BOX
Oh god yes.
Aphex Twin - Pac Man (Techno Remix)
My friend was just talking the other day about how back around 1997 there was a credible rumor going around that Jamiroquai was actually Aphex Twin. I guess at the time it seemed like anything was possible for Richard D. James, and he kinda looked like the dude.
posted by naju at 5:07 PM on March 17, 2013
If ur mother only knew CRAZY BEAT BOX
Oh god yes.
Aphex Twin - Pac Man (Techno Remix)
My friend was just talking the other day about how back around 1997 there was a credible rumor going around that Jamiroquai was actually Aphex Twin. I guess at the time it seemed like anything was possible for Richard D. James, and he kinda looked like the dude.
posted by naju at 5:07 PM on March 17, 2013
KMFDM Muppets Techno.mp3
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 5:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 5:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
It's funny how quickly things change. I spent many hours tolerating file names like this what feels like not that long ago, but now, even joking about them is damn near making me break out in hives.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 5:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Dispatch, OAR, Dave Matthews Band, Phish- Gin and Juice
Holy crap
posted by naju at 5:12 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Holy crap
posted by naju at 5:12 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
metallica.mp3
posted by cthuljew at 5:13 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by cthuljew at 5:13 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I assume much of the soulseek crowd has moved on to private bittorrent trackers, but where have the more casual file sharers gone? Legal online music services? The Pirate Bay? Megaupload?
posted by PueExMachina at 5:15 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by PueExMachina at 5:15 PM on March 17, 2013
leaked-white stripes-that-is-15-seconds-of-song-loopedover-and-over.mp3 (or so I heard)
posted by drezdn at 5:17 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 5:17 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
drezdn: "leaked-white stripes-that-is-15-seconds-of-song-loopedover-and-over.mp3 (or so I heard)"
Those were shared by RIAA types, in order to sow confusion and frustration.
posted by dunkadunc at 5:19 PM on March 17, 2013
Those were shared by RIAA types, in order to sow confusion and frustration.
posted by dunkadunc at 5:19 PM on March 17, 2013
Fun fact: Downloading at dialup speeds via filesharing apps are still the only way to get anything by the Dandy Warhols.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:20 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 5:20 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
The Dandy Warhols? Haven't thought of them lately at all.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [17 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [17 favorites]
System of a Down - Legend of Zelda
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 5:25 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 5:25 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
Jefferson Airplane - Free Ride
posted by Somn at 5:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Somn at 5:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Anybody remember soulseek?
Anybody remember jonmc?
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Anybody remember jonmc?
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:27 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I just remember when my sister found something that purported to be a BBMak/Goo Goo Dolls collaboration from the Disney movie Treasure Planet. She learned the hard way, in her dark room, at 3AM, that it is not hard to mis-label Gregorian chants.
posted by taltalim at 5:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by taltalim at 5:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Rob Zombie - Any Ministry Song
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Strange Interlude at 5:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I've still got a 20 gig Rio Karma kicking around in a box somewhere. That stupid brick got me through law school (full of my own legitimately ripped music of course).
posted by schoolgirl report at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by schoolgirl report at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Dispatch, OAR, Dave Matthews Band, Phish- Gin and Juice
Naw, dude, that was String Cheese
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Naw, dude, that was String Cheese
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
XXX_Britney_Spears_Metallica_Redhead_Blink_182.mp3posted by lazaruslong at 5:43 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hell yeah, I used to spend good hours in the slsk IDM chatroom.
I got most of the Sarah Records back-catalogue from SoulSeek (part of it from a guy in Taiwan, I think) back in the day. I didn't download the stuff that was still in print elsewhere (like Heavenly), though.
posted by acb at 5:49 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I got most of the Sarah Records back-catalogue from SoulSeek (part of it from a guy in Taiwan, I think) back in the day. I didn't download the stuff that was still in print elsewhere (like Heavenly), though.
posted by acb at 5:49 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Genuinely curious if this thread is complete gibberish to the young'ns out there, and how young you'd have to be. Are 20 year olds totally in the dark here?
Is this all something I need a birthday before 1990 to understand?
I'm nineteen.
posted by undue influence at 5:57 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
Is this all something I need a birthday before 1990 to understand?
I'm nineteen.
posted by undue influence at 5:57 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
SON OF A BITCH LOGGED OUT WITH FIVE SECONDS LEFT...
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:04 PM on March 17, 2013 [12 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:04 PM on March 17, 2013 [12 favorites]
God DAMN, but did I hate those 15-second-loop songs. The ones that REALLY got my goat though were the ones that were the first 45 seconds of the song, and then it'd change to just this awful buzzing noise.
posted by Golfhaus at 6:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by Golfhaus at 6:10 PM on March 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
Blink 182 got blamed for most of those "punk covers" in my experience. Serves the little bastards right.
posted by Jimbob at 6:10 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by Jimbob at 6:10 PM on March 17, 2013
I"m with duncadunc; slsk is a haven for weird stuff.
I think THEE most mis-labeled mp3 was the bluegrass version of "Gin and Juice". It's the Gourds. Not Weird Al, not String Cheese, not the Dead. The GOURDS, dammit.
posted by notsnot at 6:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I think THEE most mis-labeled mp3 was the bluegrass version of "Gin and Juice". It's the Gourds. Not Weird Al, not String Cheese, not the Dead. The GOURDS, dammit.
posted by notsnot at 6:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Needs "Top Gear Theme - The Almond Brothers"
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:18 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:18 PM on March 17, 2013 [3 favorites]
Devo_-_Mexican_Radio.mp3
posted by SansPoint at 6:18 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 6:18 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
This post should come with winAmp visualizations,
Sonique!
posted by Foosnark at 6:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Sonique!
posted by Foosnark at 6:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Tears For Fears - Don't You Forget About Me.mp3
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:20 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:20 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Oh, man, so many cringes of recognition.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 6:24 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 6:24 PM on March 17, 2013
XXX_Paris_Hilton_Tape.wma.exe
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:25 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:25 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
To be honest, I would never have even listened to music (outside of the radio) if it weren't for Napster. Thank you, magic of the internet, for allowing me to discover that my musical taste somehow encompassed Garbage, Tom Waits, System of a Down, and IDM!
Inappropriately labeled, of course.
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Inappropriately labeled, of course.
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Before I ever bought the CD it's actually on I downloaded a version of Flim by Aphex Twin with a vocal track (this one, in fact) and always liked that version better. Of course, since Youtube has far surpassed anything Kazaa could ever have dreamed of I can find it in a few clicks, but there was a while where the song remained a mystery to me.
I also downloaded some electronic music mislabeled as The Mars Volta which I wish I could find again...
posted by codacorolla at 6:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I also downloaded some electronic music mislabeled as The Mars Volta which I wish I could find again...
posted by codacorolla at 6:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
I got most of the Sarah Records back-catalogue from SoulSeek...
There's a band called Field Mouse that plays NYC venues pretty frequently and every time I get the new listings I get really excited because FIELD MICE and, nope, every time, it's Field Mouse.
I hate them and I don't even know what they sound like.
posted by griphus at 6:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
There's a band called Field Mouse that plays NYC venues pretty frequently and every time I get the new listings I get really excited because FIELD MICE and, nope, every time, it's Field Mouse.
