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North Wales Chronicle
a day ago
- Health
- North Wales Chronicle
Healthy dad who smelt sugar ended up with brain cancer
After multiple examinations, the dad-of-four received the devastating news he had stage 4 IDH-wildtype glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer. Since receiving his diagnosis, the 57-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, has received radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the only treatment options offered through the NHS for his type of cancer. The NHS identifies surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted medications as conventional treatments for glioblastoma. In 2005, you were on MySpace. Scrolling through your iPod. Watching the first videos on YouTube. 👾 That was also the last time glioblastoma treatment saw a major breakthrough. Soon, that changes. We're ushering in a new era of genomic testing designed just for glioblastoma —… Currently, his relatives are trying to raise £350,000 for a potentially life-extending treatment in Germany, with total costs expected to reach approximately £464,000. Antonio, Costa's 27-year-old son who works as a quantity surveyor in Stoke-on-Trent, said: "All of our lives have just been flipped upside down. His sense of smell changed and he kept getting this strange, sweet caramel smell. We didn't think much of it. We definitely didn't know it was a symptom of something so serious." The alteration in Costa's sense of smell remained the only sign anything was wrong. Antonio continued: "It's really bizarre because symptoms-wise, he didn't have much at all. On the odd occasion, he would have a caramel smell, a sweet smell. But it would happen very quickly and once a month or so." "From what we now know they define them as mini seizures; they last seconds; nothing happens to you while you do it." Costa initially suspected he might be dealing with epilepsy, something he had experienced earlier in life. Antonio said that, as a family, they didn't really look into it but advised his dad to get a scan, thinking it was likely linked to his past epilepsy. However, in April, the family faced a horrible truth - Costa was found to have stage 4 brain cancer. Antonio said: "We were shellshocked. We didn't really know how to take it. "We were worried, scared, nervous, but then still trying to get to grips with the situation and what was going on because he had no symptoms. It just kind of proves that you can be a fit and healthy man, yet still have something wrong with you." Antonio continued: "My dad is a fighter. He's always fought all of his life. His nickname has been Rambo all of his life, because he's just known to get through any battle he's had to face. "He was shocked. He was taken aback. He was stunned. He didn't know how to react and I still don't think he knows how to react. The only things the NHS offer, which is the massive problem and why we're doing the fundraising, is a course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In the last 20 years the treatments haven't changed for glioblastomas in the UK. "So it's quite a scary thing to be diagnosed with, knowing that there's not much the NHS can do. Put it this way, they're telling us in the consultancy meetings not to cut back on anything and just enjoy your life, in the most harrowing way possible." The family refuses to give up hope. Inspired by success stories, they are exploring alternative therapies abroad, such as DC vaccine therapy in Munich, oncothermia as part of a clinical trial in London, a three-phase immunotherapy programme at the IZOK Clinic in Cologne, and peptide vaccine treatment from a specialist lab in Tübingen. The family needs to raise around £464,000 for these treatments, and have already managed to fundraise more than £260,000. If you want the link to his GoFundMe, follow this link. Costa has recently completed his radiotherapy and chemotherapy courses and has demonstrated an encouraging response, although it remains too early to assess the complete impact of these treatments. Antonio said: "It's harrowing what's going on with treatments for GMBs and the progress they've made over the last 20 years, not just for my dad but for every other patient who is suffering with the same thing. "It's almost like you get this and 'bye-bye', because the diagnosis is a grade four brain tumour glioblastoma, that is unmethylated and it's IDH wild type. Those two things mean it's the worst type of brain cancer you can get. But in reality there is so much that can be offered." Recommended reading: The overwhelming wave of solidarity from their community has profoundly touched the family. Antonio continued: "My dad is a hard-working, typical father figure. Raised three kids, he's got his grandkids. He's loving, he's generous, he'll do anything for anybody. "He's very giving, which is why I think he's reaped the rewards now in terms of people giving back and the GoFundMe. He loves rugby, he used to coach the local football and rugby team when I was growing up. "He's so down to earth, always looking to help people - good morals, good values - but he's a hard worker and he'll fight this just like any battle he has faced before. And he's faced some battles. So this is just going to be another one, it's the toughest test yet."
