1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech 4 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: are you. It is a Friday. It is time for 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: a tech stuff classic episode. And this episode originally published 6 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: on February fifteenth, twenty seventeen, which I believe would make 7 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: it my ten year anniversary at what was then how 8 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. Yeah, I've worked in the same job since 9 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, but it's the company has changed 10 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: a few times. Anyway, this episode is called the History 11 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: of MP three players. Hope you enjoy. First, let me 12 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: just give like kind of a very brief overview of 13 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: the history of the MP three super summarized version. If 14 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: you recall, it originated as a project out of a 15 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: research company called the fraun Hoffer gazelle Schaft Company. A 16 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: team of researchers led by Carl Heinz Brandenberg created the 17 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: MP three format back in nineteen eighty seven. Now, what 18 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: he was doing was trying to build a compression formula 19 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: that would allow for high audio quality that doesn't take 20 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 1: up as much space as raw audio files do. Those 21 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: are huge, so how do you get them smaller so 22 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: that transmission is easier. He wanted to do this for 23 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: audio transmission across phone lines. Now, the name MP three 24 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: comes to us courtesy of the Motion Picture Experts Group, 25 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: also known as IMPEG. And the reason the three is 26 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: there is because the full name for the format is 27 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: the IMPEG Audio Later three. So Brandenberg's team's research led 28 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: to this audio compression format. Now, fraun Haffer Gazelle Shaft 29 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: apply for a patent in Germany in nineteen eighty nine 30 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: and for a patent in the United States in nineteen 31 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: ninety six. And this is a good spot to include 32 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: a bit of information to clear up some ambiguity. An 33 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 1: MP three player can be a couple of different things. 34 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: One version of an MP three player is just a 35 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: program that you run on your computer and it's meant 36 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: to decode compressed MP three files and then play them 37 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: back so that you can listen to them. Now, the 38 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: other meaning of MP three player is really what I 39 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: was going to talk about today. That's a dedicated, typically 40 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: portable device that is a decoder and an audio system 41 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,320 Speaker 1: all in one, kind of like a Sony Walkman. Was 42 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: the old cassette player. I think of MP three player 43 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: as this handheld personal audio device, but technically MP three 44 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: player can refer to either, and since it can refer 45 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: to either, I'm going to cover the history of both, 46 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: but I'm really going to focus more on those handheld devices. 47 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: Well frownhawfer a gazelle shaft, and I do love saying 48 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: that name over and over, which is why I take 49 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,399 Speaker 1: every opportunity to do so. They marketed an MP three 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: player program for computers, but it failed to catch on. 51 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't terribly user friendly, people didn't really care for it, 52 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: and the MP three was actually in danger of fading 53 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: into obscurity. If no one had created a user friendly 54 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: MP three program, chances are that format never would have 55 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: caught on and we would have some other compression format 56 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: that would be the standard, or at least a major 57 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: standard in audio compression. Now, there were other researchers and 58 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: companies working on a way to find success where the 59 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: German company found frustration, and that's when we flash forward 60 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: to nineteen ninety seven. So remember nineteen eighty seven is 61 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: when the company first started developing the MP three compression format. 62 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: Ten years later is when Thomas lav Uzilac created the 63 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: AMP MP three playback engine. Now. Uzlak was born in 64 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: Croatia and studied at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of 65 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: Electrical Engineering and Computing, and he had graduated with a 66 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: degree of engineering and he developed his MP three player 67 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: software when he was a student, and he wanted to 68 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: launch it as a commercial product. He said, all right, well, 69 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: I've created this thing that can play MP three files, 70 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,600 Speaker 1: and I want to be able to make this something 71 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: like a piece of software that I could actually sell. 72 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: So he formed a partnership with an American entrepreneur named 73 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: Brian Littman. Together they created a new company called Advanced 74 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: Multimedia Products. This was back in the time when multimedia 75 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: became like the catchphrase. It was a buzz term, kind 76 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: of similar to like the way we call Internet of 77 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: Things or cloud computing. Those are real buzz terms today. 78 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: Multimedia back in those days was the big buzz word, 79 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: and it also could mean things like full motion video 80 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: in computer games, and I've talked about that in a 81 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: previous episode. They were terrible and amazing and terrible. So 82 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: Advance Multimedia Products that's where you get the AMP in 83 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 1: AMP MP three. It wasn't AMP like an amplifier, but 84 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: rather an acronym for advanced multimedia products. Side note. Uz 85 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:30,479 Speaker 1: Lack would later go on to work in the world 86 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: of video games. He co created a company called two 87 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: by two Games, which released a turn based war game 88 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: called Unity of Command. So, if you've ever played Unity 89 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,040 Speaker 1: of Command, that was made by the same person who 90 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: created the first commercially successful MP three player program. So 91 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: this program hits the market and it is commercially successful, 92 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: but it's not entirely to use for everybody. That's when 93 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:07,479 Speaker 1: a University of Utah student named Justin Frankel took this 94 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: AMP program and he poureded it over to the Windows 95 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,760 Speaker 1: operating system along with help from a few other developers, 96 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: and he called this port win AMP WI NAMP. Justin Frankel, 97 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: by the way, would actually go on to develop the 98 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: Newtella peer to peer sharing program, and Nutella in this 99 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 1: case is spelled with a G in Gnutella. There's some 100 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: disagreement online, by the way, regarding to who contributed to 101 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,160 Speaker 1: creating win AMP and who was ultimately responsible who did 102 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: most of the work. But I'm gonna be honest with you, guys, 103 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: I cannot sort it all out. There are multiple stories 104 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: out there. They all disagree with each other. Some of 105 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: them seemed to be a little more conspiracy oriented than others. 106 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: It's very difficult to sort out what is the actual truth. 107 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: It seems to me like there were multiple players involved 108 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,919 Speaker 1: and there's disagreement about who did most of the work. 109 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: So for the purposes of this podcast, let's say that 110 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: Frankel developed win AMP and just put a little asterisk 111 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: behind that phrase, because honestly, without chatting with all the 112 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: parties involved, I can't really make an educated guess as 113 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: to whom was the ultimate party responsible. I'm guessing it 114 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: was more of a group effort. Now when AMP would 115 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: actually go on to become one of the top MP 116 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: three playback programs on the Windows platform in nineteen ninety eight, 117 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: it was a free program. Anyone could download it, and 118 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: that really helped cement the MP three format. It helped 119 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,400 Speaker 1: establish it as a format that would stick around because 120 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: now you had a free program you could use. You 121 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: had a compression formula that allowed you to store a 122 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: lot more music in the same storage space as if 123 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 1: you were to use the raw music files. You could 124 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: store way more music with MP three format. Because it 125 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: compressed it so low or solow as in low storage space. 126 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: And of course that depended upon things like the bitrate 127 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: you set your encoding at. And if you wanted to 128 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: learn more about that, you can listen to the Digital 129 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: Audio episode I did to talk more about bitrate. I'm 130 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: not going to go into that here. So the MP 131 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: three format was no longer in danger of fading off 132 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: into obscurity. In nineteen ninety nine, one year after win 133 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: amp became free, AOL purchased the rights to win Amp. 134 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: They actually acquired a company called Nollsoft. That was the 135 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: company that Frankel had formed when he was marketing win Amp. 136 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: And the price for acquiring Nollsoft was a cool eighty 137 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: million dollars, not bad for a University of Utah dropout. 