1999 was probably the year that online distribution really took off with Napster catching the labels unprepared (Apple’s iTunes Music Store did a lot to prove to the labels that people would actually pay for music downloads, although it would be years before legal DRM-free downloads became a reality).
I had a handful of downloaded music files that I acquired in 1998–9, but I rarely listened to them because other than burning a CD from them, there wasn’t a good way to listen to them on my main music system and my computer speakers were relatively crappy—I had a CD boombox in my home office that I used to listen to music when I was at my computer rather than popping a CD into the computer to play music. I suspect most people today have little idea how crappy the options were for listening to digital music files pre-iPod which really did a lot to revolutionize things.
I was at my 35-year college reunion this past weekend and the thing I found most eerie was the fact that the campus was so quiet. Back in my day, there would be a significant stereo system in every dorm room (or almost every dorm room) and music would be played at levels that could be heard outside the dorms (the dorm I lived in was notorious as being a loud music dorm and the residents of one suite had purchased the old enormous speakers that had been used for campus parties and positioned them outside their room to be able to provide music to the dorm as a whole. In a way this sort of thing acted like a kind of low-range radio for sharing music with others—I think that’s a big part of how many of my classmates got into Marillion (I was responsible for introducing folks to Toyah Wilcox as well as messing with their minds when I’d play Peter Gabriel in German or Sting in Spanish).
Aux out of pc into your home audio system did the trick. CDs were getting soooo cheap back then you could just burn mixes and cd players started to put in direct mp3 compatibility around then. I grew up a geek though, so this probably just came easier to me back then, but the high quality options haven't changed much in the last 20 years as far as audio is concerned. Just the proliferation of SoC devices has eased the playback access.
The thing is that the PC and the stereo were often in different rooms. That was the case for me where my stereo system was in the living room and the computer was in the second bedroom of my apartment. Remember that home networking, wifi and “spare” computers were also not really a thing in 1999 or before either.
I remember getting 25 foot cables, but I know I'm definitely in the minority, my dad worked as a telephone installer, and loved setting up audio systems so I had a bit extra access to the cabling stuff.
When I got my first high-speed internet and bought a 4x1 ethernet router/switch, I remember wondering what else I could network since I only had two computers to connect. I really wanted to somehow connect to the music gear in the main bedroom, but I never did.
1999 intersected with CD-R drives that were suddenly cost effective so you could make your own music CDs for a nominal price. Especially as CD players were now the medium everybody wanted.
I had a handful of downloaded music files that I acquired in 1998–9, but I rarely listened to them because other than burning a CD from them, there wasn’t a good way to listen to them on my main music system and my computer speakers were relatively crappy—I had a CD boombox in my home office that I used to listen to music when I was at my computer rather than popping a CD into the computer to play music. I suspect most people today have little idea how crappy the options were for listening to digital music files pre-iPod which really did a lot to revolutionize things.
I was at my 35-year college reunion this past weekend and the thing I found most eerie was the fact that the campus was so quiet. Back in my day, there would be a significant stereo system in every dorm room (or almost every dorm room) and music would be played at levels that could be heard outside the dorms (the dorm I lived in was notorious as being a loud music dorm and the residents of one suite had purchased the old enormous speakers that had been used for campus parties and positioned them outside their room to be able to provide music to the dorm as a whole. In a way this sort of thing acted like a kind of low-range radio for sharing music with others—I think that’s a big part of how many of my classmates got into Marillion (I was responsible for introducing folks to Toyah Wilcox as well as messing with their minds when I’d play Peter Gabriel in German or Sting in Spanish).