I hate them and I don't even know what they sound like.
posted by griphus at 6:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Who was that famous Winamp visualization guy. There were like legends about him,stories that he was some kind of programmer for the air force and used like milspec data modeling algorithms that the DoD spent millions to develop. They made really pretty visualizations.
posted by Ad hominem at 6:31 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by Ad hominem at 6:31 PM on March 17, 2013
20 Gb seems like a lot for the days of KaZaA.
At that time, I had just upgraded from a machine with 10gb to one with 30something(those weird quantum drives that weren't a square number of gb) but about 28-29 formatted.
I had around 20gb of music, and it was more than anyone else I knew. Some of it was rips, but a LOT of it was from kazaa/limewire/etc. Friends used to have me burn them CDs of mp3 files since I was also one of the only people with a cd writer, and had found some place that had 100 disc spools on clearance.
Good times.
posted by emptythought at 6:31 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
At that time, I had just upgraded from a machine with 10gb to one with 30something(those weird quantum drives that weren't a square number of gb) but about 28-29 formatted.
I had around 20gb of music, and it was more than anyone else I knew. Some of it was rips, but a LOT of it was from kazaa/limewire/etc. Friends used to have me burn them CDs of mp3 files since I was also one of the only people with a cd writer, and had found some place that had 100 disc spools on clearance.
Good times.
posted by emptythought at 6:31 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Ryan Geiss? He made Geiss and Milkdrop. He did a lot of interesting stuff after Winamp according to his bio. Nothing about military work though.
posted by scose at 6:36 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by scose at 6:36 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Where else you going to get all the Simpsons songs, excerpted and well named? E.G. Simpsons_Cletus_Slackjawed_Yokel.mp3
posted by jeremias at 6:39 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by jeremias at 6:39 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Friends used to have me burn them CDs of mp3 files since I was also one of the only people with a cd writer, and had found some place that had 100 disc spools on clearance.
We used to have CD burning parties, with the one guy we knew with a burner. We'd drag our desktops over there, spend an hour trying to get Windows Networking working on coaxial ethernet, then several more hours attempting not to make coasters. Good times.
posted by Jimbob at 6:39 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
We used to have CD burning parties, with the one guy we knew with a burner. We'd drag our desktops over there, spend an hour trying to get Windows Networking working on coaxial ethernet, then several more hours attempting not to make coasters. Good times.
posted by Jimbob at 6:39 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
To be honest, I would never have even listened to music (outside of the radio) if it weren't for Napster. Thank you, magic of the internet, for allowing me to discover that my musical taste somehow encompassed Garbage, Tom Waits, System of a Down, and IDM!
I guess I was just starting to get into music before Napster got big in college. And once I discovered it, it was mostly downloading old songs I'd heard only on car rides as a kid. It made for a pretty quick and comprehensive musical education (although I don't think there were too many cases of misattributions... confusion over Ambrosia/Player on "Baby Come Back" comes to mind)
And I don't know if it's just a coincidence, but mainstream pop music took a dramatic nosedive right around that time, as 2000 came around.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:47 PM on March 17, 2013
I guess I was just starting to get into music before Napster got big in college. And once I discovered it, it was mostly downloading old songs I'd heard only on car rides as a kid. It made for a pretty quick and comprehensive musical education (although I don't think there were too many cases of misattributions... confusion over Ambrosia/Player on "Baby Come Back" comes to mind)
And I don't know if it's just a coincidence, but mainstream pop music took a dramatic nosedive right around that time, as 2000 came around.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:47 PM on March 17, 2013
Oh god, music file sharing via AOL
A typical song took a half hour to download so you set up a queue while you slept oh god
posted by The Whelk at 6:48 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
A typical song took a half hour to download so you set up a queue while you slept oh god
posted by The Whelk at 6:48 PM on March 17, 2013 [8 favorites]
The first MP3 I ever downloaded was Nirvana's cover of "Lake of Fire." It took between 45 minutes and an hour. My 486/66 couldn't play it.
posted by griphus at 6:52 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 6:52 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Whelk: "This post should come with winAmp visualizations,"
WinAmp? Viz for N00bz only. Real old skool: Cthugha.
posted by meehawl at 7:14 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
WinAmp? Viz for N00bz only. Real old skool: Cthugha.
posted by meehawl at 7:14 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
My favorite from back in the day was Le Tigre - "Cars That Go Boom"
posted by baniak at 7:16 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by baniak at 7:16 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
The place I was working in the early 90s had a CD burner to distribute orthophotographic deliverables. The burner was only single speed (IE: burning a 60 minute music CD took an hour) and the PC it was attached to (the fastest in the office) could do nothing else during a burn. NOTHING! If the PC even switched to the blank screen screensaver it would cause a burn to coaster. We exhausted many a rubber chicken burning CDs with that thing. But it sure was sweet to have "mixtapes" to play on my Alpine head unit (pull out natch) in my car.
posted by Mitheral at 7:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Mitheral at 7:21 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Brad and I were so excited. As huge fans of both Metallica and Nirvana, we couldn't believe we hadn't heard "Nirvana covering Enter Sandman" yet. After days in the queue, the download was finally complete. I huddled up behind Brad as he dragged the file into Winamp and pressed play.
Lick a camel's ass
Lick a moose's dick
Suck my doggie's cock
Suck a honeybadger's ass
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
And that's how I was introduced to the music of Wesley Willis.
posted by saul wright at 7:22 PM on March 17, 2013 [28 favorites]
Lick a camel's ass
Lick a moose's dick
Suck my doggie's cock
Suck a honeybadger's ass
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
Suck my dog's dick
And that's how I was introduced to the music of Wesley Willis.
posted by saul wright at 7:22 PM on March 17, 2013 [28 favorites]
Enya - Titanic Theme
Marvin Gaye - When a Man Loves a Woman
Aphex Twins - Mortal Kombat
That last one might have been from a dream.
posted by einexile at 7:26 PM on March 17, 2013
Marvin Gaye - When a Man Loves a Woman
Aphex Twins - Mortal Kombat
That last one might have been from a dream.
posted by einexile at 7:26 PM on March 17, 2013
Guys, at some point, some of us voluntarily listened to the music of reel big fish.
Just let that sink in.
posted by The Whelk at 7:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Just let that sink in.
posted by The Whelk at 7:29 PM on March 17, 2013 [4 favorites]
Guys, at some point, some of us voluntarily listened to the music of reel big fish.
Just let that sink in.
Heyyyyy! I still like Reel Big Fish.
posted by limeonaire at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Just let that sink in.
