Nate Lanxon
Nate is CNET.co.uk's expert on digital music and portable media. He was born just long enough before the beginning of the digital age to grow up with it, become one with it and then be utterly consumed by it. 'Geek by profession' has been his career goal for two decades.
Next: Beatles albums should go lossless on iTunes
Previous: A century before Web simulcasts, there was Theatrophone
Wednesday 12 March 2008, 9:20am
The 10th anniversary of the MP3 player
In 1998, the late Steve Irwin's daughter Bindi was born. In the same year, Robert B. Laughlin won the Nobel prize in physics for his explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect -- a joint success shared with Daniel C. Tsui and Horst L. Störmer. But closer to my heart, 1998 saw the birth of the first portable MP3 player. It was Eiger Labs' MPMan F10, and it had just 32MB of on-board flash memory.
With its tiny LCD screen, its parallel port and its little NiMH battery, the MPMan was the first taste of things to come in the world of digital music. It was first seen at CeBIT, the Hannover-based electronics show in Germany, which, as you'll notice by sporadic coverage of this year's show, had nothing that special on display this year.
The company behind MPMan -- Korea's Saehan Information Systems -- was one of the companies that joined SDMI, a group we highlighted this week as part of our vapourware feature. This 'Secure Digital Music Initiative' was an attempt to tackle music piracy by means of DRM, but suffered what we call 'Epic Fail Syndrome', and caved in 2001, by which time Apple's iPod was beginning its epic road to consumer dominance.
And now with 160GB iPods, 32GB flash-based MP3 players, and hard disk-boasting H.264 video players, we can celebrate everything MPMan initiated. So rock on, MPMan. The recording industry despised you, the public didn't buy into you, and Apple stole your skin. But no one can steal your right to the crown of 'History's Biggest Middle Finger to the Music Industry', and for that we salute you. -Nate Lanxon
Next: Beatles albums should go lossless on iTunes
Previous: A century before Web simulcasts, there was Theatrophone
Comments on this post
I remember reviewing the MPMan alongside the not-first-but-more-famous Diamond Rio. They had 32MB of memory, which meant you could put on about 32mins of music, or just over an hour if you ripped at 64Kbps. After walking round town for a day listening to the same 12 pop songs, it was pretty clear that portable players weren't going to be big sellers until the capacity increased. The fact that my 12 songs were being sung by the boy-and-girl-band of the day, Steps, probably didn't help...
Posted by Mary Lojkine on Fri 14 March, 2008 6:19 PM
Offensive? Inappropriate? Report this comment
Crikey, has it been 10 years since the first MP3 players? Makes me feel old!! I remember a good friend of mine had a Diamond Rio when I was in 6th form, at the time it was so cutting edge to be able to access 32MB of near cd quality music from such a small device, but like most I only converted to portable MP3 with the iPod, the first MP3 player that was actually worth owning (well, Gen2 onwards anyway!!)
Posted by Philip Bain on Tue 25 March, 2008 8:30 PM
Offensive? Inappropriate? Report this comment
Articles by Nate Lanxon
Sennheiser IE 7 sound-isolating earphones
Review If you read our reviews, you'll know that as far as mid-range sound-isolating earphones go, we have a soft spot for the Klipsch Custom-3s. Well, now we have been introduced to the Sennheiser IE 7s, and boy are they giving the Klipsches a run for their money. The IE 7s are reasonably-priced, superb all-rounders
Sennheiser IE 8 sound-isolating earphones
Review We loved the way the Sennheiser IE 8 sound-isolating earphones added warmth and depth to our broad music collection. With the added bonus of being able to manually adjust the bass, these earphones are more than worthy competitors to the Shure SE530s. Be prepared to have your music rocked
Photos: Hands-on with the Sony Ericsson W705 Walkman
Photo We've got Sony Ericsson's latest Walkman phone in-house -- the beautiful W705 -- and this one is for sure a hot contender for sexiest phone of the year
Woo Audio WA2 headphone amplifier
Review To put it simply, the Woo Audio WA2 is the best headphone amplifier in its price category by a mile. It provides an experience that is completely luscious -- deep, smooth bass, rich vocal reproduction, and a sweet, spacious, notably airy treble that's smashing for live classical performances, although can handle anything you throw its way. Superb
PURE Digital Avanti Flow: Slick Net and DAB radio
Crave PURE Digital's latest DAB radio is the second Net radio-enabled system from the company, and it could make one hell of a good gift for the Consumermas season.
Apple releases iPhone 2.2 firmware
Crave The brand new firmware for Apple's iPhone is out, and it includes Google's Street View service and wireless podcast downloading, among a heap of performance improvements
Sony NWZ-S639F Walkman
Review Sony's NWZ-S639F Walkman S series is an affordable model that delivers. It supports BBC iPlayer downloads, so you can take full advantage of its crisp -- albeit small -- screen. Its stylish design and incredibly easy-to-use navigation system is coupled with superb Sony sound quality, making this MP3 player music to our ears
Photos: Ears-on with the wireless Sleek Audio SA6 earphones
Photo Sleek Audio's high-end SA6 earphones are now available with Kleer wireless technology, and it's a whole load better than Bluetooth. Here's why
