[interestica]

Around the same time I got a portable CD player that could play CDs, MP3s, and VCDs. Video CDs were pretty rare in North America but it wasn't much of a feat to author them yourself. You'd typically need two discs to hold a full length movie (MPEG1), but it was kind of a perfect size for television episodes (especially when utilizing RW discs).

And playing them on a CRT tv (still the norm) was a huge improvement over broadcast quality. I think that led to a further interest in DVD-authoring and then Web/Media development.

[gxqoz]

VCD is a very undercovered format. Any budding media scholars out there could make a good book out of the format.

It connects to an area I'm growing increasingly interested in, the early history of the Chinese Internet and tech industry. (VCD players sold in enormous numbers there.) See for instance this fascinating piece on the Chinese Flash gaming scene: https://www.chaoyangtrap.house/flashing-for-fun-and-no-profi...