..

[Este Nuno]

I was an AOL warez kiddi in 1995. 11 years old with server rooms in AOL chatrooms. Using different  "progs" to freeze people's IMs and kick them offline. AOL 2.0, bitch.

What a badass I was.

Why am I mentioning this? Because I remember when I was "serving" music in MP3 format in the AOL warez rooms, I also remembered telling people at school how awesome MP3s were. How awesome it was that you could download them for free using "server" rooms on AOL. How it made no sense to ever pay for music, ever.

Nobody ever cared. Nobody ever listened.

..and they're not listening now when I tell them about Bitcoin.

It wasn't until I physically showed them how to download MP3s that they actually started to use it. But once they started using it, they kept using it of their own volition, no further convincing required. It was novel, it was relatively easy, and it was free.

Most people use MP3 today, in some way. Whether they realize it or not.

The same will happen with Bitcoin.

When you tell somebody about Bitcoin in 10 years, they won't look at you like you have 10 heads like they did in 1995 with MP3s.

In 10 more years, people will be talking about Bitcoin the way we talk about MP3 now. It will just be. Except much, much bigger.

Any conversation that I have over 20 minutes in length will result in me showing a person how to download the blockchain app to their phone and me sending them their first Bitcoins for free. I've done this quite a few times. It creates an "I kinda get it now." moment in the minds of a lot people. This is where it all starts.

I finally realized that you can explain to people what it is, what it does, how it works 100 times and they won't get it. You just have to SHOW them. Seeing is believing.

I could be Captain Obvious over here. Forgive me, 2 bowls of Sour Diesel in the past 20 min. I just got this feeling of "I've seen this before." when pondering Bitcoin earlier today.

My advice to everyone? Don't sit down next to me at the sushi bar and start a conversation with me if you don't want free Bitcoin. (Has happened thrice.)

...and don't sit down next to me and pretend you don't know what Bitcoin is, when you actually do, because you want the free Bitcoin

It seems like a decent analogy. Better than "bitcoin is the new internet" or whatever a lot of people say. New technology operating on the internet that most people don't understand or haven't used yet, but when they see it they know that it's cool.

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[Cryptopher]

No, this is not comparable. Stop talking about BTC being replaced when it has not even come near its potential.

What are you talking about?

The only discussion regarding comparison here is that Bitcoin is a relatively new concept using this implementation and that, in the past, other technologies have gone through quiet times before being gradually adopted to the point where they are so widely used we don't even think about it.

To my knowledge nobody said that it would be 'replaced' - though anything is possible.

If were talking about MP3 as a device. I rarely see one these days.

You mean MP3 players, well yeah people generally use iPods, phones or stream music these days. The topic itself is more about the digital format, rather that the device that was popular during the the noughties 00s. The OP used MP3 as an example of how something that is so integrated within our lives was once relatively unknown.

The same can be said about many technologies. Everything has to start from somewhere, how quickly it is adopted is another matter.

[Baitty]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

[Mowcore]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). I mean, who gives a shit about the size of the file these days anyway!

....plus WAVE has and always will be better than mp3, bar the size of the file!

[Cryptopher]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

Bitcoin is too young to state definitively that it will not be replaced by something better. Replaced as what, the cryptocurrency that kickstarted a new financial paradigm, sure.

Bitcoin is not the be-all and end all of cryptocurrencies. It is up to the Bitcoin Core Dev team to ensure that Bitcoin improves, while it is up to other developers to create applications and systems to better integrate the use of Bitcoin into the lives of the every day person.

The mp3 format has stood the test of time so far, and it fills a nice space within the area it operates within. If anything you may find mp3s dropping off over time due to the size of telephone memory, Internet connection speeds etc.

[chaosPT]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

Bitcoin can be replaced by the other alt coin i think

And i dint know theres mp3 in 1995 lol

[Baitty]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

Bitcoin can be replaced by the other alt coin i think

And i dint know theres mp3 in 1995 lol

At the moment no alt coin has the potential that Bitcoin has. most are copies and most have the same features just a different name and logo.

[STforLife]

MP3 very bad sound... FLAC very good sound. But you know that thing about the vinyl, right?


I see Bitcoin more like CD in 1990.

[LiteCoinGuy]

haha, nice story 

BTC will be so easy or invisible in some years that even the average joe will use it.

[zeetubes]

Anyone who's ever written a song (or software or a movie script or a book etc) and gone through the expense of recording it, mixing it and marketing it will probably have a slightly different perspective on how cool it is for the everyday Joe to download stuff for free. But it is inevitable. I never bother to buy anything virtual anymore except when I go to see a movie. Which is fine, because people will still need to buy food, clothes, cars, computers, phones and housing etc. But when those items are in turn made by robots or 3d printers, I think 50% unemployment is a very conservative estimate. Prior to the MBA and modern economics, people used to enjoy spending money on things. Now we want everything for free but it is also killing the economy.  Just my two cents worth but I'll give it to you for free this once.

[Baitty]

haha, nice story 

BTC will be so easy or invisible in some years that even the average joe will use it.

Before that happens. we need it to be taught in schools.

[rograz]

Did compressing the MP3s actually save any space? MP3s use lossy compression so zipping shouldn't be all that effective, if at all.

Back then every kilobyte was precious, I remember compressing/uncompressing my installed games just so I could have as many as possible "installed" at once.

[DannyElfman]

The only difference is that mp3s will probably be replaced by something better. but Bitcoin will not.

Bitcoin is too young to state definitively that it will not be replaced by something better. Replaced as what, the cryptocurrency that kickstarted a new financial paradigm, sure.

Bitcoin is not the be-all and end all of cryptocurrencies. It is up to the Bitcoin Core Dev team to ensure that Bitcoin improves, while it is up to other developers to create applications and systems to better integrate the use of Bitcoin into the lives of the every day person.

The mp3 format has stood the test of time so far, and it fills a nice space within the area it operates within. If anything you may find mp3s dropping off over time due to the size of telephone memory, Internet connection speeds etc.

The Bitcoin protocol can be changed as necessary to adopt to the evolving marketplace and technology.