Late '90s-early 2000s Superlossy MP3 music scene?

[muncadunc]

I remember there used to be a music scene ca. 2000 involving releases using extremely-compressed MP3s, which could easily be downloaded over dialup or moved on a floppy. What was this scene called- Is it still going on?

[jeremymacgregor87]

Demoscene?

[Goiter Sanchez]

Not sure... but there are apparently people who appreciate the aesthetic of very low bitrate mp3s; such as this label '20kbps Records'

 

http://20kbps.sofapause.ch/releases.htm

 

Apparently every release is encoded at 20kbps!

[Silent Member]

Maybe you're thinking about mp3.com? It was quite big at the time. It was a fun community, before it all went to shit, as these things go.

[Salvatorin]

20 kbps was fun! I made an album like that back when I was on twoism forums. and my friend boreal network did 2

http://borealnetwork.net/album/bikehigh-usa

[Zephyr_Nova]

That scene was called every file share program I ever tried around that period. That may be one of the main reasons I still buy CDs (though ever since I got a smart phone I've been downloading a lot more).

[Plarkreluke Banloboh]

Anyone have RealAudio files?

[mcbpete]

I was gonna say, isn't it just called - 'People who use real player'! I remember getting Orbus Terrarum as a single

[muncadunc]

20kbps Records it seems to be! Thanks.

 

Demoscene was something different: Tracks were in *.MOD or *.S3M files, which saved notation, automation and sample data. I actually got my start writing music with a MOD tracker.