3 ms·
Organized music piracy (mp3 scene) began in the summer of '96 when 3 of the major groups were formed (of which RNS was the most famous and long-lived). By '97 i
by pero 15y ago
Organized music piracy (mp3 scene) began in the summer of '96 when 3 of the major groups were formed (of which RNS was the most famous and long-lived). By '97 it was 'adopted' by the software (warez) scene, and also borrowed its supply and distribution chains--there was now competition for having the fastest releases, as well as means for getting these ahead of official release dates--precipitating popularity.
According to mp3scene.info, there's was mp3 piracy on usenet as early as '95.
- encoderer 15y agoI downloaded my first few MP3's in 1998. I was either on 33.6 or 56k. It took like an hour. So the problem was clearly limited to university networks. The existence of MP3's doesn't indicate the advent of modern "piracy." No, that began a couple years later of course when everybody began getting cable modems. And napster was written.