WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.680 History is littered with examples of dominant forces that later fell by the wayside. 00:00:04.680 --> 00:00:07.840 The Roman Empire, Disco Music, Dallas Cowboys, 00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:11.560 and so it is in the tech world, which is why we created the first episode 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:16.240 of our something part series, Where Are They Now? 00:00:16.240 --> 00:00:20.640 To kick things off, we're gonna look at some of the ways that we all used to enjoy digital media 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:27.000 before Spotify and YouTube came along, starting with the venerable real player from real networks. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:30.720 If you grew up in the 90s, you probably used real player at some point, 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:33.880 whether it was to listen to music or watch a video clip, 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:37.520 as it was one of the very first streaming applications 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:42.000 to gain widespread popularity. In fact, the first ever sporting event 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.600 streamed live online was over real audio back in 1995. 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:52.000 Of course, the real in real audio probably oversold the player's capabilities. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.000 During real player zenith in the late 1990s and early 2000s, 00:00:56.040 --> 00:00:59.280 most people were running painfully slow dial-up connections, 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:03.360 which meant that their streams were often fairly low quality, 00:01:03.360 --> 00:01:08.960 assuming they worked at all. And real player was notorious for being a clunky, 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:12.840 error-prone program that was jam-packed full of advertising. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.400 But it was still a piece of tech that most people tolerated 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.960 because few other programs delivered streaming media. 00:01:19.960 --> 00:01:24.160 That is, until Microsoft and Apple started providing their own streaming software 00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:29.760 in their consumer operating systems and also made streaming software freely available 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.960 for administrators who previously had been forced 00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:37.360 to pay real networks to get this functionality on the servers for their websites. 00:01:37.360 --> 00:01:43.680 And then as time went on, standards like Adobe Flash made the clunky real player more and more irrelevant. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:47.560 But believe it or not, real player is actually still around today 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:52.480 as a general purpose media player supported by ads and subscription fees. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.720 Even if the general consensus is that other media players 00:01:55.720 --> 00:01:59.800 like VLC accomplished the same tasks in a simpler package. 00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:03.800 Bottom line, I don't see real player making a big comeback anytime soon. 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:08.320 Next up, Winamp, which was a more general purpose music player 00:02:08.320 --> 00:02:13.640 than real player. Debuting in 1997, it quickly caught on with PC users 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:16.640 around the globe and eventually boasted a user base 00:02:16.640 --> 00:02:20.280 of around 90 million. Right out of the gate, 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:25.080 people loved its resource-late operation, its incredible customizability. 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:29.400 Guys, Winamp's skins were big way before CSGO ones. 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:34.360 And it's ease of use. All you had to do to build a playlist was select 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:38.640 and drag some MP3s into Winamp and boom, you could be your own personal DJ. 00:02:38.640 --> 00:02:42.640 It was a really cool idea at the time. Unsurprisingly, Winamp's demise 00:02:42.640 --> 00:02:47.640 was largely the work of bigger companies. AOL bought Winamp in 1999 00:02:47.640 --> 00:02:51.320 and used it as a vehicle for expanding its own internet service 00:02:51.320 --> 00:02:55.680 by asking users to sign up for AOL whenever they tried to install Winamp. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:59.720 Despite the fact that AOL's parent company could have just made money 00:02:59.720 --> 00:03:04.880 by offering their huge music library to Winamp users instead. 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:09.480 What an idea. And since many Winamp users were music enthusiasts 00:03:09.480 --> 00:03:15.120 and power users who cared about audio quality and the overall listening experience, 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.600 the integrated AOL ads and the fact that their beloved player 00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:25.400 had been taken over by a company known for a sandboxed internet service was pretty off-putting. 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:31.280 Combined with the iPods release in 2001, which required rival program iTunes to function, 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.560 Winamp was never able to fully realize its potential. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:38.800 Though its user base actually kept growing until 2007 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:42.080 thanks to its popularity with users outside of the US 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.000 where it was developed. Winamp was eventually sold to a Belgian company 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.140 and an updated beta appeared in 2016 with another update in 2018. 00:03:51.140 --> 00:03:55.820 A new version is actually expected sometime this year, but the many years of neglect combined 00:03:55.820 --> 00:04:00.960 with the popularity of modern streaming audio services means that while Winamp still has 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:06.200 about 30 million users worldwide, it's unlikely to recapture its past glory. 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:09.640 Finally, there's possibly the most infamous of them all, 00:04:09.640 --> 00:04:13.120 Napster, a file sharing service that quickly became known 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:18.680 as a hotbed for music piracy. The basic idea behind Napster was that it allowed users 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:25.560 to directly download music from the computers of other users, suddenly giving the public access 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:30.360 to tons of free music, including hard to find tracks. 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:36.600 So all you needed to do to be the cool kid in class was to know how to use Napster and have a CD burner. 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.880 Of course, the record companies sued Napster and won 00:04:39.880 --> 00:04:44.800 because the courts found that while Napster wasn't providing the music itself, 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.240 it was aware that copyright infringement was going on on its network and had the ability 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:56.200 to stop it, but failed to do so. This differs from torrent applications like Qubit Torrent, 00:04:56.200 --> 00:05:00.720 which only allow users to connect to any of thousands 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.560 of servers that provide tracker files. It's a much less centralized approach 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:10.720 and a more difficult target. After the original Napster was forced to shut down, 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:15.560 the Napster logo and brand actually lived on. They were purchased and have since changed hands 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:18.680 a few times with each subsequent owner attempting 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:24.560 to capitalize on Napster's name recognition to sell licensed music, both on a per song basis 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.920 and through a subscription model. Napster was eventually bought by Rhapsody 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:33.200 and actually still exists today as a streaming music service with a monthly fee 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:37.300 similar to Apple Music. So I guess it goes to show you guys, 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:40.600 if Napster can go legit, anyone can. 00:05:40.880 --> 00:05:44.800 Okay, fair point, except you guys. 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:49.980 So thanks for watching guys. Like, check out our other videos, subscribe, 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:55.720 and I will see you next time. I won't see you, I can't see you, it's a camera lens.