138 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: Frankel dropped out of the out of college once he 139 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: had developed this program because he was running his own company, 140 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: created a startup, and found enormous success by getting acquired 141 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: by AOL. This was just one example of a long 142 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:17,320 Speaker 1: and storied history of people creating companies that showed some 143 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: utility and then selling out to a larger company. And 144 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: by selling out, they don't mean they sold out in 145 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: the derogatory sense. They made really good business decisions by 146 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:35,559 Speaker 1: making millions of dollars off of their work. I only 147 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: wish I had come up with something equally as useful 148 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: so that I could be a millionaire. Gosh darn it, 149 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: but don't we all anyway? It was not long for 150 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: this world ultimately, because in twenty thirteen AOL shut down 151 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: win amp. You couldn't download it anymore, they stopped supporting it. 152 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: But of course, by twenty thirteen the MP three format 153 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: was firmly entrenched, so the death of winnamp did not 154 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: mean the death of the MP three And there are 155 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: tons of other MP three player programs and MP three 156 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: compatible programs out there, way more than I can name. 157 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,559 Speaker 1: Some of them have really interesting features. Some of them 158 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: are really slimmed down programs that just have basic commands. 159 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: Most operating systems have some form of MP three playback 160 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: functionality built into them with a stock application, so you 161 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: don't even have to download anything to be able to 162 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: access MP three files for most cases. So instead of 163 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: focusing on the software side, let's shift over to talk 164 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: about portable MP three players. When did they start to 165 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: show up? So, while Uzlak was working on the AMP 166 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: MP three player program, and thank goodness, I'm not going 167 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: to have to say that anymore. There was a company 168 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: in South Korea that was busy creating the first solid 169 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 1: state handheld MP three player. Now that company was this 170 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: Say Huh Information Systems Corporation. The original product they launched 171 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: was called the MP man Digital Stereo Player, kind of 172 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: like a Walkman, but it's an MP man. And of 173 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: course Walkman came from Sony. This came from Sehan Information Systems. Now, 174 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 1: the company wasn't prepared to market this worldwide, so they 175 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: actually partnered with another company, Eiger Labs, and Iiger Labs 176 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: was in charge of marketing this product over in the 177 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,120 Speaker 1: Western world, and they showed off the device at the 178 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight c BIT trade show in Germany. The 179 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: product would then hit the consumer market in the summer 180 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety eight. So you have the software side 181 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: developing at the same time as the hardware side, which 182 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: was kind of interesting right now. There were two versions 183 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: of the early MP man MP three player. Others would 184 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,839 Speaker 1: follow after a while, but the first two we're pretty simple. 185 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: One of them had thirty two megabytes of memory, which 186 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: was enough to hold about thirty two minutes of audio 187 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: and coded at one hundred and twenty eight kilobits per second. 188 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:17,439 Speaker 1: That's about eight standard length songs. Obviously, standard length is 189 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: you know, that depends, but we're talking three to four minutes, right. So, 190 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: just for fun, out of the mischievounus of my heart, 191 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: I decided to ask eight co workers a simple question. 192 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: If you could fit one and only one song on 193 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: an MP three player for your use, what would it be? 194 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: And so here is the How Stuff Works employee playlist, 195 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:47,199 Speaker 1: as determined by the eight coworkers I asked. I asked 196 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: a couple of others this question later on and tortured 197 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,439 Speaker 1: them as well. By the way across the board, when 198 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: I asked this question, it was clear to me that 199 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: the people responding were giving more thought to this question 200 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: than perhaps any other piece of work that crossed their 201 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: desk this week. That's not a judgment, I'm just making 202 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:10,160 Speaker 1: an observation. So coworker Allison said that she would pit 203 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,680 Speaker 1: under pressure by Queen and David Bowie on this MP 204 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: three player. Christopher went with adore by Prince, although he 205 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: has since reconsidered his choice multiple times. Nathan chose lateralis 206 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: by tool Sherry chose Telephone Call from Istanbul by Tom 207 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: Waits Ramsey, who is the director for the Forward Thinking series. 208 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: Now his choice was Waiting Room by Fugazi. Our office manager, 209 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: Tamika said she would go with the Imperial March by 210 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:48,040 Speaker 1: John Williams from the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack. I think 211 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: she wins. Julie, who hosts Stuff of Life among other things, 212 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 1: went with Nina Simone's Cinnerman, specifically a live version. She 213 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: wanted me to make sure I mentioned that. And then 214 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: we have Matt Frederick, one of the hosts of Stuff 215 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: they don't want you to know, who decided to torture 216 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,839 Speaker 1: me because he chose a song that I don't think 217 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: I can pronounce svefen ge Inglar by a group called 218 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: Seegar Ross. And I know I've butchered it, and I 219 00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 1: know that that wasn't necessarily Matt's intent, But I also 220 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: know that Matt is probably not disappointed to hear that 221 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: I cannot say the name of the song he chose. Now, 222 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: I think it's only fair that I do the same 223 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: as my coworkers. But I'm giving myself all eight tracks. 224 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,080 Speaker 1: So here are eight songs I feel like I could 225 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: put on an MP three player that could only hold 226 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: those eight songs. First up is Tie your Mother Down 227 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: by Queen because it's a song that was written in 228 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six by Brian May, and May went on 229 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: to become an astrophysicist. So if an astrophysicist can write 230 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: an amazing song called tie your Mother Down, I think 231 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: you have to include it on your MP three player. Next, 232 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: I've got Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, which I think 233 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: is best played in a car that has all the 234 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: windows rolled down. Third is my one and only entry 235 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: from They Might Be Giants. This one would be Can't 236 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: Keep Johnny Down, because you know it's my name's Jonathan, 237 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 1: so I went with that. Anyone who knows me is 238 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: aware that I'm an enormous fan of They Might Be Giants, 239 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: so picking any one song from them was really tough. 240 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: Fourth would be The Clashes cover of Pressure Drop, which 241 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: was originally by Toots and the Maytolls, which is one 242 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: of my favorite cover songs. And then next, I've chosen 243 00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: this Must be the Place by the Talking Heads. Then 244 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: we would have a song from a more recent band 245 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: that I've become obsessed with that would be the Struts 246 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: and Put Your Money on Me. After that, sob by 247 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 1: Nathaniel Raightliff and The Night Sweats, And the last song 248 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: I would put on my MP three player would have 249 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: to be something that would indicate my love of musicals. 250 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: So I picked the song Once in a While from 251 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: The Rocky Horror Show, not the Rocky Horror Picture Show, 252 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: but the play The Rocky Horror Show and specifically the 253 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: roxy cast version. So look up the different songs. I mentioned, 254 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: both the ones that my coworkers picked and the ones 255 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: I picked to kind of get your idea of why 256 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: anyone would want to put that on an MP three 257 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: player that could only hold eight songs. It'll give you 258 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,240 Speaker 1: a lot more information about the personalities of the people 259 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: who work here and of me. I guess that's also 260 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: a warning now. I did say that the MP man 261 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: was available in two versions. The second one actually had 262 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: sixty four megabytes of storage. That's double the amount of 263 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: data you could stuff onto the other version. It did 264 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 1: not have a rechargeable battery, though the thirty two megabyte 265 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: had a nickel metal hydride battery that you could recharge 266 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: and had nine hours of play time, which is pretty incredible, right, 267 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: like nine hours to play eight songs over and over again. Well, 268 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: the sixty four megabyte instead of having that rechargeable battery, 269 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: it ran off a single double A battery. Now, technically 270 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,800 Speaker 1: the double A could be rechargeable depending upon what brand 271 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 1: you purchased, but you get what I mean. It wasn't 272 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: inherently a rechargeable battery. The original player, the thirty two 273 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: megabyte version, it didn't have expandable memory. So if you 274 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: wanted to upgrade, you had to do this. You purchase 275 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: your thirty two megabyte, You decide, you know what, eight 276 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: songs isn't enough, I'd really like to have sixteen on there. 