Stuff.tv
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Stuff.tv
25 of the most iconic computers ever
Home computers have come a long way since the '70s, progressing from simple-text-based CRT monitors to full-colour 3D graphics, hi-res LCD screens, and hundreds of times more processing power in a simple desktop box than there once was in an entire room of hardware. Desktops were once all you could get, but notebooks came along and became the machine of choice for travellers. Even the best mid-range laptops have more power than most people will ever need. But are any of today's models as distinctive as the following machines? Probably not. And so here's our pick of the most iconic computers ever made. Apple iMac G3 (1998) Along with the iPod, the original iMac is probably the product that best encapsulates Apple's late '90s/early '00s resurgence. Jonathan Ive's curvaceous and colourful all-in-one design was cuddly, colourful and cool – making something based around a 15-inch CRT desirable is no mean feat. The bold styling was backed up by equally ballsy feature choices: the G3 tossed out a 3.5-inch disk drive in favour of just a CD tray, came with a 'hockey puck' circular mouse and was the first home computer to offer a USB port. Revolutionary? Not 'arf. Apart from that hockey-puck mouse, which was rubbish. x-default BBC Micro (1981) Guaranteed to trigger a flood of memories for anyone who went to a British school in the '80s or early '90s, the Acorn-designed 'Beeb' swiftly became the go-to computer for educational establishments, who prized its durability, power and versatility. Despite being largely ignored outside the UK, it's undoubtedly one of the most iconic computers ever and found some success as a home computer, games machine (classic titles like Elite debuted on the BBC Micro) and even as a tool for synth-pop bands like Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode. Alienware Area-51 (1997) Cast your minds back to a time before hi-def games consoles. The PC was the uncontested ruler of the world of hardcore gaming, and Alienware's desktops were widely considered the most scarily powerful gaming PCs available. These plastic behemoths were as beefily-specced as they were wallet-emptying expensive, and their UFO-inspired looks (glowing alien eyes!) moistened the underwear of adolescent FPS addicts worldwide. Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1982) This compact, rubber-keyed 8-bit classic became a common fixture in British bedrooms and studies during the 1980s, chiefly as a games machine. What Spectrum owner could forget the banshee-like screeching that accompanied a game loading via data cassette? Or that it lasted about ten minutes? The Spectrum was perhaps less powerful than its great rival, the Commodore 64, having a palette of only seven colours (plus black) and a single channel of sound – but it became hugely popular, particularly in the UK, and led to a knighthood for its creator Clive Sinclair. He then invented the C5, for which he should have been de-knighted. Dell Adamo XPS (2009) Think the MacBook Air is thin? The Adamo makes it look like a chubber, being a wafer-esque 9.99m in depth. It's the thinnest laptop ever made, no less – and a real looker too, proving that grey-plastic-loving Dell can create something truly gorgeous. And the way its screen automatically flips up when you touch the heat-sensing strip on the top with your fingertip is achingly cool. Commodore Amiga 500 (1987) Commodore scored a huge hit with its range of 16-bit computers, and the Amiga 500 became the most popular home computer in Western Europe. Although capable of performing a range of tasks, the Amiga was most commonly used as a games machine: who can forget classics like Lemmings, Speedball 2, Cannon Fodder and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis? Samsung Q1 (2006) Samsung's Q1 sparked a short-lived craze for UMPCs (ultra mobile PCs), computers tiny enough to be tucked into a manbag for a weekend away. The original Q1 had a 7-inch touchscreen, a 40GB hard drive and three hours of battery life, but its largish frame made it awkward to hold. While it was never a huge success, it demonstrated that big guns like Samsung were serious about ultra-mobile computing, and is a direct ancestor of today's Galaxy Tab. Apple Macintosh 128K (1984) The first Apple Mac was an all-in-one computer based around a 9-inch black-and-white CRT monitor. Despite its beige colour, it was a design hit. It also came with Mac OS 1.0, one of the first-ever graphics-based user interfaces, and served up impressive performance for the price – costing about $2,500, you could use it for graphics applications for which you'd have previously needed a $10,000 PC. Microsoft Surface (2008) Apple may have made multitouch mainstream but Microsoft's original Surface brought it into the commercial world: a 30-inch multitouch HD display that looked like a table, it let its user (or users) manipulate on-screen objects through a variety of gestures. Renamed as the PixelSense in 2012, it could respond to up to 52 touches simultaneously, and its large size made it ideal for use in shops, restaurants and museums. Samsung would later make a 40-inch version, which was discontinued in 2014. And as exciting as a giant $10,000 horizontal tablet may have been, Microsoft decided its efforts, and the Surface name, were better employed elsewhere. IBM ThinkPad (1992) Want to know how reliable the ThinkPad is? Well, in 1993 NASA took IBM's laptop aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour for the first time to see how it performed in space – and it remains one of the few laptops certified for the International Space Station. 