Heyyyyy! I still like Reel Big Fish.
posted by limeonaire at 7:31 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Fuck that noise. As someone who hates almost all third wave ska, I will never be embarrassed about listening to Reel Big Fish.
posted by saul wright at 7:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by saul wright at 7:33 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh go to an All ages show at The Bronze allready.
posted by The Whelk at 7:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 7:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [11 favorites]
Sweet memories of the Rio Pimp, a gift for my son. Pink Floyd - Purple Haze never sounded so good.
posted by maggieb at 7:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by maggieb at 7:34 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh fuck yeah the PMP300. 32 MB of storage. That's, like, a full album of songs at 96 kbps.
posted by griphus at 7:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 7:40 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every Single A Capella Song, (no matter if it is a large coed college group, an all female group, Celtic/folk music or actually accompanied) - Rockapella
posted by ilana at 7:41 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by ilana at 7:41 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
System of a Down - Legend of Zelda
I was actually thinking about that song the other day. Does anyone know who actually sang it?
posted by littlesq at 7:42 PM on March 17, 2013
I was actually thinking about that song the other day. Does anyone know who actually sang it?
posted by littlesq at 7:42 PM on March 17, 2013
Cat´s in the Cradle - Cat Stevens
posted by concrete at 7:47 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by concrete at 7:47 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
sesame_street_on_weed.mp3
posted by downing street memo at 7:51 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by downing street memo at 7:51 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
jim_carrey_mask_quotes.wav
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:05 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:05 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Nine Inch Nails - Super Mario Theme
posted by panaceanot at 8:06 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by panaceanot at 8:06 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sometimes being old is great. I'm really glad I missed all those illegal dl years and jumped right from making mix tapes of 7inches in the late 90s to paying for emusic in 2005. Because man, reel big fish is balls.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:08 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:08 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wilco - (Unreleased studio banter).mp3
posted by meadowlark lime at 8:09 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by meadowlark lime at 8:09 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
/splay donald_duck_orgasm.mp3
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:09 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:09 PM on March 17, 2013 [6 favorites]
Einsturzende_Neubauten_unplugged.mpeg
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Manson cover).mp3
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Manson cover).mp3
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 8:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Oh man. As somebody who recently plugged in an ancient USB hard drive, this all hits a bit close to home for me....
posted by schmod at 8:25 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by schmod at 8:25 PM on March 17, 2013
There's a band called Field Mouse that plays NYC venues pretty frequently and every time I get the new listings I get really excited because FIELD MICE and, nope, every time, it's Field Mouse.
I hate them and I don't even know what they sound like.
Ditto me and Field Music.
And then there's the new Liverpudlian band calling themselves The Hummingbirds; from the description I've seen, they're some kind of Mumford & Sons knockoff, and nothing like the 90s Australian indiepop band. #icemoonprison
posted by acb at 8:33 PM on March 17, 2013
I hate them and I don't even know what they sound like.
Ditto me and Field Music.
And then there's the new Liverpudlian band calling themselves The Hummingbirds; from the description I've seen, they're some kind of Mumford & Sons knockoff, and nothing like the 90s Australian indiepop band. #icemoonprison
posted by acb at 8:33 PM on March 17, 2013
...USB hard drive...
lol whatevz n00b *unboxes mint-condition Jaz drive and screws it into the USB-adapted parallel port* these Magnetic Fields bootlegs aren't going to uncorrupt themselves
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 9:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
lol whatevz n00b *unboxes mint-condition Jaz drive and screws it into the USB-adapted parallel port* these Magnetic Fields bootlegs aren't going to uncorrupt themselves
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 9:11 PM on March 17, 2013 [10 favorites]
I remember duking it out verbally with a friend about a "Final Countdown" cover attributed to Children of Bodom. I knew it wasn't them but he insisted it was since the file name and ID3 tags said so and they'd done some weird covers including Britney Spears songs.
It was really another band's cover (and not Norther's version) though I forget who, and was never able to acquire the original to prove it to my friend. I researched it and found the obscure answer but have long lost it.
He was almost as frustrated by my insistence on the matter as he was when I pointed out that miso soup is not made out of "fish broth" and that no, "scallions" aren't fish either, and even if they were seafood, they wouldn't be fish bro.
posted by lordaych at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2013
It was really another band's cover (and not Norther's version) though I forget who, and was never able to acquire the original to prove it to my friend. I researched it and found the obscure answer but have long lost it.
He was almost as frustrated by my insistence on the matter as he was when I pointed out that miso soup is not made out of "fish broth" and that no, "scallions" aren't fish either, and even if they were seafood, they wouldn't be fish bro.
posted by lordaych at 9:25 PM on March 17, 2013
"scallions" aren't fish either
"Some folks call 'em green onions, but they're really scallions."
Doctor Demento - Dragnet Parody.mp2
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:28 PM on March 17, 2013
"Some folks call 'em green onions, but they're really scallions."
Doctor Demento - Dragnet Parody.mp2
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:28 PM on March 17, 2013
My ancient original "D:\MP3" folder is now called "D Drive Classics" and is full of sketchy file names and CDs I ripped with no ID3 tags (I since fixed some of the latter with TagTeamer or some dealie-bob tag wizard application years ago, which impressively did CDDB-type queries to figure out the album data automagically).
I first listened to an MP3 (I got the power - Snap.MP3) on a Pentium 100MHz machine with a 650MB hard drive but it could barely handle it (close all programs first, don't even dream of running real-time Antivirus) and I didn't mess around with them until I had a PII box and bought a gloriously large 40GB HDD for it. In the portable realm I went straight for the RIO CD-MP3 player, skipping all flash media until 2GB was the norm.
Anyone remember rocking out to 1992.MOD or AXELF.MOD on an Amiga or 286+ box? That was where I first got a glimpse of the power of sampling and digitally composed music.
posted by lordaych at 9:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
I first listened to an MP3 (I got the power - Snap.MP3) on a Pentium 100MHz machine with a 650MB hard drive but it could barely handle it (close all programs first, don't even dream of running real-time Antivirus) and I didn't mess around with them until I had a PII box and bought a gloriously large 40GB HDD for it. In the portable realm I went straight for the RIO CD-MP3 player, skipping all flash media until 2GB was the norm.
Anyone remember rocking out to 1992.MOD or AXELF.MOD on an Amiga or 286+ box? That was where I first got a glimpse of the power of sampling and digitally composed music.
posted by lordaych at 9:30 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Miso does have fish broth, though...
(dashi, used for miso soup, is made from bonito flakes among other stuff)
posted by bashos_frog at 9:31 PM on March 17, 2013
(dashi, used for miso soup, is made from bonito flakes among other stuff)
posted by bashos_frog at 9:31 PM on March 17, 2013
All this time and no one's mentioned the "Sun Is Shining" techno remix? I don't know you, MetaFilter.
posted by invitapriore at 9:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by invitapriore at 9:32 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Queen - Bohemian Rapcity
Between this and Kibo showing up on Mefi I'm having some major 90s flashbacks at the moment... (Oh, alt.music.alternative, what a joy it was to discover you...)
posted by jokeefe at 9:47 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Between this and Kibo showing up on Mefi I'm having some major 90s flashbacks at the moment... (Oh, alt.music.alternative, what a joy it was to discover you...)
posted by jokeefe at 9:47 PM on March 17, 2013 [2 favorites]
Ryan Geiss? He made Geiss and Milkdrop. He did a lot of interesting stuff after Winamp according to his bio. Nothing about military work though.
He sounds really familiar, but I don't think it was him. This is going to drive me crazy.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:17 PM on March 17, 2013
He sounds really familiar, but I don't think it was him. This is going to drive me crazy.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:17 PM on March 17, 2013
For those mentioning "Aphex Twin - Pac Man (Techno Remix)"... it actually WAS Richard D. James, right?
posted by drumcorpse at 10:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by drumcorpse at 10:35 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh god, I had "White Label Mix [Daft Punk vs. Michael Jackson]". I knew it wasn't Daft Punk for some time, but it came up in a playlist and I looked it up and finally found out, about two months ago, that it was A Touch of Class. (ATC.)
My other favorite is Ain't No Sunshine, which Kazaa had credited to Al Green. I went about a decade thinking it was fucking Al Green, not Bill Withers.
