Back in the day when we all sported a Nokia 3310 and VHS was still king, the internet was a very different place. Today, August 23, might mark 25 years since the birth of the world wide web though, but things have changed since those now iconic dial-up pings and pongs preceded every trip into this new, digital world and downloading a picture took minutes rather than milliseconds. Seriously, how did we ever live like that?
Years before Facebook, Netflix and, of course, Digital Spy dominated all of our online experiences, there was a very different batch of websites that used to rule the roost. Anyone remember this lot?
1. AOL
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If you were born before '95, chances are your first venture into the internet was aided by AOL. Seriously, who doesn't remember those AOL disks coming through the post? Many people's homepage to the internet, it handled everything from your email and news needs to weather forecasts and even a bit of casual gaming. Even after you cancelled your AOL subscription (the most complicated and frustrating process ever created), ridding your machine of AOL's sodding software was near enough impossible.
2. NEW GROUNDS
Forget your MMOs and connected console campaigns, early online gaming was all about basic Flash titles and the king here was New Grounds. The bane of any IT teacher's existence - who didn't have this running in the background during class? - New Grounds offered an ever-changing array of basic, but brilliantly addictive titles. Many of which would still comfortably help you pass a couple of hours now.
3. KAZAA
OK, so Kazaa was more than a little bit dodgy, letting you download music, videos and pictures without, y'know, paying. But it was fun spending time on the green and white service hunting out a copy of the latest Offspring or Blur album that didn't distort and disappear halfway through. It wasn't big or clever, but before we knew the rights and wrongs of internet etiquette, it was a regular stopping point.
4. NAPSTER
Nowadays you can download music on any smartphone, laptop or, heck, WiFi-enabled toilet. Back in the day, however, you either spent a ton of money on iTunes or visited Napster and, well, didn't. It's been reinvented time and time again in recent years (mostly after high-profile legal proceedings), but is now the relic of digital download space.
5. MYSPACE
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Long before Facebook and the others, there was another means of keeping in touch with the wider world and forming quick-hit friendship groups. As well as letting you chat with chums, MySpace was the place every budding musician - or tuneless berk with a guitar - could upload and share their own tracks, even if no-one else listened to them. We wonder how many friends good ol' MySpace Tom has left now?
6. YAHOO
Yahoooooooo! If you weren't part of the AOL clan, chances are that your front door to the internet was this other American giant. Back when the internet was more text-heavy and filled with blue hyperlinks, Yahoo offered everything the introductory internet user needed. There was news, there was weather, there was sport and even horoscopes. As well as being a digital newspaper, it offered a couple of casual games and a few shopping options. It was the king... until the rest of the internet arrived.
7. LYCOS
A hybrid mash-up of AOL meets Google, sort of, Lycos was a search engine, email host and general one-stop internet shop all in one. It was more than that though: it was the place where you could get free ringtones for your new Nokia and drop a bit of cash on downloading some heavily pixelated logo graphics to fill your handset's tiny monochrome display. Anyone for a barbed-wire-adorned 3310?
8. FRIENDS REUNITED
Thanks to Facebook it's now impossible to escape the buggers, but back at the turn of millennium keeping in touch with old school friends and snooping on what their lives were like now was almost impossible. That's where Friends Reunited came in. As well as rekindling old flames, it helped families keep in touch across the world and new friendships form based on common interests. If only the internet had something like that now... oh, wait.
9. Last.FM
Not paying for music online wasn't exclusively reserved for dodgy downloads. Before Spotify came along and mixed things up, Last.FM was the only place to go. It let you build personalised playlists based on the music on your machine and your digital radio stations of choice, something that was unheard of at the time. It's still going, but it's a long way from its early '00s high.
10. ASK JEEVES
Back before Google ruled the world and search engines were a novelty rather than a way of life, the ability to pose fully-formed questions to a digital butler felt like the future. Sadly, Ask Jeeves didn't really move with the times. Needless to say, Google won, big time, and Jeeves now couldn't even get a gig on Celebrity Love Island.
11. LIVEJOURNAL
Believe it or not, there was a time when bloggers weren't celebrities in their own right, just people sat in their bedrooms spewing their every thought at the internet. That was when LiveJournal ruled the web. Essentially Word with an archive feature, you could create personal journals and diaries that your mum could never find stuffed under your mattress.