'Well built' doesn't even come close. Apple Mac Mini (2005) Apple approached its first micro-sized desktop in typical fashion: by making it sexier and smaller than its Windows-based rivals. The original Mini was a mere 165 x 165 x 51mm in size and its stylishness has made it popular as a home theatre PC – it's one of the few personal computers that looks good underneath your telly. Compaq Portable III (1987) Despite boasting the looks of an upended fax machine, the Portable III was rightly regarded as a high-concept product upon its launch. Why? Well, you could lug it about with relative ease, and there was a flip-up gas plasma screen built in – although its bulk and the lack of a battery meant it wasn't as portable as a laptop. Commodore PET (1977) The Personal Electronic Transactor: goofy name, Buck Rogers looks, and essentially the first all-in-one home computer in the world. Despite an almost comically undersized calculator-style keyboard, the PET was successful enough to convince Commodore to keep producing variants into the '80s – and it formed the basis for the crazily popular Commodore 64. Apple iBook G3 (1999) Apple streamlined its computer line-up in the late '90s, and the 12-inch iBook G3 took the role of its low-end laptop – little did Apple know, but it was designing one of the most iconic computers ever. Taking many of its design cues from the iMac G3, the iBook also rocked a brightly coloured transparent plastic body, USB port and optical drive. It was the first laptop to offer built-in Wi-Fi as standard, and its photogenic looks made it a popular fixture in TV shows and movies. IBM 5150 (1981) Also known as the IBM Personal Computer, the 5150 defined the term 'PC'. While there were 'personal computers' available before its 1981 launch, the 5150's massive success meant that 'PC' came to specifically mean an IBM-compatible computer. HP TouchSmart Crossfire (2007) The HP TouchSmart IQ770 wasn't much of a success on the sales or critical fronts, but gets in here by virtue of its headlining feature: it was the first mass-market desktop with a touchscreen. The Crossfire's 19-inch screen was finger-friendly, adding a new dimension of control – but perhaps it was a little ahead of its time, and its reliance on mobile components made it a (groan) touch underpowered Shuttle SV24 (2001) At the time of its launch, the SV24 was the smallest desktop PC available, and sparked a movement towards small-form-factor PCs. Despite its dinky dimensions, the SV24 was packed with proper desktop components, making it a hit even with gamers and others seeking power aplenty. Shuttle's XPC small-form-factor line – still running today – followed soon after. Apple iMac (2007) The 2007 revamp of the iMac range saw Apple take a radical step: it housed its consumer desktop in a slim enclosure of pure aluminium and glass (and a bit of plastic), with just one screw visible on the whole shebang (and that neatly hidden away on the underside of the screen). Add in the wafer-thin aluminium keyboard and you had a jaw-droppingly stunning design that cemented the Cupertino company as the go-to brand for the style-conscious. Today's model isn't that far removed from it. Acorn Archimedes (1987) Like the BBC Micro (also built by Acorn), the Archimedes series became a key fixture in school computer labs all over Britain. Boasting 256 colours and 8-channel sound, the Archimedes took over where the BBC left off – and millions of young Brits (including us here at Stuff) got their first taste of the delights of 'desktop publishing', BASIC programming or word processing on one of these beige titans. Atari ST (1985) A rival to the likes of the Commodore Amiga and Apple Macintosh, the ST's games-running proficiency meant it was often found in teenage boys' bedrooms – but it was also a dab hand at business and CAD functionality. Its MIDI ports proved a hit with musicians too, with the likes of Fatboy Slim and 808 State employing STs to control instruments in their live shows. Epson HX-20 (1983) The first laptop computer EVER? Pretty much: the HX-20 had a footprint roughly the size of a sheet of A4, along with a keyboard, 50-hour (!) rechargeable battery and 120×32-resolution screen. Yep, that's right: 120 x 32 pixels, allowing for four lines of 20 characters each. It weighed in at 1.6kg, making it genuinely portable, although a floppy disk drive came separately. Commodore 64 (1982) One of the most successful home computers ever, the C64 sold a total of 17 million units in its 12-year lifespan. Its affordable pricetag – a result of Commodore's clever mass-production techniques – and the fact that it could be hooked up to a regular TV made it many families' first