Evolution of MP3 players

Beginning of researching of the MP3 player

Mar 23, 1987

This was when people began to try and figure out high quality and low-bit audio coding to try to build an MP3 player.
(https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-mp4-1992132)

The project almost died

Mar 24, 1987

People began to get frustrated with why the MP3 player was not working. About two days later they had figured it out. It was a compiler error.

What MP3 stands for

Jan 24, 1988

MP3 stands for MPEG, Motion Pictures Expert Group. Now MP3's can take photos and audio.

German patent

Apr 24, 1989

Fraunhofer received a German patent for the MP3.

Audio coding changes into new code

Mar 30, 1992

Fraunhofer's and Dieter Seitzer's audio coding algorithm was integrated into MPEG-1.

new standard published

Mar 30, 1993

MPEG-1 standard published

new code again and publised

Mar 30, 1994

MPEG-2 developed and published a year later.

U.S. patent issued

Nov 26, 1996

United States patent issued for MP3.

starts to enforce their patent rights

Sep 30, 1998

Fraunhofer started to enforce their patent rights. All developers of MP3 encoders or rippers and decoders/players now have to pay a licensing fee to Fraunhofer.

Record company first music tracks

Feb 18, 1999

A record company called SubPop is the first to distribute music tracks in the MP3 format.

Now Portable

Mar 30, 1999

Portable MP3 players appear.