277 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: You would send your thirty two megabyte model and a 278 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 1: check to cover the difference in cost off to Eiger Labs, 279 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,719 Speaker 1: and they would send you a sixty four megabyte version 280 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: in return. That's how you upgraded. Didn't have anything to 281 00:17:55,880 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 1: do with removable storage discs or anything like that. So 282 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: how much did these things cost? Well, the thirty two 283 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,280 Speaker 1: megabyte MP man cost a cool two hundred and fifty 284 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: dollars when it launched in nineteen ninety eight. If you 285 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: were to take that same product and look at inflation, 286 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: you could say, all right, well today, that means it 287 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:19,800 Speaker 1: would cost close to three hundred and sixty eight dollars. 288 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: So you would be spending almost three hundred and seventy 289 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: dollars in order to listen to eight songs on the 290 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: go in digital format. And of course that also depends 291 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: upon the song length. Right, If you wanted to store 292 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: songs by the Ramones on there, you'd probably be able 293 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: to squeeze in an extra tune because most Romote songs 294 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,920 Speaker 1: are three minutes or shorter. But if you're a big 295 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: fan of the musical genius known as Meatloaf, you might 296 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: only get a couple of tracks on your MP three 297 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: player before you filled up all the memory. Now I've 298 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,199 Speaker 1: gotten more to say about the MP man and the 299 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,199 Speaker 1: more successful MP three player that followed it, but first 300 00:18:54,480 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. The 301 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: launch of the MP man wasn't an enormous success, but 302 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 1: it did help establish the MP three as not just 303 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: a digital compression format, but also a file type that 304 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: could be used for portable devices. So in September nineteen 305 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 1: ninety eight, just a couple of months after the MP 306 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: man launched, a new MP three player emerged, and this 307 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:29,959 Speaker 1: was the Rio PMP three hundred and that debuted at 308 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: a price of two hundred dollars, which then prompted Eiger 309 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: Labs to reduce the MP man price to two hundred 310 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 1: dollars as well. The PMP three hundred also had thirty 311 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,160 Speaker 1: two megabytes of storage space, and you'd load music from 312 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: a computer using a parallel port cable. Do you remember. 313 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: Those were kind of the things we would use before 314 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: stuff like USB cables became a standard. So how did 315 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: this PMP three hundred measure up to the mp man 316 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: apart from the identical amount of storage space. Well, if 317 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: you look at an MP man, and I do recommend 318 00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: that you search for these different devices and look at 319 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: images just so you can see what these actually looked like. 320 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: The MP man had a very small digital display, almost 321 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 1: like an electronic calculator, like handheld electronic calculator that you 322 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: would have basic one, not even a scientific model. And 323 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: so it had a very small digital display that mostly 324 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: showed how much time had passed from the launch of 325 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: a song. And it had two physical buttons that you 326 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: could use to navigate the device, one called mode and 327 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: the other called info, and it weighed about sixty five grams. 328 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: The PMP three hundred had a larger digital screen than 329 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: the MP MAN, and it also had more buttons, including 330 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 1: three on the top edge of the player and several 331 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: more on the front surface of the player beneath where 332 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: the screen was. A circle in the front gave basic 333 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: controls like play, fast, forward, rewind, and stop, and other 334 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,400 Speaker 1: buttons allowed you to do things change the volume level 335 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: or select basic functions like repeat. These would be things 336 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:09,120 Speaker 1: that become standard in future MP three players. The additional 337 00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:11,959 Speaker 1: features and lower price point pushed the Rio ahead of 338 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: the MP Man. Now that's not to say that the 339 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: launch of the Rio was perfectly smooth. In October nineteen 340 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: ninety eight, the Recording Industry Association of America aka the 341 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:29,440 Speaker 1: ri double A sued Reo Port, which was a subsidiary 342 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: of a company called Diamond Multimedia. And Diamond multi Media 343 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: essentially produced the Rio through Rio Port. So what was 344 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: the beef? Well, the ri double A claimed that the 345 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,879 Speaker 1: Rio violated the nineteen ninety two US Home Recordings Act. 346 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: The MP Man was such a niche item that the 347 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: RIUBLEA didn't even take notice of it, but the Rio 348 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: was making a bigger splash, and so the ri double 349 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: A said, we've got to nip this in the butt. 350 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: Anyone familiar with media organizations knows that this is a 351 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: pretty common occurrence. So you get a new technology that 352 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: debuts and it allows people to create, play, and share 353 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,199 Speaker 1: recordings of media, and then lawsuits come flying in. We 354 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: saw it with the development of video cassettes, both Beta 355 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: max and VHS. We saw it with just cassette tapes. 356 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: We saw it with CDs and specifically writeable CDs, and 357 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: we saw it with MP three's no big shock. Every 358 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: time that someone comes up with a new way to 359 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: do this, we see the various industry components react normally 360 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: through lawsuits. And on the one hand, you can kind 361 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: of understand where they're coming from. If someone can replicate 362 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 1: a recording or make it available for other folks to 363 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: download for free, why would anyone bother to pay for 364 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: a recording? Right So, why would I bother to pay 365 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:00,640 Speaker 1: for a song if I could just go online download 366 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: it for free and you know there's no repercussions there. 367 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, we've seen multiple times that 368 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:12,359 Speaker 1: the legal tactics don't prevent piracy from happening, and In 369 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: some cases, lawsuits might encourage people who otherwise wouldn't dream 370 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,240 Speaker 1: of pirrating stuff to actually go to the dark side 371 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: and do it, saying, you know, I wasn't going to 372 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: do it before, but because of the way this company 373 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 1: is acting, I'm totally going to do it now. Maybe 374 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: they're just justifying what their activity is, but it's not 375 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: a great story, and it also leads to companies adopting 376 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,880 Speaker 1: various types of digital rights management or DRM that can 377 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: ultimately cause more frustration to legal customers than to people 378 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,439 Speaker 1: pirating that software or files. More on that in a 379 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: little bit. So for about a week and a half 380 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,639 Speaker 1: in October nineteen ninety eight, the RIIAA was able to 381 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: secure a sales ban on the Rio, so about ten 382 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,160 Speaker 1: days or so the Rio could not be sold legally 383 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,120 Speaker 1: in the United States, but by October twenty sixth, that 384 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: ban was lifted. Reoport would countersue the RIAA in December 385 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight and said that what that organization was 386 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: doing was illegal. They were trying to stifle a market 387 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 1: that they didn't actually control, and that market would be 388 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: digital music. There was a lawsuit that followed, and the 389 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: court ruled that the Rio wasn't in violation of any 390 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,240 Speaker 1: rules because the company couldn't control the behavior of its customers. 391 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: In other words, it's not an MP three player manufacturer's 392 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: fault if customers fill up their devices with stolen files. 