Internet archive / 2003

Internet moments from 2003

Backdrop

The Internet in 2003

Year reference

iTunes Music Store

Buying a song online became ordinary.

Source: Apple mark via Wikimedia Commons

MySpace, LinkedIn, Skype, and 4chan all arrived in the same year, pointing toward radically different futures for online identity and community.
The iTunes Store made paid digital music feel normal while broadband helped audio, images, and video travel farther.

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Trails from 2003

Curated trailFlash-era songs that spread widelyView trail →

Archive order

Archive picks

Video · Flash animation

The End of the World

“I am le tired.” A tiny Flash map turned nuclear panic into permanent internet dialogue.

Archive score96

Video · Machinima comedy web series

Red vs. Blue

Two soldiers standing in a box canyon asked the question that launched machinima comedy: “Why are we here?”

Archive score95

Video · Flash animation

Badger Badger Badger

Badger badger badger badger. Mushroom. Mushroom.

Archive score94

Video · Flash character and metal-comedy breakout

Trogdor the Burninator

A drawing lesson went wrong, grew one beefy arm, and somehow turned “thatched-roof cottages” into a battle cry.

Archive score93

A non-graphic cartoon Link parody character in a green tunic holding a wooden club beneath a blue fairy

Video · Flash game-parody comedy

The Real Legend

Link’s quest for a legendary adventure got the early-Flash treatment: melodrama, Zelda shorthand, and a hero who looks far less prepared than the music suggests.

Archive score92