. Because of the low bitrate, the pop star’s dance moves looked like a series of teleportations, and the bass-heavy track sounded like it was being played through a tin can underwater.
Before high-definition streaming became a reality, users spent hours on peer-to-peer networks and niche forums searching for the latest hits. These files had to be small enough to fit on a 512MB microSD card but clear enough to showcase the choreography and style of the era’s biggest stars.