393 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: They can't control that. It's the same as saying it's 394 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: not a computer manufacturer's fault if a hacker uses their 395 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: computers to make malware. Dell can't control if I take 396 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: a Dell computer and start creating malware off of it, 397 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: So Dell should not be held at fault if I 398 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:01,359 Speaker 1: unleash a damaging malware onto the world. By the same token, 399 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: an MP three player manufacturer can't guarantee that its customers 400 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: are going to play by the rules, and it can't 401 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: be held responsible when they don't. The Riublea appealed this verdict, 402 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,439 Speaker 1: and then the court said that the Rio didn't qualify 403 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: as a recording device under the definitions the Recording Act, 404 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: so therefore it couldn't be in violation of any rules 405 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: because it didn't qualify for the rules that Riublea said 406 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: were in play. So the MP three player lived to 407 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: fight another day. On a side note, the Riublea would 408 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 1: soon see its fears realized upon the birth of peer 409 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: to peer sharing services, namely Napster. These services became massive 410 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: resources for pirates, first of music files and then later 411 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: for all types of files. Now, the technology itself im 412 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:51,440 Speaker 1: peer to peer sharing isn't illegal, but it was put 413 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 1: to illegal use frequently enough that everyone in the industry 414 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: was equating this perfectly legal means of distribution with illegal 415 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: life activity. It became an enormous headache for a lot 416 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,679 Speaker 1: of people who used peer to peer sharing for totally 417 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: legitimate legal purposes. It didn't help that there were also 418 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: lots of people using it to pirate the crap out 419 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: of music, movies, and games and other types of files. 420 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: This would also extend into the era of the bit 421 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: torrent networks, So I've talked about those in previous episodes. 422 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: I won't dwell on it here. Those lawsuits, however, got 423 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: the attention of the industry at large, and nobody wanted 424 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: to get sued by a powerful organization representing the interests 425 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: of the major music labels. They had almost bottomless amounts 426 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: of cash and could completely bankrupt smaller companies that were 427 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: trying to get into this industry. So various entities in 428 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: the technology sector, including consumer electronics companies and various rights 429 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: holders formed what was called the Secure Digital Music Initiative 430 00:26:55,280 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: or SDMI. Their goal originally was to create a strategy, 431 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: some encryption specifications, and other strategies to prevent the unlawful 432 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: distribution of MP three recordings, So, in other words, they 433 00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: wanted to create a digital rights management strategy. To do this, 434 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: they created a digital water marking process that would attach 435 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,159 Speaker 1: a bit of code to a music file, and that 436 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: bit of code would act as a watermark. If you 437 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 1: tried to remove the water mark, it would in theory 438 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: cause damage to the MP three file, so that you 439 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,400 Speaker 1: would get signal loss, you would have a lower quality 440 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,400 Speaker 1: sound file, or maybe it wouldn't even play properly at all. 441 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: And they also worked to create a standard for MP 442 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: three players. So the idea was that MP three player 443 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:46,840 Speaker 1: manufacturers would implement technology, some kind of code hardcoded into 444 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: the device that would prevent an SDMI compliant player from 445 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: playing an SDMI compliant music file if it didn't have 446 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: authorization to do so. So. In other words, think of 447 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,160 Speaker 1: it like a key in a lock. If the key 448 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: was not present on the device, it could not unlock 449 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: a music file that had been illegally loaded onto the device, 450 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: and to make sure that their plan worked, THEDMI group 451 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,719 Speaker 1: invited various hackers to try their hand at removing that 452 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: digital watermark without harming the MP three file. So there 453 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: was a group led by a Princeton University professor of 454 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: computer science and his name was Ed Felton. They claimed 455 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:32,919 Speaker 1: that they managed the task. Now, the SDMI group said no, no, no, no, no, 456 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: you didn't do it because just because our software says 457 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: that the watermark is gone doesn't mean the watermark is 458 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,480 Speaker 1: really gone. Plus there's signal loss here in this audio file, 459 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: so you didn't really successfully do this. Now, Felton's group 460 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: did not opt for the non disclosure policy. The group 461 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 1: had offered a prize, a cash prize award to anyone 462 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: who could manage to do this. If you opt out 463 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: of that non disclosure policy, you were not eligible for 464 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,120 Speaker 1: the award. Well, Felton's group never agreed to the non 465 00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:11,719 Speaker 1: disclosure part, so they moved to publish their method to 466 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: defeat the SDMI DRM strategy, and that's when several groups, 467 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: including the RIAA, sprung into action. They threatened legal action 468 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: under the Digital Management Copyright Act or DMCA. Felton turned 469 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: to the Electronic Frontier Foundation the EFF and said, hey, 470 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 1: now this is not fair. So they took it to 471 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: the US Department of Justice, and the DOJ said, you're cool, Felton, 472 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: because legit academic research isn't a violation of the DMCA. 473 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: So the paper was published. The SDMI essentially dissolved without 474 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: any fanfare in two thousand and one. Turns out that 475 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: protecting digital information is pretty tricky, and this approach was 476 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: ultimately a failure. It's probably a good thing, seeing as 477 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,320 Speaker 1: how those approaches to dra tend to do more harm. 478 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: They negatively affect legitimate legal customers more than they affect 479 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: the people who are skirting around the law. And trust me, 480 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: nothing is more frustrating than the feeling you're being punished 481 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: for following the rules. Anyone who's played a single player 482 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: video game that will only work if you have an 483 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: active connection to the Internet probably knows what I'm talking about. 484 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 1: All right, back to the MP three players. After the 485 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: launch of the MP Man and the Rio, other devices 486 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,840 Speaker 1: began to hit the market, and the biggest challenge companies 487 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 1: faced was to provide a decent amount of memory storage 488 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: while trying to keep the price down because in those 489 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: early days, if you wanted to use solid state flash 490 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 1: based memory storage, you're paying a pretty hefty price. We're 491 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: talking between three and four dollars per megabyte, which adds 492 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: up to about thirty five hundred dollars per gigabyte. That's 493 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: an enormous amount of money. I don't have thirty five 494 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,320 Speaker 1: hundred dollars to spend on a one gigabyte MP three player. 495 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 1: I don't have it to spend on a terabyte MP 496 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,720 Speaker 1: three player, to tell you the truth. Now, in nineteen 497 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: ninety nine, a new MP three player debuted with a 498 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: much larger hard drive than its competitors. And this was 499 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: the Remote Solutions Personal Jukebox and it had four point 500 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:28,200 Speaker 1: eight gigabytes of storage. How How could Remote Solutions Personal 501 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: jukebox have four point eight gigabytes when everyone else is 502 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: struggling with thirty two or sixty four megabytes? Did it 503 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: cost the same amount as a car? No? And the 504 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 1: reason was personal jukebox wasn't using solid state flash memory. Instead, 505 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 1: the personal jukebox actually was using a repurposed laptop hard drive. 506 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: In other words, it used a disc based storage system, 507 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: hard disk, not floppy disk, and it used magnetic storage 508 00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: instead of the solid state model. Now that kept the 509 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,959 Speaker 1: price down, but it was still monstrously expensive. The launch 510 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: price for the Personal juke Box was seven hundred and 511 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 1: ninety nine dollars, which is about the same as one 512 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:14,280 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty one dollars in today's money. And 513 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:16,239 Speaker 1: you might think that a laptop hard drive would make 514 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: an MP three player larger and heavier than those that 515 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,120 Speaker 1: used flash storage, and you're right. It was not really 516 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: a portable device, at least not in the same way 517 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: that the flash based ones were. In two thousand, another 518 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: disc based hard drive MP three player debuted, and this 519 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: one was the Creative Nomad Jukebox. It cost five hundred 520 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: dollars for six gigabytes of storage, so more storage for 521 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: less money, But like the Personal Jukebox, it was a 522 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: hefty monster. It was too big for a personal listening device. 523 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: It kind of looked like a personal CD player rather 524 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: than an MP three player, much too large to fit 525 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: into a pocket. If you wanted to go lightweight, you 526 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: would have to opt for something else like the I 527 00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,080 Speaker 1: two go Ego, which had a microdrive capable of storing 528 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: two gigabytes of music. But there was a hefty price 529 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,920 Speaker 1: tag for the I two go Ego. It cost two 530 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: thousand dollars a two thousand dollars MP three player, and 531 00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: that's by two thousand year standards like the year two thousand. 