computer. Loads were used for nothing more than gaming, and there were around 10,000 different games available by the end of its production run. It also inspired legendary magazine Zzap! 64. Asus Eee PC (2007) There are dozens of different netbooks available today, but the Linux-based Eee PC was the first. Small, lightweight and very cheap, it was designed for anybody who didn't need huge amounts of power or storage (or a decent screen resolution): just a portable device they could use for email, web browsing and other basic tasks. The formula was a winner, and Asus shifted 300,000 Eee PCs in 2007 alone. Amstrad CPC (1984) The Commodore 64 and Sinclair Spectrum had their feet under the table and a row of drinks lined up by the time the Amstrad CPC series pushed open the saloon doors. The basic CPC464 model had a tape deck built in and came with the choice of a colour or (far cheaper) monochrome monitor, while the CPC664 and CPC6128 came with 3-inch disk drives instead of the tape deck. Apple iPad (2010) Is it really a computer? Well, it runs apps and lets you surf the web, so we'll allow it – and as for its iconic status, just look at all the tablet pretenders that have already been announced in the wake of its recent launch. With a fantastically vibrant screen and a gloriously responsive multitouch interface, the iPad is still an absolute joy to use today, whether you plump for a cellular model or the Wi-Fi-only tablet.
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Scotsman
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Five ways we downloaded music during Y2K, and what happened to those services
The wild west of MP3 downloading - what we used to corral new releases before Spotify took over Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Before Spotify become a household name, P2P clients were how many gained access to new music. Though some of the clients were controversial due to what they offered, many offered users experiences that are still present to this day. Here's five programmes many used to use to - ahem - download music to their MP3 and Minidisc players. It seems timely that I am writing this article on the day that news emerged that several unreleased tracks by Beyoncé were stolen from a car during her Cowboy Carter tour. While torrenting would be the option these days if anyone were to release them, back when the Y2K bug was considered a global issue, there were several different options instead. Many of those options were still illegal, but in some cases with the added caveat that a virus might hop along for the ride with the MP3 or zip file you'd added to your download queue. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Long before Spotify became a household name, and around the time Apple launched their revolutionary first iPod and their own music download service, many of us took to the World Wide Web armed with one of five programmes to access music that today is as easy as just swiping on a screen. The same could also be said about dating, but that's another story for another series of apps. It would be another wave of capitalist panic when Peer-to-Peer file sharing started coming into vogue around the turn of the millennium. While many felt that music should be free and that the likes of Napster were actually helping those get heard without the need for expensive radio campaigns, others equated it to a woodworker having a chair stolen from them. Who else remembers the classic 'you wouldn't steal a car' adverts played before every cinema outing back in the day? But for a generation of music listeners, where TikTok seems to be the conundrum facing musicians and copyright law, they might have missed all of this; the trials and tribulations of risking your computer security just to listen to that new Metallica or Spice Girls track. So, what did some of us of a certain age (and, apparently, low moral fibre) use to gain access to the latest musical releases, and where did those programmes go when streaming services became the norm? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fives ways we used to download music before Spotify existed Long before Spotify gave you the world of music at your fingertips, music fans used some 'less-than-legitimate' ways to download music back at the turn of the millennium. | Canva/Getty Images Napster We start with where most of us all began - launched in 1999 by Shawn Fanning, Napster was the original revolutionary. It was a centralized P2P file-sharing service primarily focused on MP3 music files. Its genius was in its simplicity: users could search a central server for songs, and the software would then connect them directly to other users' computers to download the files. At its peak in early 2001, Napster had nearly 80 million registered users. Napster became the poster child for copyright infringement . Its most famous legal battle was with Metallica, who, along with Dr. Dre, sued the company in April 2000 after discovering their unreleased song 'I Disappear' circulating on the platform - cue crude animations of Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield bellowing out 'Napster, bad!' However, the lawsuit that truly brought Napster down was the massive $20 billion infringement case filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing major record labels like A&M Records. The courts consistently ruled against Napster, rejecting its claims of "fair use" and holding it liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Faced with crippling injunctions and legal pressure, Napster was ordered to block copyrighted material and ultimately shut down its original free service in July 2001. The company filed for bankruptcy. In 2002, its brand and logo were acquired by Roxio , which rebranded its own streaming service as Napster 2.0, attempting to go legit with a paid subscription model. