> So maybe not the general public, but in 1997 someone released a search engine specific to finding MP3s, because people already had large collections.

I was the author of MP3 Fiend around this time.

It was a desktop metasearch engine for MP3s that worked in conjunction with multiple download clients.

It was very successful at the time, only for Napster to come along and eat my lunch.

It got ... called out a lot by the press.

https://i.imgur.com/0hnIG5Y.jpg

Hey it's not your fault! It's like trying to complain that UPS aids drug dealers.

> I downloaded my first MP3 in summer of 1996 (Savage Garden -- Chicken Cherry Cola).

LOL, I know exactly what song you mean, but it was called I Want You. We did it in my a cappella group in 1997.

Oh I know, but the MP3 was called Chicken Cherry Cola. :)

Ah yes, the days of mis-titled MP3 files, incorrect metadata, and other artifacts. Sometimes an MP3 of a song you liked had a click in a certain spot, or occasionally some kind of sound like an AIM message coming through.

I ran my company's (unofficial) MP3 server in '99, and I spent a LOT of time managing files.

I ultimately went back to college in 2002 which was the right time to catch Apple's first attempt at Home Sharing in iTunes (I forget what it was called), where basically every single Mac on the campus network was running an HTTP server advertising all of its music for download.