What Company Invented the MP3 Player?
Eiger Labs MPMan
There is a huge debate at the moment about who invented the MP3 Player? A lot of people think that they know the answer but few actually do. This is why we are going to go through a little history class to see exactly what company invented the mp3 player.
First of, an MP3 player can be defined as a consumer electronic that will play, organize and store MP3 files. We can also refer to them as digital audio players because there are rarely gadgets seen that are labeled as MP3 players and can not play a multitude of multimedia file formats. Right before MP3 players we had CD players. Some of you might remember them and they are still available in shops although few would end up buying them. On of the first ever MP3 players was designed by Briton Kane Kramer. He referred to it as the IXI and the initial prototype was able to play around 3.5 minutes. As expected, it never made it to a production line.
As time passed, contrary to what you might believe, we saw the first digital audio player being mass produced only in 1997. The company that invented the mp3 player was SaHan Information Systems, which basically sold the “MPMan” Player in 1998. This player was eventually licensed to Eiger Labs and is now known as Eiger Labs MPMan F10. The audio players of the time were flashed based and could hold an “impressive” 16 MB of music.
When you ask “What Company Invented the MP3 Player?” you are usually answered “Diamond Multimedia“. This is because in September 1998, a few months after MPMan appeared, they launched their own digital audio player in the Rio PMP300. This was an MP3 player that was then the subject of a huge law suit and the device was very popular. Because of this popularity people sometimes forget about the MPMan.
In case you wanted to know, the iPod appeared in October 2001 and came in a 5 GB storage capacity version. As time passed the iPod evolved and now it is the most sold digital audio player in the world. So if you are aver asked what company invented the MP3 Player you should answer SaHan Information Systems. Hope you liked this history lesson and that it was useful.
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