And while we're talking about Aphex Twin, what I had as Rare Duet (this) billed as Aphex Twin feat. Robert Miles is also clearly nothing close.
But hey, the album was "Unreleased (taken from master tape)", so there's that.
Some classic, long-lived trolling there.
posted by disillusioned at 10:53 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
My other favorite is Ain't No Sunshine, which Kazaa had credited to Al Green. I went about a decade thinking it was fucking Al Green, not Bill Withers.
And while we're talking about Aphex Twin, what I had as Rare Duet (this) billed as Aphex Twin feat. Robert Miles is also clearly nothing close.
But hey, the album was "Unreleased (taken from master tape)", so there's that.
Some classic, long-lived trolling there.
posted by disillusioned at 10:53 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh man this makes me remember when I got into goth music by listening to those compilations they sold at hot topic and then spending 45 minutes downloading two or three songs per artist. And the ability to do even that was mind blowing.
Now there's smug teenagers on tumblr whining about subgenres of deathrock they can get in seconds of spotify and I just type "Back in my day..." over and over again until my fingers cramp up and it starts looking like a firstworld problems edition of the shining.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 10:57 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Now there's smug teenagers on tumblr whining about subgenres of deathrock they can get in seconds of spotify and I just type "Back in my day..." over and over again until my fingers cramp up and it starts looking like a firstworld problems edition of the shining.
posted by Betty_effn_White at 10:57 PM on March 17, 2013 [5 favorites]
Le Tigre - "Cars That Go Boom"
Oh god I wish this real SO BAD.
posted by grapesaresour at 10:58 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh god I wish this real SO BAD.
posted by grapesaresour at 10:58 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Fun fact: Downloading at dialup speeds via filesharing apps are still the only way to get anything by the Dandy Warhols.
The Dandy Warhols? Haven't thought of them lately at all.
Some of us (one of us?) still listens to the Dandy Warhols on a regular basis.
I don't know what this says about me...but I don't really care. I love them truly and unironically!
posted by hapax_legomenon at 11:03 PM on March 17, 2013
The Dandy Warhols? Haven't thought of them lately at all.
Some of us (one of us?) still listens to the Dandy Warhols on a regular basis.
I don't know what this says about me...but I don't really care. I love them truly and unironically!
posted by hapax_legomenon at 11:03 PM on March 17, 2013
TOM JONES - NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP.MP3
posted by not_on_display at 11:13 PM on March 17, 2013
posted by not_on_display at 11:13 PM on March 17, 2013
sandstorm.mp3
On every computer in every dorm in our entire university.
posted by vytae at 11:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
On every computer in every dorm in our entire university.
posted by vytae at 11:19 PM on March 17, 2013 [7 favorites]
I'm pretty sure I still have a bunch of songs with fucked up ID3 tags thanks to the glory days of Napster/Kazaa/Soulseek. Ah, so much fruitless chasing down of nonexistent rare live versions and cover songs, and so many terrible file naming practices. I had to go look at my soothingly well-ordered music files to get over the flashbacks of painstakingly renaming and retagging files to fit with my music organization scheme.
Still, file sharing got me what was at the time an otherwise impossible to find version of Jeff Buckley dueting with Elizabeth Fraser on "All Flowers in Time." It also let me get a lot more experimental with my music tastes as a preteen/teen, since I otherwise would have been limited to my brother's music and what I could afford with my allowance.
posted by yasaman at 11:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Still, file sharing got me what was at the time an otherwise impossible to find version of Jeff Buckley dueting with Elizabeth Fraser on "All Flowers in Time." It also let me get a lot more experimental with my music tastes as a preteen/teen, since I otherwise would have been limited to my brother's music and what I could afford with my allowance.
posted by yasaman at 11:28 PM on March 17, 2013 [1 favorite]
Audiogalaxy, if anybody remembers that, that was the worst for mislabelled mp3s, people who banned you for no reason and other obnoxious shit.
All y'all complaining about having to download music over dialup and living in the US can shut up though; try doing the same somewhere you do actually have to pay for local calls.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:02 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
All y'all complaining about having to download music over dialup and living in the US can shut up though; try doing the same somewhere you do actually have to pay for local calls.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:02 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
SON OF A BITCH LOGGED OUT WITH FIVE SECONDS LEFT...
And they're the only one on the entire P2P network with the freakin' song at the moment...grr...but maybe, if you wait long enough, it'll makes its way to you, perhaps weeks later like an unexpected gift. Never give up on your queue...never.
I remember having little arguments in those sorts of cases where some other dial-up sufferer would be the only person with a given track you wanted (perhaps one of those queued dormant files that sits at 16% for days with no sharers), and they'd keep cancelling your download attempts unless you actually had something to trade with them. Perhaps they were paying toll charges for their dial-up ;) I remember KBps download rates being around 2-5KB max in the final 28.8-56K phase of the dial-up era, and mom needed to use the phone line soon so time wasn't cheap...
And then they still might disconnect if they beat you to the finish line receiving your trade first, and you're all shaking your fists at this scoundrel wishing you could at least tell them "dude, if you want to violate the entire spirit of the thing at least move your shit out of the shared folder so people don't see it, you're just teasing people and being a lazy dick about it :(" but then you realize they have that sweet bootleg you dug out from somewhere else beyond the limits of your shared folder in order to entice them into allowing you to partially download this ripped track from their own collection that you'll never see again, and perhaps you've been set up for the perfect troll, and have decidedly not been served in the good way, but have in fact been served in the bad way.
posted by lordaych at 1:24 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
And they're the only one on the entire P2P network with the freakin' song at the moment...grr...but maybe, if you wait long enough, it'll makes its way to you, perhaps weeks later like an unexpected gift. Never give up on your queue...never.
I remember having little arguments in those sorts of cases where some other dial-up sufferer would be the only person with a given track you wanted (perhaps one of those queued dormant files that sits at 16% for days with no sharers), and they'd keep cancelling your download attempts unless you actually had something to trade with them. Perhaps they were paying toll charges for their dial-up ;) I remember KBps download rates being around 2-5KB max in the final 28.8-56K phase of the dial-up era, and mom needed to use the phone line soon so time wasn't cheap...
And then they still might disconnect if they beat you to the finish line receiving your trade first, and you're all shaking your fists at this scoundrel wishing you could at least tell them "dude, if you want to violate the entire spirit of the thing at least move your shit out of the shared folder so people don't see it, you're just teasing people and being a lazy dick about it :(" but then you realize they have that sweet bootleg you dug out from somewhere else beyond the limits of your shared folder in order to entice them into allowing you to partially download this ripped track from their own collection that you'll never see again, and perhaps you've been set up for the perfect troll, and have decidedly not been served in the good way, but have in fact been served in the bad way.
posted by lordaych at 1:24 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I was just about to mention Audiogalaxy - surprised nobody mentioned it until the above comment. Its list-on-a-web-page interface was the worst.
Also, why are people talking about Soulseek in the past tense?
posted by univac at 1:26 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, why are people talking about Soulseek in the past tense?
posted by univac at 1:26 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Speaking of Reel Big Fish, I can't recall their live cover of Boss DJ at the Bradley Nowell benefit without the station id it was recorded from. "KCXX - Lake Arrowhead, riverside, San Bernardino"
Thanks napster!
posted by dr_dank at 1:34 AM on March 18, 2013
Thanks napster!
posted by dr_dank at 1:34 AM on March 18, 2013
I was going to ask if I remembered Audiogalaxy correctly -- lists of files on a webpage. Yup.