532 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: If you wanted to adjust for inflation, it's more like 533 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: two thousand, seven hundred and eighty seven dollars for a 534 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: two gigabyte MP three player. It's not even made out 535 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: of platinum or anything. Other alternatives were also popping up, 536 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 1: though most of them had those storage limitations. There was 537 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: the RCA Lira or Lyra if you prefer it's l Yr, 538 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: and that marked RCA's attempt to get into the MP 539 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 1: three player business. The first model had a thirty two 540 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,719 Speaker 1: megabyte capacity on a CF card, and he also had 541 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: a fairly large monochromatic display and several physical buttons for operation. 542 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: If you wanted to store music on the device, you 543 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: had to use proprietary software to write to the CF reader. Moreover, 544 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 1: the files you'd store would be converted into an encrypted 545 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,840 Speaker 1: format that would only play on the Lira or Lyra 546 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:14,439 Speaker 1: or whatever. Now, because it actually used a removable memory card, 547 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: you could upgrade the memory. You just buy a higher 548 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: memory card. Now, the max in those early models was 549 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:24,879 Speaker 1: five hundred and twelve megabytes, so still way less than 550 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,800 Speaker 1: those hard disk style MP three players, but far more 551 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: storage than the standard models that were on the market, 552 00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:34,760 Speaker 1: and it kept the size of the device relatively small. 553 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,560 Speaker 1: One drawback was that when the Lyra booted up, it 554 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 1: had to read the full contents stored on the card, 555 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: kind of like how your computer when it's booting up 556 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,040 Speaker 1: and it's trying to load the desktop, it has to 557 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:49,719 Speaker 1: read all the different things that are associated with the 558 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:53,279 Speaker 1: desktop before it can fully load. So the only way 559 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,720 Speaker 1: it could present a menu of all the songs stored 560 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: on the device was to go through all the contents first. 561 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,160 Speaker 1: The more you stored on it, the longer that boot 562 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: time lasted. If you had more than half of your 563 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 1: device full and you had five hundred and twelve megabytes 564 00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,080 Speaker 1: of storage, you'd be waiting longer than a minute just 565 00:35:10,080 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 1: for the thing to boot up properly. So it wasn't 566 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: the most convenient compared to some other devices. Now, that 567 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,719 Speaker 1: entire line of RCA products would persist and evolve, with 568 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 1: later models adding more functionality and more storage. Meanwhile, in 569 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,360 Speaker 1: two thousand, Sony joined the game by launching a device 570 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: that sort of looked like a pen. It was called 571 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:37,240 Speaker 1: the Sony Vio MCP ten Music Clip. And boy, doesn't 572 00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:39,560 Speaker 1: that just roll off the tongue. I love these NB 573 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:43,080 Speaker 1: three players that all have letter and number designations instead 574 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: of just a quipping name that I can rattle off. 575 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: Sony Io MCP ten music Clip, We'll just call the 576 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,280 Speaker 1: music clip from here on out. It was a sixty 577 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,640 Speaker 1: four megabyte digital music player, so their entry level was 578 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 1: a little higher than the previous models that had come 579 00:35:57,040 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: out over the last couple of years. It costs three 580 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,200 Speaker 1: three hundred dollars. And here's another big difference. Unlike the 581 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:07,359 Speaker 1: other players I've talked about, this wasn't actually an MP 582 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,960 Speaker 1: three player. It didn't play MP three files at all. 583 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:15,520 Speaker 1: Why because, in a very Sony fashion, it would play 584 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: music files in the A track three format. That's at 585 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,879 Speaker 1: RAC three format. That's a format that was created by 586 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:29,759 Speaker 1: drum Roll Sony. So you could use included software to 587 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,600 Speaker 1: transcode files from MP three to A track three. But 588 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 1: the whole process took a really long time. It was 589 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: very clunky, and they paired it with a poorly designed 590 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: program designed to move files from a computer to the player, right, 591 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: you would still download files onto your PC or rip 592 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 1: music from a CD onto your PC. Then you would 593 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,720 Speaker 1: have to transfer from the PC to your MP three player. 594 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: In this case, you would also have to transcode it 595 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,400 Speaker 1: to a track three if it wasn't already in that format. 596 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,360 Speaker 1: It was a very frustrating experience and a lot of 597 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:09,000 Speaker 1: customers were upset that it wasn't really an MP three 598 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,360 Speaker 1: player despite the fact that MP three would appear on 599 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,360 Speaker 1: the box because of that transcoding program. I mean, the 600 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: transcoding program was included, so why not say MP three 601 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:22,920 Speaker 1: on the box. Ultimately, the device did not get a 602 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: lot of traction. It did not do very well in 603 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 1: the marketplace. Also that same year, in two thousand, Iomega, 604 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: which created ZIP discs, launched an MP three player called 605 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,280 Speaker 1: the Hip Zip and it had a forty megabyte storage 606 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,280 Speaker 1: capacity and used a scaled down version of the magnetic 607 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 1: disc storage that they used for ZIP discs. But at 608 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 1: this point the market was starting to get a bit crowded. 609 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: There was some confusion going on in the marketplace. A 610 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 1: lot of companies were launching MP three players at different 611 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 1: storage capacities for different prices. And the experience could be 612 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 1: remarkably different depending upon which device you chose and which 613 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:01,799 Speaker 1: saw where package came along with it so that you 614 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: can manage your music database and load up your device. 615 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:10,520 Speaker 1: Keep in mind this is a time where these devices 616 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:14,000 Speaker 1: didn't have Wi Fi connectivity. You had to physically attach 617 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: them to a computer in order to move music over 618 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 1: onto them. Customers were starting to get a bit frustrated 619 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:24,160 Speaker 1: because it was a confusing time, and it turned out 620 00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:27,480 Speaker 1: that having a bigger storage drive wasn't necessarily the killer 621 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,560 Speaker 1: feature because some products were just too frustrating to use. 622 00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: It didn't matter that you could store more music on them. 623 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 1: The process of getting music moved to the device was 624 00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:40,120 Speaker 1: so irritating that a lot of people just didn't like them. 625 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:42,880 Speaker 1: But in two thousand and one, a product launch that 626 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,319 Speaker 1: changed the game completely. Now, before I talk about that, 627 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:58,280 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. Okay, 628 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: I mentioned before the break that we had a groundbreaking 629 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:03,839 Speaker 1: product launch in two thousand and one. I am, of 630 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 1: course talking about the Intel Pocket Concert. It's like I 631 00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,400 Speaker 1: meant the iPod. But the Intel Pocket Concert did launch 632 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,919 Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, and it was pretty cool. 633 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: It had one hundred and twenty eight megabytes of storage. 634 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: It cost three hundred dollars this amount of storage, and 635 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,680 Speaker 1: that price point was really attractive. It actually met with 636 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:27,360 Speaker 1: some success in the market, but it didn't last very long, 637 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: not because of problems with the device, not because people 638 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,840 Speaker 1: didn't like it, but because Intel reorganized in two thousand 639 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:38,040 Speaker 1: and one, and in that reorg they shut down their 640 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 1: home electronics division, and the Pocket concert fell into the 641 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:45,960 Speaker 1: home electronics category. So it was a casualty of a reorg. 642 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:48,480 Speaker 1: It didn't have anything to do with the market acceptance 643 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,319 Speaker 1: of the MP three player. Just think if Intel had 644 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 1: kept it, maybe the story would be very different. No, 645 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:58,640 Speaker 1: the one that actually launched in two thousand and one 646 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:04,520 Speaker 1: that changed everything was the iPod. Now, it didn't change 647 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 1: everything right away when it first launched, it was too 648 00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,759 Speaker 1: limited to do that. Apple was not the powerhouse in 649 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: two thousand and one that it would become just a 650 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,799 Speaker 1: few years later. It was still recovering from a very 651 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:20,959 Speaker 1: tumultuous period in the company history. It had gone through 652 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,320 Speaker 1: a lot of turbulence in the nineties. Co founder Steve 653 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:29,240 Speaker 1: Jobs had returned to Apple in nineteen ninety seven after 654 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:33,280 Speaker 1: essentially being exiled for several years. If you remember, Steve 655 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: Jobs was kind of forced out of Apple, effectively forced. 