I had one of those PMP-300 players and I thought it was the first one on the market, but apprently it was beaten to the punch by a lesser known player.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/10/ft_first_mp3_player/

Forgotten Tech The MP3 player is ten years old this month. The first commercially released personal music player capable of handling MP3 files was the MPMan F10, manufactured by Korea's Saehan Information Systems and launched in March 1998.

The F10 contained 32MB of Flash storage, enough for a handful of songs encoded at 128Kb/s. It measured 91 x 70 x 165.5mm. It connected to an old-style parallel port on the host PC from which songs could be copied to the player. There was a tiny LCD on the front to give an indication as to what you were listening to.

The device made its debut at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany. It was a prototype, but Saehan must have garnered enough interest to put the player into mass production, which it did in May 1998 before going on sale in the US and Europe through importers in the summer.

In the US, local supplier Eiger Labs wanted $250 for the F10, though the price fell to $200 the following year prompted by the release of the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300, which was priced at $200.

The PMP300 - widely but wrongly held to be the world's first commercial MP3 player - also had 32MB of storage fed through a parallel port. But it boasted a larger display than the F10 and also featured a Smart Media slot to allow users to increase the gadget's storage capacity.

The Rio was released in September 1998, but by 8 October had become the subject of a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), which claimed the player violated the 1992 US Home Recordings Act. By that point, Rio had already teamed up with MP3.com to offer songs from the website.

The RIAA asked for a sales ban, and got one on a temporary basis on 16 October, only to have it withdrawn on 26 October. In December, Rio countersued the RIAA, claiming the organisations actions were an attempt to impede the growth of a market - digital music - which it didn't control.

It was later ruled that Diamond had not infringed the Act because it was not responsible for the actions of its customers. The RIAA appealed against the verdict, but lost there too: the Court judged that the PMP300 was not a recording device and so did not fall within the boundaries of the Act.

The RIAA and Diamond would eventually settle their differences in August 1999, but by then Rio was a household name, especially among internet users busily sharing MP3 music on the internet using newly created peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing software.


Thanks to its lesser known name, the F10 avoided such legal entanglements, but at the cost of all the free publicity its rival gained through from the lawsuit. Saehan soon established MPMan as a sub-division, and as such it later appeared among the roster of members joining the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), an cross-industry attempt to develop a universal digital rights management (DRM) technology.

SDMI ran out of steam in 2001, largely because of a highly publicised cracking of its encryption technology, leaving the way open for Microsoft's Windows Media DRM technology to fill the gap. And it might have done if Apple's release of the iPod in the October of that year hadn't proved ultimately so successful.

In the interim, MPMan had continued developing and offering MP3 players, but Apple's move to allow Windows PC owners to use the iPod, from April 2003, resulted in explosive growth. MPMan, Rio and other pioneers couldn't keep up.

Orion is currently in that state where he knows just enough to really get himself into trouble - like yesterday where he turned on the water in the bathroom, closed the drain, flooded the room, which in turn caused the ceiling to collapse downstairs and get all sorts of important things wet, including the wireless router I use for my internet. Funnily enough it looks like the wireless part works, it just can't talk to the wired ethernet, it's one of those LinkSys boxes which runs linux internally so there's a little part of my brain trying to figure out how I can make a purely wireless box useful, perhaps I can figure out a way to make it into a wireless repeater to extend my coverage?

Scene: Mr Mousebender walks into Mr Q-Trax's Free Music Emporium

QTrax: Good morning, sir.

Mousebender: Good Morning. I was sitting in the public library on Thurmon Street just now, skimming through 'Rogue Herries' by Horace Walpole, when I discovered my iPod in a tuneless state

QTrax: tuneless, sir?

Mousebender: empty.

QTrax: Eh?

Mousebender: (broad Yorkshire) Nothing to listen to!

QTrax: Oh, empty.

Mousebender: (normal accent) In a nutshell. So I thought to myself, 'an excursion into pitch, melody and harmony will do the trick'. So I curtailed my Walpolling activites, sallied forth and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the acquisition of some new music.

QTrax: Come again.

Mousebender: (broad nothern accent) I want to download some tunes

QTrax: Oh, I thought you were complaining about the cheese!

Mousebender: (normal voice) Heaven forbid. I am one who delights in all manifestations of the fermented curd.

QTrax: Sorry?

Mousebender: I like some nice cheese

Mousebender: (normal voice) Now my good man, some music, please.

QTrax: Yes certainly, sir. What would you like?

Mousebender: Well, how about a little Led Zeppelin.

QTrax: I'm, afraid we're fresh out of Led Zeppelin, sir.

Mousebender: Oh, never mind. How are you on Twista?

QTrax: Never at the end of the week, sir. Always get it fresh first thing on Monday.

Mousebender: Tish tish. No matter. Well, the new Chromeo album, then, if you please, stout yeoman.

QTrax: Ah well, it's been on order for two weeks, sir, I was expecting it this morning.

Mousebender: Yes, it's not my day, is it? Er, Alicia Keys?

QTrax: Sorry.

Mousebender: Scott Walker?

QTrax: Normally, sir, yes, but today the van broke down.

Mousebender: Ah. Springsteen?

QTrax: Sorry.

Mousebender: Daft Punk? Beatles?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Norwegian Artists?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Cat Power?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Arcade Fire?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Whitesnake?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Delta Blues?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Double Trouble?

QTrax: ..No.

