I think I made an MP3 before ever having downloaded one. Probably in fall 1997. Or late summer. I remember because soon aterwards Duran Duran released a couple of singles on the net in Liquid Audio format and I was searching around for ways to convert the file format or find an MP3 version.

The encoding was done on some lowly computer at work and it took a long (REALLY) long time.

I didn't bother too much with MP3s at all - didn't continue to encode nor collect, until 2001 when I bought the empeg. I still don't play MP3s on my computer, though I keep WinAmp (2.9x of course) installed for preview purposes when checking my latest encodings.

Bruno