656 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,720 Speaker 1: He was essentially put to the side until he stepped 657 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: away because he wasn't in charge of anything anymore. Then 658 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,480 Speaker 1: Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy after a series 659 00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:53,879 Speaker 1: of terrible business decisions and strategies, and Jobs came back 660 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:57,279 Speaker 1: in as an interim CEO until he was starting to 661 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,319 Speaker 1: turn the company around and became the actual CEO, and 662 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,920 Speaker 1: he was working really hard to make the company healthy again. 663 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: And the two thousand and one launch of the iPod 664 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,239 Speaker 1: was one of the first really big moves Apple made 665 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 1: to assert itself and become a leader in computing and 666 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:15,680 Speaker 1: electronics markets. So the very first generation of iPods had 667 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:20,040 Speaker 1: a large led screen. They had the classic scroll wheel. 668 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: You'd put your thumb on the wheel and spin it 669 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:26,840 Speaker 1: around in order to navigate the various lists of songs. 670 00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,000 Speaker 1: A scroll wheel in that first generation was surrounded by 671 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,680 Speaker 1: the control buttons like play and pause and rewine and 672 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,800 Speaker 1: fast forward, and so the device had a pretty simple 673 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: and fairly aesthetic design, kind of clunky compared to today's technology, 674 00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: but less clunky than a lot of the competitors that 675 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,880 Speaker 1: were out there. It also had five gigabytes of storage space, 676 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,719 Speaker 1: and it cost four hundred dollars when it launched. Also, 677 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: it was aimed at a niche market because the only 678 00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: compatible computer you could use with a first generation iPod 679 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,480 Speaker 1: was a Mac. It wasn't compatible with Windows based PCs 680 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:09,640 Speaker 1: just Max the original iPods were running. They were rather 681 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: compatible with MAX that were running a brand new software 682 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,799 Speaker 1: package called iTunes. Now, at that time, iTunes was just 683 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:19,840 Speaker 1: a management software, right. It was meant to help you 684 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:23,600 Speaker 1: manage your music files, but you had to get the 685 00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,760 Speaker 1: music files from somewhere else at that point. Now, because 686 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:32,000 Speaker 1: of those limitations, the iPod didn't immediately dominate the MP 687 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: three player space. What's more, other companies were starting to 688 00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:38,800 Speaker 1: introduce innovations into devices, and that was in an effort 689 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:41,440 Speaker 1: to set them apart from all the other competitors out there. 690 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,440 Speaker 1: In two thousand and two, Arcos began to market a 691 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:49,360 Speaker 1: product called the Jukebox Multimedia. A lot of jukeboxes in here, anyway. 692 00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:53,759 Speaker 1: The Jukebox Multimedia could play audio and video, as the 693 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:57,120 Speaker 1: name would suggest, and they had two different versions. They 694 00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,880 Speaker 1: had a ten gigabyte and a twenty gigabyte version. The 695 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,760 Speaker 1: basic ten gigabyte version went on sale for four hundred dollars, 696 00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:07,319 Speaker 1: so same price as the first generation I've had, but 697 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,040 Speaker 1: this one could show video and it had more storage space. 698 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 1: Creative Labs would launch an MP three player called the 699 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:19,600 Speaker 1: Moveo Muvo, which was a small, simple MP three player 700 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: that used a single triple A battery and had a 701 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,879 Speaker 1: battery life of twelve hours, which was pretty impressive, and 702 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,920 Speaker 1: that came in both sixty four megabyte and one hundred 703 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,440 Speaker 1: and twenty eight megabyte options. It was less expensive than 704 00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: a lot of the other players, and it was fairly 705 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,000 Speaker 1: popular at the time because people were starting to really 706 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:41,440 Speaker 1: get into this idea of the MP three. A year later, 707 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:44,359 Speaker 1: other gadgets started to join the list, including Sony's next 708 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,880 Speaker 1: attempt at getting into the MP three game. It was 709 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:55,880 Speaker 1: another catchy model, the nw MS seven zero D rolls 710 00:43:55,880 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: off the tongue. I could just imagine kids writing Desanta, Santa, 711 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,840 Speaker 1: please get me the nw MS seven zero D, and 712 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:07,440 Speaker 1: then they probably end up with some completely unrelated electronic 713 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,440 Speaker 1: device because the parents couldn't read the word I'm sorry, Santa, 714 00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:14,800 Speaker 1: couldn't read the words properly, and then ended up buying 715 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:18,719 Speaker 1: I don't know a hair dryer or something. By the way, 716 00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:22,040 Speaker 1: that device looks really weird. You want to look up 717 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 1: an image of this, So one more dying for those 718 00:44:24,640 --> 00:44:26,239 Speaker 1: of you who want to look up the image the 719 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: NWMS seven zero D because I don't think I can 720 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:33,200 Speaker 1: really describe it properly, So here here goes. This is 721 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:37,439 Speaker 1: just a wild attempt, but I don't really think it's 722 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: gonna help you that much. Imagine something that looks like 723 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:44,600 Speaker 1: an old fashioned electric razor, and then imagine a cylinder 724 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 1: protruding from either side of one end of that electric razor. 725 00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:51,880 Speaker 1: And then you have that MP three player from Sony. 726 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: And it was actually a pretty small player. So the 727 00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:56,840 Speaker 1: had a weird shape, but it really wasn't that big. 728 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:00,000 Speaker 1: It could hold two hundred and fifty six megabytes of music, 729 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:02,400 Speaker 1: plus it had an additional one hundred and twenty eight 730 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,320 Speaker 1: megabytes storage thanks to a memory card. This one launched 731 00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,279 Speaker 1: at three hundred dollars and I actually kind of dig 732 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,520 Speaker 1: the design of this one. It used flash based memory, 733 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:14,279 Speaker 1: and so a lot of people liked this one, specifically 734 00:45:14,320 --> 00:45:17,480 Speaker 1: if they wanted to do exercise. Because flash based memory, 735 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:20,600 Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about skipping with any physical 736 00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:23,080 Speaker 1: hard drive like a magnetic storage drive. You've actually got 737 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,880 Speaker 1: a physical disc that spins, and if you jostle it around, 738 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:30,840 Speaker 1: it can cause the device to skip. So those early 739 00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,120 Speaker 1: MP three players, a lot of them, the ones that 740 00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:36,680 Speaker 1: had those disk drive based storage systems, they weren't great 741 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,840 Speaker 1: if you wanted to go jogging or do heavy duty 742 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:42,319 Speaker 1: exercise because they could skip around. These other flash based 743 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:46,920 Speaker 1: ones didn't have that problem. Creative continued it's push into 744 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:49,120 Speaker 1: the MP three market by launching a line of MP 745 00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:52,680 Speaker 1: three players called Zen and the Zen line could play 746 00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,640 Speaker 1: not just MP three files, but also WMA files, and 747 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:58,719 Speaker 1: some could also handle wave files and later others as 748 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:02,200 Speaker 1: what types of files as well. Well. Creative built management 749 00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 1: software called Creative Media Source, which allowed users to synchronize 750 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:08,719 Speaker 1: devices to music stored on a computer. That meant that, 751 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: you know, if you added more music to your PC 752 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,799 Speaker 1: and then you hooked up your device to the PC, 753 00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:19,080 Speaker 1: it would automatically pull over new songs into your device. 754 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:21,440 Speaker 1: You didn't have to do it manually. You didn't have 755 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:23,000 Speaker 1: to go in and say, all right, don't want this one. 756 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,680 Speaker 1: You could do that, but you didn't have to. So 757 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:28,680 Speaker 1: if you added new music to your computer, it would 758 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:31,560 Speaker 1: automatically poured it over to your Zen every time you 759 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,960 Speaker 1: would plug it in. And my first MP three player 760 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:38,239 Speaker 1: was a Creative Zen Touch that actually launched in two 761 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:40,920 Speaker 1: thousand and four. At the time I chose the Creative 762 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:42,399 Speaker 1: Zen Touch, I don't think I got it in two 763 00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,239 Speaker 1: thousand and four. I think I got it later, so 764 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:47,200 Speaker 1: I got it for less. It was a later model. 