Bootlegs were one of my first obsessions with MP3s since you could pretty much Google hunt them easier than anything else (in terms of "big name artists") and many [most?] fell into this quasi-legal state where they weren't really the property of the artist so nobody was out there defending them from being reproduced online. I remember a friend recently commenting on the sheer enormity of my NIN folder, which had to do with the fact that I was obsessed with NIN in the 90's and they had a fuckload of bootleg CDs with live performances but also various weird songs you couldn't get anywhere else. I read of these bootlegs, I described them in great detail in my NIN-wikipedia-esque-article-wrapped-up-in-a-textmode-ANSI arty-"zine engine" but never got a chance to listen to them for what seemed like years but was probably 6 or so months of "awareness of stuff I want and can't have" hardship.
After awhile I would see them in indie CD stores for around $25-30 a pop and resisted the temptation to buy, and shortly after they were plastered all over the internets and I ended up deriving more pleasure out of hording them all and organizing them than listening to them in any great length.
posted by lordaych at 1:34 AM on March 18, 2013
Bootlegs were one of my first obsessions with MP3s since you could pretty much Google hunt them easier than anything else (in terms of "big name artists") and many [most?] fell into this quasi-legal state where they weren't really the property of the artist so nobody was out there defending them from being reproduced online. I remember a friend recently commenting on the sheer enormity of my NIN folder, which had to do with the fact that I was obsessed with NIN in the 90's and they had a fuckload of bootleg CDs with live performances but also various weird songs you couldn't get anywhere else. I read of these bootlegs, I described them in great detail in my NIN-wikipedia-esque-article-wrapped-up-in-a-textmode-ANSI arty-"zine engine" but never got a chance to listen to them for what seemed like years but was probably 6 or so months of "awareness of stuff I want and can't have" hardship.
After awhile I would see them in indie CD stores for around $25-30 a pop and resisted the temptation to buy, and shortly after they were plastered all over the internets and I ended up deriving more pleasure out of hording them all and organizing them than listening to them in any great length.
posted by lordaych at 1:34 AM on March 18, 2013
lol whatevz n00b *unboxes mint-condition Jaz drive
I always thought that they had the vowels wrong for "Jaz" and "Zip" and needed to swap them out. Because the "Zap" drive would eat your fucking $10 100MB floppies for breakfast and the "Jiz" drive made me "Jiz" just thinking about it because 1GB on a fucking "disk" is outrageous (weren't they like $100 a pop?) and like most people I only got to vicariously Jiz in my pants thinking about it because it was way out of my price range.
posted by lordaych at 1:40 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
I always thought that they had the vowels wrong for "Jaz" and "Zip" and needed to swap them out. Because the "Zap" drive would eat your fucking $10 100MB floppies for breakfast and the "Jiz" drive made me "Jiz" just thinking about it because 1GB on a fucking "disk" is outrageous (weren't they like $100 a pop?) and like most people I only got to vicariously Jiz in my pants thinking about it because it was way out of my price range.
posted by lordaych at 1:40 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
I still have an anonymous solo acoustic version of In Your Eyes by Not Peter Gabriel.
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:46 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Devils Rancher at 1:46 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
I was just about to mention Audiogalaxy - surprised nobody mentioned it until the above comment. Its list-on-a-web-page interface was the worst.
Audiogalaxy was kinda good though, because it enabled you to download the same file from multiple sources, if they were available. You weren't relying on the one person having the file you needed being online. If 10 people had the same file, you had 10x the opportunity to grab it. And if the none of them were online, Audiogalaxy still had the file listed, waiting for when they were. Peers-to-peer. This was pretty revolutionary at the time. It also got Audiogalaxy in trouble, because they were maintaining a centralized list of the files and couldn't plead ignorance. Audiogalaxy also had some pretty obscure stuff on it - I remember my joy at being able to download Another Day in the Sun by The Moffs on Audiogalaxy, a song I had only ever previously heard on obscure community radio stations at 2am. Of course now I can just go to Youtube.
posted by Jimbob at 1:48 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Audiogalaxy was kinda good though, because it enabled you to download the same file from multiple sources, if they were available. You weren't relying on the one person having the file you needed being online. If 10 people had the same file, you had 10x the opportunity to grab it. And if the none of them were online, Audiogalaxy still had the file listed, waiting for when they were. Peers-to-peer. This was pretty revolutionary at the time. It also got Audiogalaxy in trouble, because they were maintaining a centralized list of the files and couldn't plead ignorance. Audiogalaxy also had some pretty obscure stuff on it - I remember my joy at being able to download Another Day in the Sun by The Moffs on Audiogalaxy, a song I had only ever previously heard on obscure community radio stations at 2am. Of course now I can just go to Youtube.
posted by Jimbob at 1:48 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Miso does have fish broth, though...
(dashi, used for miso soup, is made from bonito flakes among other stuff)
Too shay! <G> as they used to say...
I'm pretty sure the stuff we have is typically the Americanized vegetable-broth stuff but I'll have to ask around and see.
Thinking back I think the way it went was:
Him: "welcome to eating sushi. This is miso soup, it's made out of fish broth as you can see on the menu -- scallions."
Me: "hmm, scallions are just green onions, I think..."
Him: "Well I'm pretty sure 'miso' refers to a fish broth."
Me: "isn't that some kind of soy thing?"
Him: "enough about that, so here's the sushi. You can eat the ginger with the sushi, but most people eat the ginger in between every single bite of sushi."
Me, to myself: "hmm, I need to Altavista this shit about the ginger, but I won't research the miso part because fucking scallions aren't fish and will just mention it on Metafilter decades later instead."
posted by lordaych at 1:50 AM on March 18, 2013
(dashi, used for miso soup, is made from bonito flakes among other stuff)
Too shay! <G> as they used to say...
I'm pretty sure the stuff we have is typically the Americanized vegetable-broth stuff but I'll have to ask around and see.
Thinking back I think the way it went was:
Him: "welcome to eating sushi. This is miso soup, it's made out of fish broth as you can see on the menu -- scallions."
Me: "hmm, scallions are just green onions, I think..."
Him: "Well I'm pretty sure 'miso' refers to a fish broth."
Me: "isn't that some kind of soy thing?"
Him: "enough about that, so here's the sushi. You can eat the ginger with the sushi, but most people eat the ginger in between every single bite of sushi."
Me, to myself: "hmm, I need to Altavista this shit about the ginger, but I won't research the miso part because fucking scallions aren't fish and will just mention it on Metafilter decades later instead."
posted by lordaych at 1:50 AM on March 18, 2013
One last comment:
Before finally converging my music device with my smartphone starting on the first-generation BlackBerry Curve 8300 2G/EDGE phone (with a "good 'nuff" 2GB MicroSD), my last evolutionary step was a much larger 40GB iRiver MP3 player that also handled OGG and some other formats and had the FM tuner and a few other bells and whistles like picture display to make it seem more badass than the iPod. And it acted like a 40GB external hard drive with no annoying limitations which was pretty sweet, but my wife pretty much dominated the device and put it to good use in the long run; it still works. Shortly after acquiring it as an X-mas gift I used it as a prototype for what eventually became "reading Metafilter wherever and I mean WHEREVER I want using my smartphone":
1. I'd save Metafilter comment pages on interesting topics with lots of comments as HTML files on my PC. Low-tech instapaper, but a step above printing random blog articles on a laser printer and shoving them into my pocket like I used-ta-did.