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Over the years, Napster's name changed hands multiple times (including Best Buy and Rhapsody). Today, the Napster brand still exists as a legitimate, paid music streaming service, albeit a much smaller player in a market dominated by Spotify and Apple Music. LimeWire While a more popular option after the heat Napster received, LimeWire was one of two P2P clients notorious for containing malware, adware and the ease of downloading viruses. | Limewire/Submitted One of two sure fire ways to infect your computer with a virus just for a chance at listening to a track before its release… Launched in 2000 by Mark Gorton, LimeWire quickly became one of the most popular decentralized P2P file-sharing clients after Napster's demise. Unlike Napster, LimeWire operated on the Gnutella network , meaning there was no central server controlling searches or file transfers. This decentralized nature made it harder to shut down. It was known for its user-friendly interface and became a go-to for music, movies, software, and more. LimeWire faced years of legal battles with the RIAA. In 2010, after a lengthy lawsuit initiated by Arista Records and other labels, a U.S. federal court judge issued an injunction ordering Lime Wire LLC to disable all file-sharing functionality of its software. The RIAA initially sought astronomical damages (reportedly up to $72 trillion) but eventually settled for $105 million. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Following the injunction, Lime Wire LLC stopped distributing its software, and later versions were disabled. While older versions (pre-5.5.11) remained functional for a time, the company itself ceased its operations related to file-sharing. In a surprising twist, the LimeWire brand was acquired by new management in 2021 (with no affiliation to the original company) and has been repurposed as an NFT marketplace and Web3 platform focusing on music and content. AudioGalaxy AudioGalaxy had a unique feature where music lovers would be recommended artists similar to what they have opted to listen to - similar to Spotify's related artists algorithm. | Reddit Created in 1998, AudioGalaxy was initially an MP3 indexing site that evolved into a robust P2P system with client software (the AudioGalaxy Satellite) and a web-based search engine. It gained popularity, especially after Napster's legal woes, known for its strong community features like chat-enabled groups and directly linking to other artists you might also like - almost a proto Spotify daily playlist before it existed. AudioGalaxy also faced a lawsuit from the RIAA in May 2002 due to the widespread sharing of copyrighted material. Despite its attempts to implement filtering mechanisms (which users often circumvented), the pressure was immense. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In June 2002, AudioGalaxy reached an out-of-court settlement with the RIAA. As part of the agreement, it was required to implement a "filter-in" system, meaning only music with explicit consent from rights holders could be shared. This effectively ended its P2P file-sharing operations. It then licensed and rebranded itself as a promotional website for the Rhapsody music subscription service for many years. Kazaa Kazaa was the talk of schoolyards around the world back in the early '00s - part due to the ease of finding music and videos, part due to how much damage it caused to numerous PCs that lacked anti-virus software. | Reddit The second sure-fire way to end up infecting your computer with viruses - launched in 2001 by Dutch company Consumer Empowerment (later sold to Sharman Networks), Kazaa became one of the dominant P2P networks after the fall of Napster. It used the FastTrack protocol (which was also the basis for Skype) and allowed users to share not just music, but also videos, software, and documents. It was notorious for bundling adware and spyware, leading to many users opting for Kazaa Lite . Kazaa faced intense legal pressure globally. In 2001, a Dutch court ordered its owners to prevent copyright violations. In the US, the RIAA and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) filed suit, leading to the landmark MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Supreme Court case (though Grokster was the named defendant, Kazaa's FastTrack protocol was central to the broader issue). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In Australia, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) also sued, culminating in a 2005 ruling that Sharman Networks had "authorized" illegal file sharing by its users. The RIAA also pursued thousands of individual users for infringement, including the high-profile case against Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Kazaa's legal issues ended with a $100 million settlement paid to the four major music companies. Sharman Networks agreed to convert Kazaa into a legal music download service, but this venture ultimately failed. The original Kazaa file-sharing application effectively shut down around 2006. Like Napster, the brand was later licensed and briefly relaunched as a legitimate music subscription service, but it too failed to gain significant traction and is now defunct as a music service. Soulseek Soulseek was considered a more 'niche' community which mainly focused on rarer releases and bootlegs compared to other clients who focused on the more mainstream and popular. | Wikimedia Commons The music connoisseur's method of downloading; created by Nir Arbel around 2000, Soulseek was distinct from the outset. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While it was a P2P file-sharing network, it was less about mainstream hits and more about fostering a community of music enthusiasts, particularly for underground, independent, and niche electronic music, rare tracks, and live sets. It emphasized sharing and community, with users often having specific rules for who could download from them. Unlike the other major players, Soulseek has largely avoided direct, high-profile lawsuits that led to its shutdown. Its more decentralized structure, combined with its focus on less commercial, underground music, made it a less attractive target for major record labels compared to the mass-market platforms. There have been instances of servers being targeted or legal pressure, but no singular, defining case that brought the entire network down. Soulseek still exists and is actively used today, maintaining its niche status. It has evolved, with an emphasis on its community and the sharing of diverse and often obscure music. While it's certainly not mainstream, it remains a beloved tool for audiophiles and those seeking music beyond the commercial charts. Did you ever use any of the software or websites mentioned in this article? Share the ways you used to access music in the new millennium by leaving your memories below.
Buzz Feed
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
40 Extremely Embarrassing Things People Absolutely LOVED 20 Years Ago That I'm Convinced Literally No One Remembers
Around 15 to 20 years ago people loved to... Convince others the iPhone was worth the money by showing them that one app where it looks like you're drinking a beer: And also bust out that one lighter app like it was the most incredible thing ever: Just post the most boring stuff on Facebook: Or the most weirdly intense: Think Chuck Norris jokes were the be-all and end-all of comedy: Watch full-length movies that cost tens of millions of dollars to make on an iPod with a 2-inch screen: Think that talking baby in the E-Trade commercials was the funniest thing they had ever seen: The baby talks, folks. THE BABY TALKS! Think that typing like this meant you were creative: Or this: Or just add Z's to every word for no reason: Take weird pictures of your feet or hands because you all had matching bracelets or shoes: Argue passionately over whether pirates could beat ninjas in a fight: Harass everyone on Facebook with like 14 "LOST PHONE, NEED NUMBERS" groups: And like 17 FarmVille requests: Fake people out with your voicemail message: Celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day: Take dramatic photos of Converse: Or draw a bunch of random stuff on them: Think 3D movie theater glasses were a fashion statement: Get obsessed with Doppelgänger Week on Facebook: Take pictures with that one awful Photo Booth filter: Own that one white MacBook that got dirty after like a week: Take weird pictures of your feet or hands because you all had matching bracelets or shoes: Insist that BlackBerry was way better than iPhone because of Brick Breaker and BBM: Change your age to 99 years old on Myspace: Carry around a little leather BDSM case for their flip-phone: Maximum protection. Watch movies on portable DVD players, god rest their soul: Constantly quote that one Bill O'Reilly video where he swears: Take selfies with a big-ass digital camera: Upload 400 pictures to Facebook at once in an album with a title from a Dave Matthews Band song: Spend money on ringback tones. Sweet, sweet ringback tones: Change your profile pic to something like this: And like this: If you had this as your MySpace pic, it meant you once listened to Something Corporate. Wear shoes big enough to house a family of five: Update Facebook from a tiny lil' phone: Publicly put friends on blast: Think adding a "xXx" to a screen name made them a force to be reckoned with: Try to take a selfie with flip phones and completely missing your face, like, 14 times in a row: Accidentally pull out the charging cable while your iPod was in DO NOT DISCONNECT mode: And turn on the TV Guide and just completely vibe out: Sounds blissful, actually.