765 00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:50,240 Speaker 1: It was less expensive, but I chose that one because 766 00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,440 Speaker 1: I owned a PC. I didn't own a MAC, and 767 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,120 Speaker 1: I could at that time get a version of iTunes 768 00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:58,879 Speaker 1: for the PC. But iTunes for the PC in those 769 00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,040 Speaker 1: days did not work very well. It was a kind 770 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,200 Speaker 1: of a monster on Windows. It was not a piece 771 00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:08,720 Speaker 1: of software I particularly cared for. Back in those days. 772 00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:10,600 Speaker 1: It worked much better on a MAC than it would 773 00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:14,520 Speaker 1: on a PC, and as a result, I felt discouraged 774 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,360 Speaker 1: from using iTunes and decided to go with the Creative 775 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:21,319 Speaker 1: Zen Touch and use their media source software instead. Now, 776 00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:24,560 Speaker 1: the Zen Touch was a pretty solid brick of a device, 777 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 1: but I like the interface. It had a touch sensitive 778 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: vertical bar instead of a scroll wheel, and you'd use 779 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:34,560 Speaker 1: the vertical bar to scroll through your music selection. I 780 00:47:34,600 --> 00:47:37,359 Speaker 1: held onto that thing for longer than I probably should have, 781 00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:41,319 Speaker 1: just because I maintained that it was better to have 782 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,200 Speaker 1: a dedicated device to play music than to use my 783 00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:48,400 Speaker 1: phone to play music. If you guys are longtime listeners 784 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,799 Speaker 1: of Tech Stuff, and you listened way back in the 785 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:53,600 Speaker 1: day when Chris Poullette was co host of tech Stuff, 786 00:47:54,239 --> 00:47:56,840 Speaker 1: you heard me talk about this, how I preferred having 787 00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:59,960 Speaker 1: a dedicated device for my music so I didn't have 788 00:48:00,239 --> 00:48:03,879 Speaker 1: to gum up the memory on my phone to hold 789 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:06,680 Speaker 1: all my music collection. And these days I do what 790 00:48:06,719 --> 00:48:09,000 Speaker 1: the majority of people out there are doing. I use 791 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: streaming services to access music. I have some stuff downloaded 792 00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:14,439 Speaker 1: to my phone, but mostly I'm streaming it. So now 793 00:48:14,520 --> 00:48:17,680 Speaker 1: I don't have a dedicated music player, all right. But 794 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,080 Speaker 1: jumping back to two thousand and three, Apple would continue 795 00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:25,360 Speaker 1: with its iPod line. It launched a fifteen gigabyte iPod 796 00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:27,120 Speaker 1: and then later on in two thousand and three, it 797 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:31,080 Speaker 1: launched a forty gigabyte iPod. But the biggest news was 798 00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:35,719 Speaker 1: that iTunes graduated from a music management software program to 799 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:40,279 Speaker 1: a full fledged music store interface. That meant that in 800 00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,080 Speaker 1: two thousand and three, you could purchase music through Apple 801 00:48:43,320 --> 00:48:46,440 Speaker 1: and then transfer it to your handy dandy iPod just directly. 802 00:48:48,160 --> 00:48:51,560 Speaker 1: This was brilliant, you know, having your ability to shop, 803 00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: your ability to manage your playlist, and your ability to 804 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:59,400 Speaker 1: sync it with your device all in one software package. However, 805 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:04,520 Speaker 1: Apple was also implementing a digital Rights management strategy DRM 806 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:09,760 Speaker 1: that really irritated consumers. The forty gigabyte third generation iPod 807 00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:11,680 Speaker 1: is the one that I always think about when I 808 00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,840 Speaker 1: imagine an iPod. That's the vision I have in my head. 809 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:19,960 Speaker 1: They changed the control slightly so they still had the 810 00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:23,520 Speaker 1: LED screen at the top. Beneath that, they put the 811 00:49:23,560 --> 00:49:27,720 Speaker 1: control buttons arranged in a horizontal line below the LED screen, 812 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:31,440 Speaker 1: so they were no longer around the circumference of the 813 00:49:31,480 --> 00:49:36,040 Speaker 1: scroll wheel, and below the control buttons was the scroll clickwheel. 814 00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:39,440 Speaker 1: This one launched at a four hundred dollars price point. 815 00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:42,399 Speaker 1: We're going to take another break, but we'll be back 816 00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:44,960 Speaker 1: to talk more about the history of MP three players 817 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:57,080 Speaker 1: in just a moment. By two thousand and four, color 818 00:49:57,120 --> 00:49:58,880 Speaker 1: screens started to become a feature in some of the 819 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,520 Speaker 1: high end m P three p Creative launched the Zen 820 00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:05,480 Speaker 1: Media Center. That one had a color screen and ran 821 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:08,959 Speaker 1: on the Windows Mobile operating system. It could store forty 822 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:14,279 Speaker 1: gigabytes music. It cost five hundred dollars. Meanwhile, Iriver's h 823 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:17,080 Speaker 1: three hundred series packed a color screen and a much 824 00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:20,839 Speaker 1: smaller form factor, and it also included an FM radio, 825 00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:23,319 Speaker 1: so you could buy a twenty gigabyte ie River three 826 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,839 Speaker 1: hundred for two hundred and fifty dollars. Apple followed suit 827 00:50:26,920 --> 00:50:29,160 Speaker 1: by launching an iPod with a color screen and a 828 00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:33,160 Speaker 1: sixty gigabyte storage capacity, costing three hundred and forty nine dollars. 829 00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:36,279 Speaker 1: So now you've got lots of different players trying to 830 00:50:36,840 --> 00:50:40,239 Speaker 1: get the edge by adding in these other features. But 831 00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:43,160 Speaker 1: it was that music store that really gave Apple the edge. 832 00:50:43,239 --> 00:50:45,680 Speaker 1: By pairing a store system with the management software for 833 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:48,640 Speaker 1: an iPod, Apple created a new way for consumers to 834 00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:51,640 Speaker 1: buy music, and since Apple got a cut of the sales, 835 00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:56,200 Speaker 1: it became an immensely profitable strategy for the company. It 836 00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:59,399 Speaker 1: really propelled Apple into new heights, and Apple was also 837 00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,760 Speaker 1: making a name for the quality of its products. People 838 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:06,319 Speaker 1: really liked the quality, They liked the experience, particularly if 839 00:51:06,320 --> 00:51:08,640 Speaker 1: they owned a Mac. If you were like me and 840 00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:10,840 Speaker 1: you owned a PC, you were still complaining about the 841 00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:15,239 Speaker 1: fact that iTunes was not great on Windows. People began 842 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:18,200 Speaker 1: to trust the Apple brand more and the iPod would 843 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:19,919 Speaker 1: start to make its mark in other ways as well. 844 00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:24,040 Speaker 1: Because the popular term for what I do is called podcasting. 845 00:51:24,760 --> 00:51:27,640 Speaker 1: That was a lot to the brand name iPod. Now 846 00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:31,240 Speaker 1: some folks prefer to use less branded terms like netcasts, 847 00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:34,200 Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong in that, but I would argue 848 00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:37,319 Speaker 1: podcasts remains the popular generic term for what I do, 849 00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:39,799 Speaker 1: and that's thanks to Apple for making the iPod and 850 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:45,040 Speaker 1: taking MP three player's mainstream. Now, Apple did that not 851 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,719 Speaker 1: just by concentrating on the iPod line, but also by 852 00:51:47,760 --> 00:51:51,160 Speaker 1: launching other brands that catered to specific markets. So you 853 00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:55,200 Speaker 1: had the iPod Shuffle for example. This was a simplified, 854 00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:58,880 Speaker 1: stripped down MP three player. It had no display, It 855 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:02,840 Speaker 1: automatically would shuffle playlists. I had basic controls that allowed 856 00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:05,440 Speaker 1: you to skip or replay songs and adjust the volume, 857 00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:08,200 Speaker 1: and that simplification meant that the Shuffle could be sold 858 00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:11,120 Speaker 1: for much less money than other MP three players, and 859 00:52:11,239 --> 00:52:14,600 Speaker 1: the standard one gigabyte model was priced at one hundred 860 00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:17,720 Speaker 1: and fifty dollars In two thousand and five. Other companies 861 00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:19,960 Speaker 1: were still trying to get into the game. Dell launched 862 00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:23,080 Speaker 1: the DJ Diddy in two thousand and five, which had 863 00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:25,720 Speaker 1: a small display, had an FM radio in five hundred 864 00:52:25,719 --> 00:52:28,200 Speaker 1: and twelve megabytes of storage space, so it was lagging 865 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:30,880 Speaker 1: behind a lot of the other players, and by then 866 00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:34,000 Speaker 1: iPod was beginning to define the market and newcomers were 867 00:52:34,040 --> 00:52:36,359 Speaker 1: having a harder time gaining any traction. So by two 868 00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:39,200 Speaker 1: thousand and six, Dell would abandon the Diddy Diddy Dum 869 00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:43,440 Speaker 1: Diddy Doo. In two thousand and six, Microsoft tried to 870 00:52:43,560 --> 00:52:47,160 Speaker 1: challenge Apple for that heavyweight championship in MP three players 871 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:51,160 Speaker 1: and they launched the Zoon. Do you guys remember the Zoon? 872 00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:55,319 Speaker 1: Do you guys remember what they called sharing on the Zoon? 873 00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:58,120 Speaker 1: Like if you had a song and someone else had 874 00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,920 Speaker 1: a Zoon and you could share one Zoom song to 875 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,520 Speaker 1: another Zoom. Do you remember Dylan Dylan shaking his head. 876 00:53:05,520 --> 00:53:08,960 Speaker 1: It was called squirting. If you wanted to squirt your song, 877 00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:13,640 Speaker 1: Dylan is a Let's say that there's some disbelief in 878 00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:16,120 Speaker 1: Dylan's reaction, but no, that is in fact what they 879 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:18,800 Speaker 1: called it. It was a method of being able to 880 00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:21,080 Speaker 1: say that I bought a song, I could share it 881 00:53:21,120 --> 00:53:24,560 Speaker 1: temporarily with you, Dylan, if you had your Zoom, just 882 00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:27,200 Speaker 1: by squirting it right over to you. I just squirt 883 00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:30,239 Speaker 1: that song and then you'd be able to enjoy the 884 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,239 Speaker 1: squirted song on your Zoom. Dylan's giv me a thumbs up, 885 00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:38,280 Speaker 1: and he's, well, there's at least one finger pointing toward me. Yeah. 886 00:53:38,320 --> 00:53:42,080 Speaker 1: So a lot of people made fun of that, and 887 00:53:42,880 --> 00:53:46,279 Speaker 1: obviously I'm still doing it today, despite the fact that 888 00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:50,799 Speaker 1: the Zoon is no longer a thing. Spoiler alert, But 889 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:55,440 Speaker 1: you know, the Zoon was an impressive attempt to challenge 890 00:53:55,640 --> 00:53:59,000 Speaker 1: the iPod in many ways. It just it came a 891 00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,920 Speaker 1: little too late for it to really have a chance. 892 00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:06,680 Speaker 1: It had a color LCD display, and that display was gorgeous. 