2. Sometimes I'd get TFA and save it in HTML format, more often not, because it was more difficult to clean up the text and I'm a comment-reader first, becoming increasingly TFA-curious over many years but still driven by the discussion.
2. Remove the HTML with my homemade command line utility, converting to plain text, and also use a custom app to remove most extra white space that is ignored by the HTML standard and helpful for HTML copywriters but is visible and disruptive in typical text editors.
3. View text files on iRiver MP3 player while on the john, listening to music simultaneously.
This was nifty but unsustainable and I eventually got the BlackBerry 7100t and a Metafilter accession device has been stored within a foot of my junk ever since. I sometimes don't understand why my wife doesn't always obsessively keep her cell phone hear her person at all times at home but then I remember she hasn't been IV pushing Metafilter into her eyeballs with a phone since 2005 and that Metafilter is what drives my mindfulness re: having the phone at my fingertips and keeping it charged.
In more recent history I was in a small-town library a few years back and saved a bunch of Metafilter comments and a few TFAs to MHT format on a USB flash drive, so I could read them in my living quarters later that night.
posted by lordaych at 2:15 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Before finally converging my music device with my smartphone starting on the first-generation BlackBerry Curve 8300 2G/EDGE phone (with a "good 'nuff" 2GB MicroSD), my last evolutionary step was a much larger 40GB iRiver MP3 player that also handled OGG and some other formats and had the FM tuner and a few other bells and whistles like picture display to make it seem more badass than the iPod. And it acted like a 40GB external hard drive with no annoying limitations which was pretty sweet, but my wife pretty much dominated the device and put it to good use in the long run; it still works. Shortly after acquiring it as an X-mas gift I used it as a prototype for what eventually became "reading Metafilter wherever and I mean WHEREVER I want using my smartphone":
1. I'd save Metafilter comment pages on interesting topics with lots of comments as HTML files on my PC. Low-tech instapaper, but a step above printing random blog articles on a laser printer and shoving them into my pocket like I used-ta-did.
2. Sometimes I'd get TFA and save it in HTML format, more often not, because it was more difficult to clean up the text and I'm a comment-reader first, becoming increasingly TFA-curious over many years but still driven by the discussion.
2. Remove the HTML with my homemade command line utility, converting to plain text, and also use a custom app to remove most extra white space that is ignored by the HTML standard and helpful for HTML copywriters but is visible and disruptive in typical text editors.
3. View text files on iRiver MP3 player while on the john, listening to music simultaneously.
This was nifty but unsustainable and I eventually got the BlackBerry 7100t and a Metafilter accession device has been stored within a foot of my junk ever since. I sometimes don't understand why my wife doesn't always obsessively keep her cell phone hear her person at all times at home but then I remember she hasn't been IV pushing Metafilter into her eyeballs with a phone since 2005 and that Metafilter is what drives my mindfulness re: having the phone at my fingertips and keeping it charged.
In more recent history I was in a small-town library a few years back and saved a bunch of Metafilter comments and a few TFAs to MHT format on a USB flash drive, so I could read them in my living quarters later that night.
posted by lordaych at 2:15 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, why are people talking about Soulseek in the past tense?
Yeah, it's still there, if obscure, but can have a lot of stuff you can't find easily on public torrent trackers, if you're so inclined.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:40 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yeah, it's still there, if obscure, but can have a lot of stuff you can't find easily on public torrent trackers, if you're so inclined.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:40 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Some of us (one of us?) still listens to the Dandy Warhols on a regular basis.
No shame in it, the Dandy's are top-notch.
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 2:48 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
No shame in it, the Dandy's are top-notch.
posted by turgid dahlia 2 at 2:48 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
How did Rio ever go out of business? I'd probably still be using my Carbon if I hadn't lost it.
posted by Drexen at 3:18 AM on March 18, 2013
posted by Drexen at 3:18 AM on March 18, 2013
Beck - Slap Happy Mentos Eater (live - rare).mp3
posted by usonian at 4:39 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by usonian at 4:39 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
"Neil Young - A Horse With No Name.mp3"
I am still so disappointed.
posted by DarkForest at 4:53 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I am still so disappointed.
posted by DarkForest at 4:53 AM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I once had a dream of a mix CD containing nothing but various covers of "I Wanna Be Sedated". It was cut short by discovering that they were all just the original, mislabeled.
posted by Legomancer at 5:27 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Legomancer at 5:27 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
PMP300, my first MP3 player, taught me about beauty of encoding and that a song at 96 kbps is smaller than 128 and that it also will sound like utter crap. But I was the first person in school to have a MP3 player, and it went with me EVERYWHERE. It was magnificent.
I still marvel that the design of the PMP300 is essentially the iPod. (screen with a wheel under that has buttons on it to control the music).
posted by olya at 5:27 AM on March 18, 2013
I still marvel that the design of the PMP300 is essentially the iPod. (screen with a wheel under that has buttons on it to control the music).
posted by olya at 5:27 AM on March 18, 2013
I'll see your Rio MP3 players and raise you an Innogear MiniJam, the MP3 player module for the Handspring Visor. There was an awkward period where Handspring had pretty much declared the Visor dead and all the module developers were suddenly stuck with a bunch of dead-end tech that nobody wanted. I think I picked mine up for like $50, maybe not even that much. It worked, but I remember it being pretty cumbersome.
posted by usonian at 6:29 AM on March 18, 2013
posted by usonian at 6:29 AM on March 18, 2013
needs more BonziBuddy
posted by NoraReed at 6:35 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by NoraReed at 6:35 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
The day I discovered Napster... man. That was crazy. Because before that it was a crapshoot, trying to find anonymous FTP sites and hoping that there would actually be something worthwhile on the damn site if you were able to connect. What was the site I used to hit to find things... oth.net I think? Plain white page, list of links, click and hope the site is both up and doesn't have some ridiculous requirements to access.
("I only accept full albums of obscure 18th century orchestral music; 4:1 upload:download ratio required before my hard drive is laid open for you like the sweet, sweet nirvana I promised in the link; upload one single track I hate and you are instabanned for eternity")
The tagging did piss me off on a regular basis though. I still harbor a deep resentment towards the imbecile who uploaded a bunch of White Zombie tagged as "Genre: Blues" because WTF is even wrong with you, you clueless little shit?
Then there was the day in grad school when I found a Java app that exploited the iTunes Library sharing feature, allowing you to download (rather than stream) shared music. There were a lot of iTunes libraries shared on the network. In the spirit of fairness, I let the word out about this little program, and oddly enough within about two weeks every person in the building had nearly identical content in their iTunes libraries. Then Apple plugged the hole.
A few years back I had a flashback to the FTP sites. Happened to run into a guy I remembered from my undergrad days, and he mentioned something about his website; poking around later I discovered he had a folder full of music posted on the thing. Just a plain directory auto-generated by Apache. It was so old school I just had to see what was in the thing. (Apparently he is way into ska and klezmer music.)
hapax_legomenon: "Some of us (one of us?) still listens to the Dandy Warhols on a regular basis."
