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>> For instance, pricey CDs prevented lots of people from listening to music. Nope. Nobody I knew in the 90s had this issue. In fact, higher prices caused mo

>> For instance, pricey CDs prevented lots of people from listening to music. Nope. Nobody I knew in the 90s had this issue. In fact, higher prices caused more people to listen to more music. Unable to afford CDs, the kids turned to Napster. After that they had access to more music than any generation in history. This in turn forced the music industry to change, to create online delivery platforms. Napster might be gone, but those 90s CD prices are why we have streaming services today.

burkaman 5y ago
There must have been a lot of people that had access to record stores but not to the internet, and not enough money for lots of CDs. And Napster launched in 1999.
- sandworm101 5y ago
  Napster was the first big name, but there were other schemes for downloading music earlier. Mp3s had been around since the early nineties. Even without downloading, high CD prices saw kids copying and burning CDs for each other as soon as burners were available. So long as you had some social connections you knew someone with access to free music.
- jdofaz 5y ago
  As a 90s kid with no money, the solution was to wait for the song to play on the radio and record it to a cassette tape.
  - EricE 5y ago
    Thank you. And it was rather commonplace. The idea that music wasn't accessible is crazy.
kbos87 5y ago
There was a long period of purchasing music from stores before Napster was even an option. Having to spend $12-$16 on a CD you intended to listen to one, maybe two songs on absolutely stunted the amount of music people listened to for a very long time.
- EricE 5y ago
  You didn't have radios wherever it was you lived? No friends or cassette tapes? Heck I still have stacks of cassette tapes from the 80's and early 90's - waiting around to record your favorite song from the radio (and cursing DJs that talked over the intro's) and then creating custom mix tapes for friends that we then all passed around to each other was a right of passage.

burkaman 5y ago

There must have been a lot of people that had access to record stores but not to the internet, and not enough money for lots of CDs. And Napster launched in 1999.

sandworm101 5y ago
Napster was the first big name, but there were other schemes for downloading music earlier. Mp3s had been around since the early nineties. Even without downloading, high CD prices saw kids copying and burning CDs for each other as soon as burners were available. So long as you had some social connections you knew someone with access to free music.
jdofaz 5y ago
As a 90s kid with no money, the solution was to wait for the song to play on the radio and record it to a cassette tape.
- EricE 5y ago
  Thank you. And it was rather commonplace. The idea that music wasn't accessible is crazy.

kbos87 5y ago

There was a long period of purchasing music from stores before Napster was even an option. Having to spend $12-$16 on a CD you intended to listen to one, maybe two songs on absolutely stunted the amount of music people listened to for a very long time.

EricE 5y ago
You didn't have radios wherever it was you lived? No friends or cassette tapes? Heck I still have stacks of cassette tapes from the 80's and early 90's - waiting around to record your favorite song from the radio (and cursing DJs that talked over the intro's) and then creating custom mix tapes for friends that we then all passed around to each other was a right of passage.