http://www.plopbox.net/

Websites such as plopbox.net are used to upload and share music created on older computer consoles, mainly from the 80s-90s. Consoles from this period have a very distinct sound and no matter what the nature of the composition is. The voices used to create these tracks were used to play-out the soundtracks for computer games of that era. For a gamer that spent hours playing these consoles in the past it is difficult not to relate the sound of the tracks directly to game play.

The appeal of these tracks for me is the synthesisers that are being used, and their ability to trigger reminiscence of computer game play. These tracks act as a tool for evoking memories of early computer game play, a time when it did not matter that I might spend a whole afternoon playing computer games, there was nothing else to worry about.

The tracks that have been created using these older technologies are powerless not to be heard as soundtracks for exciting quests of one sort or another. From what I have listened to so far there are few attempts to make compositions sound like anything other than . It is easy to imagine the game that the track might accompany. What do the members of this community gain from composing, listening to and distributing this material - is this about nostalgia, preservation, demonstration of technical ability? What separates these tracks from simple computer compositions created on more recent technologies? Is it the voices that are used? There are distinct limitations to the creation of these tracks (ability to sample real sound for example)? Is this a demonstration of perseverance and patience - newer technologies offer the composer more choice and control with more stable operating systems and intuitive GUIs.

What is it about these tracks that is so appealing to me (and those participating in this community)?

There are also websites and online communities that are dedicated to archiving the soundtracks to computer games such as snesmusic.org. These tracks are considered to be important and not just throwaway products of old and superseded technologies. There is an acknowledgement that it is important to catalog and archive these sounds, they are historical artificats that can be stored using small amounts of space.