Mousebender: Scientists?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Nation of Ulysses?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Bjork, Goldfrapp, Pharoah Sanders, Joy Division, Sun Ra, Juan Atkins, Gil Scott Heron, Black Dice, Captain Beefheart, Public Image Limited, Justice?

QTrax: Ah! We do have some Justice, sir.

Mousebender: You do! Excellent.

QTrax: It's a bit noisy, sir.

Mousebender: Oh, I like it noisy.

QTrax: Well as a matter of fact it's very noisy, sir.

Mousebender: No matter. No matter. Hand over le musique de la Belle France qui s'apelle Justice, s'il vous plaît.

QTrax: I think it's noisier than you like it, sir.

Mousebender: (smiling grimley) I don't care how incredibly noisy it is. Hand it over with all speed.

QTrax: Yes, sir. (bends below counter and reappears) Oh...

Mousebender: What?

QTrax: The cat's eaten it.

Mousebender: Has he?

QTrax: She, sir.

Mousebender: Goldie?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Yes?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Radiohead?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: The Association?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Soft Cell?

QTrax: No, sir.

Mousebender: You do have some music, do you?

QTrax: Certainly, sir. QTrax is a music site. We've got...

Mousebender: No, no, no, don't tell me. I'm keen to guess.

QTrax: Fair enough.

Mousebender: Chicago Trax?

QTrax: Yes, sir?

Mousebender: Splendid. Well, I'll have some of that then, please.

QTrax: Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you said QTrax.

Mousebender: Göttsching?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Beach Boys?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Moby Grape?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Paris Hilton?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Any Danish Techno?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Slovakian Gypsy Punk Music?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: Peruvian Nose Flute Music?

QTrax: Not today sir, no.

(pause)

Mousebender: Well let's keep it simple, how about Madonna?

QTrax: Well, I'm afraid we don't get much call for it around these parts.

Mousebender: Not call for it? She's the single most popular singer in the world!

QTrax: Not round these parts, sir.

Mousebender: And pray what is the most popular artist round these parts?

QTrax: William Shatner, sir.

Mousebender: I see.

QTrax: Yes, sir. He's quite staggeringly popular in the manor, squire.

Mousebender: Is he.

QTrax: Yes sir, he's our number-one download.

Mousebender: Is he.

QTrax: Yes sir.

Mousebender: William Shatner, eh?

QTrax: Right.

Mousebender: OK, I'm game. Have you got any, he asked, expecting the answer no?

QTrax: I'll have a look, sir...nnnnnnooooooooo.

Mousebender: It's not much of a music site really, is it?

QTrax: Finest on the internet, sir.

Mousebender: And what leads you to that conclusion?

QTrax: Well, it's so clean.

Mousebender: Well, it's certainly uncontaminated by music.

QTrax: You haven't asked me about Modern Lovers, sir.

Mousebender: Is it worth it?

QTrax: Could be.

Mousebender: OK, have you...will you stop eating that cheese (the cheese eating stops)

QTrax: (to cheese eaters) Told you so.

Mousebender: Have you got any Modern Lovers?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: No, that figures. It was pretty predictable, really. It was an act of purest optimism to pose the question in the first place. Tell me something, do you have any music at all?

QTrax: Yes, sir.

Mousebender: Now I'm going to ask you that question once more, and if you say 'no' I'm going to shoot you through the head. Now, do you have any music at all?

QTrax: No.

Mousebender: (shoots him) What a senseless waste of a million dollar launch party.

It does't get any more random than this... In September I was at our local park with the kids and I managed to lose a part of Amy's camera - the rubber eyepiece cup - it costs about 12$ to replace (http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Rubber-Eyecup-Digital-Cameras/dp/B0009HAHD4) and it's not exactly essential to the camera function so I never bought a replacement.

Well bizarrely enough I was at the park with the kids today and I found it sitting in the woodchips under the swings, It needed a bit of cleanig but it's as good as when I lost it.

The Dark Side Of The Earth




Comet 17P/Holmes Dust Cloud is now bigger than the sun



I grabbed some photos of my own from my back yard, but they can't compete with NASA and ESA, except on cost, my setup cost

Most other news outlets are going all sensational on the title with phrases like 'Chinese Toys Laced With Date Rape Drug', but lets be fair more people are using GHB recreationally than anythign else, indeed the most common 'date rape' drug' is plain old alcohol.

Howeverthe story is still the same, it started with an Australian toy company which created a craft toy that consisted of coloured beads coated with a water based adhesive, you laid out your pattern and sprayed them with water and they all stuck together. In Australia they were marketed under the name 'Bindeez' and were recently awarded the 'Toy Of The Year' prize, in north america you can find them sold under the name Aqua Dots, yesterday most of the online stores were still selling them but I can't find any links now. At some point in the design and manufacturing the non-toxic adhesive was substituded with something else which contained substances that would metabolized into GHB.

But who would eat glue?

Oh yeah kids.

Amy and the kids dropped by imeem today, mainly because we had planned to sign some financing documents at the bank. Amy was lucky enough to get a free parking spot near the office but beyond that things just didn't seem to go right, the agent who I'd been working with at the bank wasn't there because she'd had an accident, the papers had some major mistakes in them, I started getting sick and headed home early. Then after dinner Skye managed to split her chin open on the side of the bath and Amy decided to take her to the emergency room to get stiches, this was complicated by the neighbour who had decided to park their car in front of our driveway which delayed us by maybe a few minutes, but more imporantly there's a strike by nursing staff at most of the hospitals in the area so after 5 hours Amy and Skye are still waiting to get seen....

Still it was nice to have lunch with the family and the Margaritas at Tres Agaves were very nice.