a2b music was an attempt at creating a digital music delivery system by telecommunications giant AT&T, fresh from the recording industry scare caused by the sudden popularity of the MP3 format.

The system was launched to much fanfare in the late nineties, touting wide industry support and much better quality than alternatives (because it was using the AAC format, instead of the more common MP3). Of course, the tracks being sold were heavily protected with DRM schemes.

To add insult to injury, version 2.0 requires that the user installs RealPlayer to enable streaming (to read my rant about Real crapware, see the RealJukebox article).

a2b folded rather spectaculously before even becoming relevant, when the majority of its employees decided to walk out and join a competitor less than two years after it was founded. For that reason the players I am hosting here are rather useless now (unless you want to stare at an interface so ugly it borders on the indecent).

Talking about cutting-edge design, check out this Internet Archive mirror of the a2b music website, for some real eye candy.

Big thanks to Zachary Jelesoff for sending me the a2b music players and introducing me to the story of AT&T a2b.


Date: 1999-04-09
Version: 2.0
Interface: Graphical
Platform: Win32
Download: setup_a2b_200.exe - 2.559kB

Date: 1998-06-13
Version: 1.02
Interface: Graphical
Platform: Win32
Download: setup_a2b_102.exe - 2.008kB