893 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:09,799 Speaker 1: I would argue that the original Zoon when it came out, 894 00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:14,240 Speaker 1: its display was better than what Apple's iPod line had 895 00:54:14,440 --> 00:54:17,640 Speaker 1: at that time. It also had an FM radio and 896 00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:20,279 Speaker 1: thirty gigabytes of storage with the first model, and like 897 00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:24,880 Speaker 1: I said, subsequent models would have these other features. Microsoft 898 00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:28,319 Speaker 1: would pair this with a subscription based service through the 899 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:30,560 Speaker 1: Zoon stores. The Zoom store was kind of like the 900 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:32,879 Speaker 1: iTunes store, but they had a different strategy. They said, 901 00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:36,080 Speaker 1: here's what we want you to do. You'll pay a 902 00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:39,760 Speaker 1: subscription fee of fifteen dollars a month, and for fifteen 903 00:54:39,760 --> 00:54:43,359 Speaker 1: dollars a month you get all the music you can download. Now, 904 00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:47,800 Speaker 1: that actually sounds fairly reasonable. Today, a lot of streaming 905 00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:53,399 Speaker 1: music services depend upon a subscription base. Right, you might 906 00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:56,000 Speaker 1: not pay the subscription base, but then you're getting lots 907 00:54:56,000 --> 00:54:59,759 Speaker 1: of ads instead of just an ad free experience. But 908 00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:04,359 Speaker 1: then if you opt in to a subscription service, then 909 00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:07,319 Speaker 1: you don't have ads. Well, imagine this. Imagine that you 910 00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,480 Speaker 1: pay fifteen dollars a month, but you can download as 911 00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:14,959 Speaker 1: much music as you like, putting aside things like data 912 00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,600 Speaker 1: caps which obviously and broadband speeds, which obviously makes an 913 00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:22,560 Speaker 1: impact on how much you can take advantage of this. 914 00:55:22,560 --> 00:55:24,120 Speaker 1: This is the sort of thing I would jump on 915 00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:28,440 Speaker 1: in a second today because you wouldn't just have access 916 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:30,880 Speaker 1: to music, you would actually get to download those tracks, 917 00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:34,359 Speaker 1: which means if the service ever were to go belly up, 918 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:37,239 Speaker 1: you could still listen to your favorite tunes. Right Like, 919 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:41,440 Speaker 1: if the service goes away and the service was how 920 00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:43,279 Speaker 1: you were listening to music, you have to find a 921 00:55:43,280 --> 00:55:45,960 Speaker 1: different service that may or may not have access to 922 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:49,560 Speaker 1: the same labels that you were used to. This would 923 00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:51,680 Speaker 1: be a way for you to actually hold on to 924 00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:53,879 Speaker 1: those music files and be able to listen to them 925 00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:58,280 Speaker 1: even if the infrastructure went away. But the whole idea 926 00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:00,840 Speaker 1: came a little bit too early, I think, and Microsoft's 927 00:56:00,840 --> 00:56:03,440 Speaker 1: attempts to market the Zoom never really captured a large 928 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:08,000 Speaker 1: section of the market. In two thousand and seven, Apple 929 00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:11,520 Speaker 1: introduced two products that changed the game again. First was 930 00:56:11,560 --> 00:56:15,120 Speaker 1: the iPod Touch, which moved nearly all the controls for 931 00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:18,520 Speaker 1: the device onto a touchscreen interface, which meant that most 932 00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:20,960 Speaker 1: of the face of the gadget was a screen and 933 00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:24,560 Speaker 1: it allowed for really impressive video playback capabilities. The base 934 00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:28,960 Speaker 1: model was sixteen gigabytes and it cost about four hundred dollars. 935 00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:33,160 Speaker 1: But they also introduced another product that really disrupted things, 936 00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:36,560 Speaker 1: and that was the first iPhone that came out in 937 00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:41,359 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, and Steve Jobs when he introduced it, 938 00:56:41,840 --> 00:56:44,920 Speaker 1: talked about the fact that it was a computer, a phone, 939 00:56:44,960 --> 00:56:48,680 Speaker 1: and an MP three player all in one, had the 940 00:56:48,719 --> 00:56:51,000 Speaker 1: capability of acting as an MP three player, and it 941 00:56:51,080 --> 00:56:54,640 Speaker 1: really spelled doom for a lot of standalone MP three devices. 942 00:56:54,560 --> 00:56:57,640 Speaker 1: The smartphones became more popular and started to have larger 943 00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:01,799 Speaker 1: amounts of storage, and the price wasn't ridiculously expensive or 944 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:07,560 Speaker 1: was sometimes supplemented depending upon what service provider you were using. 945 00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:11,440 Speaker 1: In where you've lived, people started seeing fewer reasons to 946 00:57:11,480 --> 00:57:14,359 Speaker 1: purchase a dedicated MP three player, and the company that 947 00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:19,640 Speaker 1: had dominated the market stood poised to kill that market. 948 00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:24,240 Speaker 1: But that market didn't totally die. There are still plenty 949 00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:26,800 Speaker 1: of dedicated MP three players out there, and there are 950 00:57:26,840 --> 00:57:29,120 Speaker 1: a lot of reasons to buy one. You might want 951 00:57:29,160 --> 00:57:32,240 Speaker 1: to pair an MP three player with your car, for example, 952 00:57:32,560 --> 00:57:35,200 Speaker 1: and just have it be like an enormous mixtape for 953 00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:37,840 Speaker 1: road trips, and that way you don't have to wear 954 00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:41,320 Speaker 1: down your phone's battery. Or you might want a simple 955 00:57:41,520 --> 00:57:44,240 Speaker 1: MP three player that you can wear while you're exercising, 956 00:57:44,400 --> 00:57:47,120 Speaker 1: which removes the need to carry a bulky and expensive 957 00:57:47,160 --> 00:57:50,080 Speaker 1: smartphone as you jog or hit the gym. But a 958 00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:52,440 Speaker 1: lot of people are moving away from those dedicated devices 959 00:57:52,440 --> 00:57:55,520 Speaker 1: and relying more heavily on their multipurpose smartphones, so they 960 00:57:55,520 --> 00:57:57,720 Speaker 1: act as a phone, a computer, an MB three player, 961 00:57:57,800 --> 00:58:03,600 Speaker 1: among other things. Now, the MP three player's history has 962 00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:06,840 Speaker 1: a few more stories. I didn't mean to just end 963 00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:10,200 Speaker 1: with the iPod Touch. That same year, Samsung launched the 964 00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:15,400 Speaker 1: yp h P two MP three player, Yet another fantastic name, 965 00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:17,760 Speaker 1: but this was a really pretty device. It had a 966 00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:20,120 Speaker 1: touch screen interface, came out the same year as the 967 00:58:20,160 --> 00:58:22,280 Speaker 1: iPod Touch. A lot of people at the time thought 968 00:58:22,280 --> 00:58:25,840 Speaker 1: it was a superior device to the iPod Touch. Not everybody, 969 00:58:25,960 --> 00:58:28,560 Speaker 1: but a lot of people did. It had Bluetooth capabilities, 970 00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:30,360 Speaker 1: which meant that you could pair it with a phone 971 00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:32,720 Speaker 1: and you could even use it to answer calls that 972 00:58:32,880 --> 00:58:37,400 Speaker 1: were coming in from the paired phone. We also saw 973 00:58:37,440 --> 00:58:39,800 Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven a smaller Zoon and a 974 00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:43,480 Speaker 1: third generation iPod Nano. Didn't really talk about the introduction 975 00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:45,840 Speaker 1: of the Nano, but the Nano was yet another very 976 00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:52,160 Speaker 1: small iPod or MP three player meant for easy on 977 00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:55,880 Speaker 1: the go use, and the iPod Nano that came out 978 00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:58,920 Speaker 1: in the third generation also had a color video screen, 979 00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:02,640 Speaker 1: so you could watch really tiny video on your Nano 980 00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:05,000 Speaker 1: if you wanted to. For some reason. In two thousand 981 00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:09,200 Speaker 1: and eight, we saw the sand Disk sansa fuse debut, 982 00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:12,640 Speaker 1: also the Sony E series Walkman. These were both devices 983 00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:15,120 Speaker 1: that went a totally different route. They were aiming at 984 00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:18,320 Speaker 1: the budget market for folks who were unwilling or unable 985 00:59:18,360 --> 00:59:20,680 Speaker 1: to shell out the big bucks for something like an 986 00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:23,640 Speaker 1: iPod Touch or even an iPod Classic, which was still 987 00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:28,080 Speaker 1: around at that point. These cost about seventy five dollars, 988 00:59:28,640 --> 00:59:32,240 Speaker 1: much less expensive than these counterparts. On the other end 989 00:59:32,280 --> 00:59:34,480 Speaker 1: of the spectrum were the iPod and Zoom models that 990 00:59:34,520 --> 00:59:37,600 Speaker 1: included Wi Fi connectivity, which turned them into something approaching 991 00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:42,720 Speaker 1: a smartphone, but without the cellular connectivity. This is kind 992 00:59:42,760 --> 00:59:45,800 Speaker 1: of how it went for the following years until I 993 00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:48,840 Speaker 1: think something else I should mention in the history of 994 00:59:49,120 --> 00:59:52,880 Speaker 1: MP three players, and that's the year twenty fourteen. That 995 00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:57,080 Speaker 1: was the year that Apple quietly killed off the iPod Classic. 996 00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:01,160 Speaker 1: The iPod Classic lasted thirteen years two thousand and one 997 01:00:01,200 --> 01:00:05,120 Speaker 1: to twenty fourteen, but in twenty fourteen you could not 998 01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:08,280 Speaker 1: any longer buy the standalone MP three player with that 999 01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,600 Speaker 1: classic form from Apple. And as I said, there's still 1000 01:00:11,640 --> 01:00:14,000 Speaker 1: MP three players out there. If you go to any 1001 01:00:14,080 --> 01:00:16,840 Speaker 1: store or you go on Amazon or anything like that 1002 01:00:16,880 --> 01:00:18,600 Speaker 1: and you do a search for it, you'll find tons 1003 01:00:18,640 --> 01:00:22,080 Speaker 1: of them, but they are a much smaller niche market, 1004 01:00:22,160 --> 01:00:27,080 Speaker 1: and they're generally aimed at things like the exercise crowd 1005 01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:32,240 Speaker 1: or stuff along those lines, as opposed to people who 1006 01:00:32,360 --> 01:00:34,840 Speaker 1: are more used to using their devices just to stream 1007 01:00:34,960 --> 01:00:40,200 Speaker 1: music online. All right, that wraps up this classic episode 1008 01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:43,680 Speaker 1: of the history of MP three players. If you missed it, 1009 01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:46,720 Speaker 1: you should look back in the tech stuff archives for 1010 01:00:46,800 --> 01:00:49,560 Speaker 1: this year, because earlier this year I did an episode 1011 01:00:50,000 --> 01:00:55,680 Speaker 1: dedicated to Microsoft Zoom and how that particular MP three 1012 01:00:55,720 --> 01:01:00,160 Speaker 1: player ended up being a big miss for Microsoft, of 1013 01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:04,600 Speaker 1: one of a few notable misses as Microsoft was trying 1014 01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:10,040 Speaker 1: to compete directly with Apple. It's a fascinating story all 1015 01:01:10,160 --> 01:01:12,560 Speaker 1: on its own, right, So you can check that one 1016 01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:14,880 Speaker 1: out if you look through the tech stuff archives from 1017 01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:18,680 Speaker 1: this year. In the meantime, I hope you are all 1018 01:01:18,800 --> 01:01:22,200 Speaker 1: well and I will talk to you again really soon. 1019 01:01:28,240 --> 01:01:32,920 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 1020 01:01:33,240 --> 01:01:36,960 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 1021 01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:41,480 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.