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Scotsman
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Five ways we downloaded music during Y2K, and what happened to those services
The wild west of MP3 downloading - what we used to corral new releases before Spotify took over Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Before Spotify become a household name, P2P clients were how many gained access to new music. Though some of the clients were controversial due to what they offered, many offered users experiences that are still present to this day. Here's five programmes many used to use to - ahem - download music to their MP3 and Minidisc players. It seems timely that I am writing this article on the day that news emerged that several unreleased tracks by Beyoncé were stolen from a car during her Cowboy Carter tour. While torrenting would be the option these days if anyone were to release them, back when the Y2K bug was considered a global issue, there were several different options instead. Many of those options were still illegal, but in some cases with the added caveat that a virus might hop along for the ride with the MP3 or zip file you'd added to your download queue. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Long before Spotify became a household name, and around the time Apple launched their revolutionary first iPod and their own music download service, many of us took to the World Wide Web armed with one of five programmes to access music that today is as easy as just swiping on a screen. The same could also be said about dating, but that's another story for another series of apps. It would be another wave of capitalist panic when Peer-to-Peer file sharing started coming into vogue around the turn of the millennium. While many felt that music should be free and that the likes of Napster were actually helping those get heard without the need for expensive radio campaigns, others equated it to a woodworker having a chair stolen from them. Who else remembers the classic 'you wouldn't steal a car' adverts played before every cinema outing back in the day? But for a generation of music listeners, where TikTok seems to be the conundrum facing musicians and copyright law, they might have missed all of this; the trials and tribulations of risking your computer security just to listen to that new Metallica or Spice Girls track. So, what did some of us of a certain age (and, apparently, low moral fibre) use to gain access to the latest musical releases, and where did those programmes go when streaming services became the norm? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fives ways we used to download music before Spotify existed Long before Spotify gave you the world of music at your fingertips, music fans used some 'less-than-legitimate' ways to download music back at the turn of the millennium. | Canva/Getty Images Napster We start with where most of us all began - launched in 1999 by Shawn Fanning, Napster was the original revolutionary. It was a centralized P2P file-sharing service primarily focused on MP3 music files. Its genius was in its simplicity: users could search a central server for songs, and the software would then connect them directly to other users' computers to download the files. At its peak in early 2001, Napster had nearly 80 million registered users. Napster became the poster child for copyright infringement . Its most famous legal battle was with Metallica, who, along with Dr. Dre, sued the company in April 2000 after discovering their unreleased song 'I Disappear' circulating on the platform - cue crude animations of Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield bellowing out 'Napster, bad!' However, the lawsuit that truly brought Napster down was the massive $20 billion infringement case filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing major record labels like A&M Records. The courts consistently ruled against Napster, rejecting its claims of "fair use" and holding it liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Faced with crippling injunctions and legal pressure, Napster was ordered to block copyrighted material and ultimately shut down its original free service in July 2001. The company filed for bankruptcy. In 2002, its brand and logo were acquired by Roxio , which rebranded its own streaming service as Napster 2.0, attempting to go legit with a paid subscription model. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Over the years, Napster's name changed hands multiple times (including Best Buy and Rhapsody). Today, the Napster brand still exists as a legitimate, paid music streaming service, albeit a much smaller player in a market dominated by Spotify and Apple Music. LimeWire While a more popular option after the heat Napster received, LimeWire was one of two P2P clients notorious for containing malware, adware and the ease of downloading viruses. | Limewire/Submitted One of two sure fire ways to infect your computer with a virus just for a chance at listening to a track before its release… Launched in 2000 by Mark Gorton, LimeWire quickly became one of the most popular decentralized P2P file-sharing clients after Napster's demise. Unlike Napster, LimeWire operated on the Gnutella network , meaning there was no central server controlling searches or file transfers. This decentralized nature made it harder to shut down. It was known for its user-friendly interface and became a go-to for music, movies, software, and more. LimeWire faced years of legal battles with the RIAA. In 2010, after a lengthy lawsuit initiated by Arista Records and other labels, a U.S. federal court judge issued an injunction ordering Lime Wire LLC to disable all file-sharing functionality of its software. The RIAA initially sought astronomical damages (reportedly up to $72 trillion) but eventually settled for $105 million. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Following the injunction, Lime Wire LLC stopped distributing its software, and later versions were disabled. While older versions (pre-5.5.11) remained functional for a time, the company itself ceased its operations related to file-sharing. In a surprising twist, the LimeWire brand was acquired by new management in 2021 (with no affiliation to the original company) and has been repurposed as an NFT marketplace and Web3 platform focusing on music and content. AudioGalaxy AudioGalaxy had a unique feature where music lovers would be recommended artists similar to what they have opted to listen to - similar to Spotify's related artists algorithm. | Reddit Created in 1998, AudioGalaxy was initially an MP3 indexing site that evolved into a robust P2P system with client software (the AudioGalaxy Satellite) and a web-based search engine. It gained popularity, especially after Napster's legal woes, known for its strong community features like chat-enabled groups and directly linking to other artists you might also like - almost a proto Spotify daily playlist before it existed. AudioGalaxy also faced a lawsuit from the RIAA in May 2002 due to the widespread sharing of copyrighted material. Despite its attempts to implement filtering mechanisms (which users often circumvented), the pressure was immense. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In June 2002, AudioGalaxy reached an out-of-court settlement with the RIAA. As part of the agreement, it was required to implement a "filter-in" system, meaning only music with explicit consent from rights holders could be shared. This effectively ended its P2P file-sharing operations. It then licensed and rebranded itself as a promotional website for the Rhapsody music subscription service for many years. Kazaa Kazaa was the talk of schoolyards around the world back in the early '00s - part due to the ease of finding music and videos, part due to how much damage it caused to numerous PCs that lacked anti-virus software. | Reddit The second sure-fire way to end up infecting your computer with viruses - launched in 2001 by Dutch company Consumer Empowerment (later sold to Sharman Networks), Kazaa became one of the dominant P2P networks after the fall of Napster. It used the FastTrack protocol (which was also the basis for Skype) and allowed users to share not just music, but also videos, software, and documents. It was notorious for bundling adware and spyware, leading to many users opting for Kazaa Lite . Kazaa faced intense legal pressure globally. In 2001, a Dutch court ordered its owners to prevent copyright violations. In the US, the RIAA and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) filed suit, leading to the landmark MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. Supreme Court case (though Grokster was the named defendant, Kazaa's FastTrack protocol was central to the broader issue). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In Australia, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) also sued, culminating in a 2005 ruling that Sharman Networks had "authorized" illegal file sharing by its users. The RIAA also pursued thousands of individual users for infringement, including the high-profile case against Jammie Thomas-Rasset. Kazaa's legal issues ended with a $100 million settlement paid to the four major music companies. Sharman Networks agreed to convert Kazaa into a legal music download service, but this venture ultimately failed. The original Kazaa file-sharing application effectively shut down around 2006. Like Napster, the brand was later licensed and briefly relaunched as a legitimate music subscription service, but it too failed to gain significant traction and is now defunct as a music service. Soulseek Soulseek was considered a more 'niche' community which mainly focused on rarer releases and bootlegs compared to other clients who focused on the more mainstream and popular. | Wikimedia Commons The music connoisseur's method of downloading; created by Nir Arbel around 2000, Soulseek was distinct from the outset. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While it was a P2P file-sharing network, it was less about mainstream hits and more about fostering a community of music enthusiasts, particularly for underground, independent, and niche electronic music, rare tracks, and live sets. It emphasized sharing and community, with users often having specific rules for who could download from them. Unlike the other major players, Soulseek has largely avoided direct, high-profile lawsuits that led to its shutdown. Its more decentralized structure, combined with its focus on less commercial, underground music, made it a less attractive target for major record labels compared to the mass-market platforms. There have been instances of servers being targeted or legal pressure, but no singular, defining case that brought the entire network down. Soulseek still exists and is actively used today, maintaining its niche status. It has evolved, with an emphasis on its community and the sharing of diverse and often obscure music. While it's certainly not mainstream, it remains a beloved tool for audiophiles and those seeking music beyond the commercial charts.