My friend was once on tour with the Dandy Warhols, before he gave up the rock star life and became a lab tech. He still likes dicking around with music, but the experience convinced him he will never let his son be a rock star (nor will he let his daughter date one).
posted by caution live frogs at 7:17 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
("I only accept full albums of obscure 18th century orchestral music; 4:1 upload:download ratio required before my hard drive is laid open for you like the sweet, sweet nirvana I promised in the link; upload one single track I hate and you are instabanned for eternity")
The tagging did piss me off on a regular basis though. I still harbor a deep resentment towards the imbecile who uploaded a bunch of White Zombie tagged as "Genre: Blues" because WTF is even wrong with you, you clueless little shit?
Then there was the day in grad school when I found a Java app that exploited the iTunes Library sharing feature, allowing you to download (rather than stream) shared music. There were a lot of iTunes libraries shared on the network. In the spirit of fairness, I let the word out about this little program, and oddly enough within about two weeks every person in the building had nearly identical content in their iTunes libraries. Then Apple plugged the hole.
A few years back I had a flashback to the FTP sites. Happened to run into a guy I remembered from my undergrad days, and he mentioned something about his website; poking around later I discovered he had a folder full of music posted on the thing. Just a plain directory auto-generated by Apache. It was so old school I just had to see what was in the thing. (Apparently he is way into ska and klezmer music.)
hapax_legomenon: "Some of us (one of us?) still listens to the Dandy Warhols on a regular basis."
My friend was once on tour with the Dandy Warhols, before he gave up the rock star life and became a lab tech. He still likes dicking around with music, but the experience convinced him he will never let his son be a rock star (nor will he let his daughter date one).
posted by caution live frogs at 7:17 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Even though the web interface was crappy, the good thing about AudioGalaxy was being able to pick songs online while the actual program ran anywhere. I used to pick the stuff I wanted as it occurred to me at work, then get home and find a folder full of fresh music waiting for me. That was very satisfying.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:20 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:20 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Now I totally understand that semi confused/bored look my kids get whenever my friends and I talk about anything that happened in the 70's.
posted by freakazoid at 7:21 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by freakazoid at 7:21 AM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
Then there was the day in grad school when I found a Java app that exploited the iTunes Library sharing feature, allowing you to download (rather than stream) shared music. There were a lot of iTunes libraries shared on the network. In the spirit of fairness, I let the word out about this little program, and oddly enough within about two weeks every person in the building had nearly identical content in their iTunes libraries. Then Apple plugged the hole.
I remember this -- there was a Great Leveling of Libraries. I had a friend in New York who was an aspiring developer who wrote a little app that shared iTunes libraries on a locally-hosted web page, so if you had web sharing on, people could browse your library & download albums or tracks. There was another Great Leveling while that worked amongst about 20 of us message board members.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:13 AM on March 18, 2013
I remember this -- there was a Great Leveling of Libraries. I had a friend in New York who was an aspiring developer who wrote a little app that shared iTunes libraries on a locally-hosted web page, so if you had web sharing on, people could browse your library & download albums or tracks. There was another Great Leveling while that worked amongst about 20 of us message board members.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:13 AM on March 18, 2013
But I was the first person in school to have a MP3 player, and it went with me EVERYWHERE. It was magnificent.
I got mine when the Rio 500 came out and one of the kids in school upgraded and sold me his PMP300 for dirt cheap ($30 or $40, I think.) It was pretty awesome, but it wasn't until I got a 500 of my own a year or so later -- and then a 64 MB flash card for a whopping 128 MB of storage -- that I realized how fucking revolutionary pocket-size MP3 players were.
posted by griphus at 9:07 AM on March 18, 2013
I got mine when the Rio 500 came out and one of the kids in school upgraded and sold me his PMP300 for dirt cheap ($30 or $40, I think.) It was pretty awesome, but it wasn't until I got a 500 of my own a year or so later -- and then a 64 MB flash card for a whopping 128 MB of storage -- that I realized how fucking revolutionary pocket-size MP3 players were.
posted by griphus at 9:07 AM on March 18, 2013
The proto-P2P days were ratio FTP sites, and there were even search engines for them, though there were also GeoCities pages dedicated to FTP sites of that sort. On dialup, I'd queue up a few songs to upload and download over night, hoping I found something good, and hoping I wasn't disconnected before I got anything back. Some sites were well-managed, others were complete chaos, but there were some gems in the mountains of dreck.
Between FTPs and Napster was Hotline, and then eDonkey2k....
posted by filthy light thief at 9:59 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Between FTPs and Napster was Hotline, and then eDonkey2k....
posted by filthy light thief at 9:59 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Did anyone else have a MiniDisc player/recorder? I went through a few of those and it was such an improvement when they were able to record faster than playback speed.
posted by spitefulcrow at 10:35 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by spitefulcrow at 10:35 AM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wesley Willis - Rock 'n Roll McDonalds
Wesley Willis - Cut the Mullet
Wesley Willis - Trauma Hell Ride
Wesley Willis - I Whipped Spiderman's Ass
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:01 AM on March 18, 2013
Wesley Willis - Cut the Mullet
Wesley Willis - Trauma Hell Ride
Wesley Willis - I Whipped Spiderman's Ass
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:01 AM on March 18, 2013
While I always found Limewire and then Soulseek to be superior to Kazaa, I am happy to see Gin and Juice by Phish or String Cheese Incident represented in the comments here, as well as Legend of Zelda by System of a Down. It is quite odd to me that you can still find these on Youtube labeled with these artists, complete with arguments in the respective comments sections over who really performed the song.
posted by mysterpigg at 11:47 AM on March 18, 2013
posted by mysterpigg at 11:47 AM on March 18, 2013
Ahem, I used Kazaa Lite.
Also Winmx, hotline, filetopia, gnutella and its variants, giFT.
posted by fizzix at 1:11 PM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
So many of these were the soundtrack to epic bouts of Soul Calibur on my Sega Dreamcast. Thanks for the nostalgia, MeFi.
posted by word_virus at 1:28 PM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by word_virus at 1:28 PM on March 18, 2013 [1 favorite]
"A warrior desires a sword, and a sword desires truth." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
posted by griphus at 1:47 PM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by griphus at 1:47 PM on March 18, 2013 [2 favorites]
There was also that Java based bootleg download program, that only allowed you to download bootlegs of bands that explicitely allowed them. Got some sweet Talking Heads and P-Funk concerts from that.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2013
posted by MartinWisse at 2:30 PM on March 18, 2013
For no reason I'm going to mention that I still own my Powerbook 100, which came with a mind-blowing 20 MB hard drive. It makes a great paperweight.
posted by jokeefe at 3:42 PM on March 18, 2013
posted by jokeefe at 3:42 PM on March 18, 2013
My favorite from back in the day was Le Tigre - "Cars That Go Boom"
What I like is that the local video game inspired super band, Mr. Pacman did a homage called Girls That Go Boom and it is awesome.
posted by alex_skazat at 6:09 PM on March 18, 2013
What I like is that the local video game inspired super band, Mr. Pacman did a homage called Girls That Go Boom and it is awesome.
posted by alex_skazat at 6:09 PM on March 18, 2013
spitefulcrow: "Did anyone else have a MiniDisc player/recorder? I went through a few of those and it was such an improvement when they were able to record faster than playback speed."
I had a MiniDisc player / recorder! I bought it in the fall of 2000 when I was heading into junior year of high school. It had a tiny little clip-on microphone, self-powered with a little lithium watch battery, that plugged in 1/8 mini to the player / recorder.
