When MP3s first appeared in the music marketplace, the majority of people had little use for them. Back then the players werent popular as they had only a small data storage capacity and short battery lives. Despite this general unpopularity, some insightful computer users glimpsed the potential of these devices, noticing that though the files were far smaller than uncompressed .wav files, there was no difference in the all-important sound quality.
Soon people in the know began converting their CD collections into MP3s. This allowed users gain fast access to a personal music library that could be stored on a personal computer, and helped them to create unique play lists incorporating their favorite tracks from a variety of albums. Talk about giving music a new lease of life!
But it was only a matter of time before someone made the connection, literally, to a friends computer, and realised that these MP3 files could be shared. Pretty soon increasing numbers of people were doing the same thing, and a host of file sharing networks sprang up, with students availing of their universities high-speed Internet connections to share their files quickly. After a short time...