In just over a couple of years, MP3 audio file format has caused a big stir and captured minds and hard drives of millions of people worldwide. MP3, short for Moving Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer III is a compression format that compresses audio files with only a small sacrifice in sound quality. MP3 files can be compressed at different rates, but higher compression, lower sound quality. A typical MP3 compression ratio of 10:1 is equal to about 1 MB for each minute of an MP3 song.

It all started in mid-1980s, at Fraunhofer Institut in Germany, where work began on developing a high quality, low bit-rate audio format. In 1989, Fraunhofer was granted a patent for MP3 compression format in Germany and a few years later it was submitted to International Standards Organization (ISO), and integrated into MPEG-1 specification. Frauenhofer also developed first MP3 player in early 1990s, which was first attempt at developing an MP3 player. In 1997, a developer at Advanced Multimedia Products created AMP MP3 Playback Engine, which is regarded as first mainstream MP3 player to hit Internet. Shortly after, a couple of creative university students took Amp engine, added a user-friendly Windows interface and called it Winamp. The turning point was in 1998, when Winamp was offered to public as a free music player, and thus began MP3 craze.

As MP3 craze mushroomed, it didn't take long for other developers to start creating a whole range of MP3 software. New MP3 encoders, CD rippers, and MP3 players were being released almost every week, and MP3 movement continued to gain momentum. Search engines made it easy to find specific MP3 files, and portable MP3 players like Rio and Nomad Jukebox allowed people to copy MP3 songs onto a small portable device, no different than your Walkman or Discman.

By early 1999, first peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software application was released, one which shook world overnight. Napster, killer app that will be remembered like no other MP3-related software was developed by nineteen-year-old university student, Shawn Fanning and his idea for Napster was to allow anyone with an Internet connection to search and download their favourite songs, in minutes. By connecting people, Napster created a virtual community of music fans.

However, along came Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) which as a representative of major record companies and owners of sound recordings, successfully battled Napster for copyright law infringement and an injunction was issued that effectively shut down Napster. The RIAA argument is that all free downloading is in breach of copyright laws and therefore promotes audio piracy. As a result, file sharing impacts their ability to sell CDs and make a profit. Despite legal problems that Napster has faced and fact that they are currently not operational, MP3 file swapping and has continued on, and for a number of reasons.

Unrelated Inventions - http://www.unrelatedinventions.com is an umbrella for shareware developed primarily by Andrew Fish. The name comes from fact that Andrew doesn't want to be tied down to writing collections of software with related purposes, preferring to keep his imagination in tip-top shape by developing a broad range of applications and using lessons learned developing one to improve other unrelated inventions. He also feels that he should develop software which doesn't pander to broadest range of people by only including those features which most of them will use, but to provide for a broad range of people by providing software which is flexible enough to be adapted to many tasks, providing many unusual features whilst lacking none of obviously useful ones. Few people will use all of features, but all will benefit from some. Hence motto: Catering for uncommon denominator.

Q: What motivated you to create shareware software? A: I never actually intended to create shareware. Audiotools was developed to solve a particular problem that I faced back in March 1998 and release as shareware was an afterthought. After that I was drawn into continuing its development by interesting code and by user feedback. Q: In developing software, what part of process do you most enjoy?

A: I love actual process of working out new algorithms and techniques - Audiotools is not an off-the-peg package by a long stick of limestone, so there's a lot of scope for imagination. I also like responding to user comments - when I used to work at BSS, marketing manager told me that nobody ever contacts you just to say how well you've done: well I've got stacks of email that proves him wrong, so I'm quite happy about that. Q: Do you have a clear vision of what end product will be?

A: Haven't a clue. The software is partially driven by my ideas and interests and partially by user requests and, since one effects other, I can't really predict future. I'm continually working out ways to increase feature count without overburdening software with complexity, so I imagine that "end product", if there ever is one, will have some unique user interface features anyway. Q: What is your favourite feature of your software?

A:. In development terms, probably auto-track - it's a very elegant piece of code and there were some good ideas went into it. Q:. What do you think is key to developing good software?

A: Good ears. The key is to listen to your customers - don't blindly take on every feature that they request as they request it, try to distill it into something more general which serves a wider set of purposes.

Q:. What were some of your setbacks and highlights you encountered in developing software?