Shitty little orange display on it, with a big bulky in-wire remote controller built into the headphones. The mic was impressively good, though. I was at a boarding school that was 11-12 grades only and studying jazz guitar / music theory / music history. I would use it to record the private lessons I got once a week, and the ensemble rehearsals once a week. It was decent at the time, though I bet if I could hear those now I'd be horrified.
The one I had could only record music at 1:1 speed. It was brutal. I think at the most I had 4 discs of listening music, because I couldn't be bothered to sit around doing the rest. And sometimes they would be glitchy, too. Ah, minidisc. You were really mediocre.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:57 PM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
I had a MiniDisc player / recorder! I bought it in the fall of 2000 when I was heading into junior year of high school. It had a tiny little clip-on microphone, self-powered with a little lithium watch battery, that plugged in 1/8 mini to the player / recorder.
Shitty little orange display on it, with a big bulky in-wire remote controller built into the headphones. The mic was impressively good, though. I was at a boarding school that was 11-12 grades only and studying jazz guitar / music theory / music history. I would use it to record the private lessons I got once a week, and the ensemble rehearsals once a week. It was decent at the time, though I bet if I could hear those now I'd be horrified.
The one I had could only record music at 1:1 speed. It was brutal. I think at the most I had 4 discs of listening music, because I couldn't be bothered to sit around doing the rest. And sometimes they would be glitchy, too. Ah, minidisc. You were really mediocre.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:57 PM on March 18, 2013 [3 favorites]
Gescom (mix one part Autechre with one part some guy) released an album specifically to take advantage of the minidisc's technical capabilities.
posted by griphus at 7:04 PM on March 18, 2013
posted by griphus at 7:04 PM on March 18, 2013
Hah! That reminds me: Bucephalus Bouncing Ball by Aphex Twin was on all of those discs, for some reason. I think it may have something to do with my obsession with the Darren Aronofsky movie Pi at the time.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:08 PM on March 18, 2013
posted by lazaruslong at 7:08 PM on March 18, 2013
jeremias: "Where else you going to get all the Simpsons songs, excerpted and well named? E.G. Simpsons_Cletus_Slackjawed_Yokel.mp3 "
It's a surreal experience seeing anyone using the old bootleg method of copying video by recording the actual screen ... with a full fledged computer-in-a-phone. It's like mimeographing a document and then scanning it into OCR software.
Man, I do miss Napster in a way ... The misnaming of songs was a problem, but there was so much great music available that had previously been nearly impossible to find without paying exorbitant collector prices for out-of-print vinyl. I still have a few of the mp3s I downloaded through it. I also obtained my first pirated copy of Photoshop (v4) through some dude who hung around Napster chat all the time - something like crash_overlord - downloaded entirely through 33.6K dialup. It was in no small part due to the experience I gained in working with this copy of Photoshop that I was able to become employed as a web designer/developer during the dotcom era with a fairly decent paycheck, back in the day when all you needed to get the work was experience with the software. Thanks, Shawn Fanning!
posted by krinklyfig at 11:16 PM on March 18, 2013
It's a surreal experience seeing anyone using the old bootleg method of copying video by recording the actual screen ... with a full fledged computer-in-a-phone. It's like mimeographing a document and then scanning it into OCR software.
Man, I do miss Napster in a way ... The misnaming of songs was a problem, but there was so much great music available that had previously been nearly impossible to find without paying exorbitant collector prices for out-of-print vinyl. I still have a few of the mp3s I downloaded through it. I also obtained my first pirated copy of Photoshop (v4) through some dude who hung around Napster chat all the time - something like crash_overlord - downloaded entirely through 33.6K dialup. It was in no small part due to the experience I gained in working with this copy of Photoshop that I was able to become employed as a web designer/developer during the dotcom era with a fairly decent paycheck, back in the day when all you needed to get the work was experience with the software. Thanks, Shawn Fanning!
posted by krinklyfig at 11:16 PM on March 18, 2013
Then there was the day in grad school when I found a Java app that exploited the iTunes Library sharing feature, allowing you to download (rather than stream) shared music. There were a lot of iTunes libraries shared on the network. In the spirit of fairness, I let the word out about this little program, and oddly enough within about two weeks every person in the building had nearly identical content in their iTunes libraries. Then Apple plugged the hole.
I remember this -- there was a Great Leveling of Libraries. I had a friend in New York who was an aspiring developer who wrote a little app that shared iTunes libraries on a locally-hosted web page, so if you had web sharing on, people could browse your library & download albums or tracks. There was another Great Leveling while that worked amongst about 20 of us message board members.
Holy crap. OurTunes was great while it lasted. It showed up right before I went off to college and so my whole floor in my dorm was downloading music from each other.
Berkeley had another network for a while, using the Direct Connect app. It was limited to clients on Berkeley's local networks, so it was absurdly fast and (theoretically) RIAA-free. I got tons of music and movies from there. And also porn. Then I met the guy who had the giant stash of gay porn available on the network and was somewhat sleazily using it to find other guys to meet. Sigh...
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:35 AM on March 19, 2013
I remember this -- there was a Great Leveling of Libraries. I had a friend in New York who was an aspiring developer who wrote a little app that shared iTunes libraries on a locally-hosted web page, so if you had web sharing on, people could browse your library & download albums or tracks. There was another Great Leveling while that worked amongst about 20 of us message board members.
Holy crap. OurTunes was great while it lasted. It showed up right before I went off to college and so my whole floor in my dorm was downloading music from each other.
Berkeley had another network for a while, using the Direct Connect app. It was limited to clients on Berkeley's local networks, so it was absurdly fast and (theoretically) RIAA-free. I got tons of music and movies from there. And also porn. Then I met the guy who had the giant stash of gay porn available on the network and was somewhat sleazily using it to find other guys to meet. Sigh...
posted by spitefulcrow at 6:35 AM on March 19, 2013
Belatedly, here is (not its real name) U2 - One (best live acoustic ever), still my favorite version ever. Yes, it's attributed to Brian Eno. It's actually Bono, The Edge, and a 100+seat orchestra with Eno on backup vocals. Amazon can't label properly either.
posted by nicebookrack at 8:41 PM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by nicebookrack at 8:41 PM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
my god, looking at this thread again is even more rewarding.
Semi-off topic:
Finding those songs that you previously only knew in a distant memory, or a once in a great while that you heard on a radio station but didn't have a phone near you to call them up, especially at an impressionable age of early teen years, as it was for me, were really exciting moments... like finding weezer's say it ain't so, by only typing in 'like father'.
Also, they provided me and my friends some classic late nights searching through klite looking for
Arnold Schwarzenegger clips, prank phone calls with the caller only using prerecorded arnold clips like arnold's pizza shop.mp3 - one of the classics !
posted by fizzix at 8:34 AM on March 20, 2013
Ah, some great/terrible memories of the early days of file-sharing. Speaking of file-sharing on LANs in college, my first year at Michigan Tech I lived on the same floor as Joseph Nievelt, who was sued by the RIAA for making software that searched for shared files on the LAN. Total damages sought were $97.8 billion; it was pretty surreal walking down the hall to talk to him about that. "Thankfully" (since he didn't, you know, have billions of dollars) he managed to settle with them for $15,000.
posted by nTeleKy at 9:24 AM on April 9, 2013
posted by nTeleKy at 9:24 AM on April 9, 2013
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posted by shakespeherian at 4:03 PM on March 17, 2013