OTHER TECH

2000 thru 2003

... DVD-Audio (24 bits, 96 kHz), which becomes engaged with SACD in a barely perceptible format war.

CD sales in the U.S. peak at 942.5 million units. (The LP is at 2.2 million, just in case you still care.) P.S., Napster usage is raging at the same time.

Napster is shut down after being assaulted by court injunctions and record-industry lawsuits. (Hey, just ask Metallica: Funding fine-art art collections ain't cheap!)

Apple introduces the iPod. Uh-oh.

The price of the average CD climbs to $17.03 - just like when it debuted.... Hey, wait a minute!

Scandal! The five largest music companies and three of America's biggest music retailers must fork over roughly $140 million in cash and CDs to settle a price-fixing lawsuit waged by 41 states. Turns out CD prices had been artificially inflated from 1995 to 2000. The moral here? Keep your receipts, people!

The DualDisc - complete with a fake-CD side (too thin for the standard) - is introduced. Again, few notice.

Downloads across the remaining file-sharing sites reach roughly 3 billion a month.

Apple launches the online iTunes Music Store, selling music from major and indie labels cheap - 99¢ for singles, $9.99 for albums.

2004 thru 2006