SaeHan Information Systems MPMan F10
Prototype devices capable of playing digital audio files have existed as far back as the late ‘70s, but the first MP3 Player, as these devices came to be known, arrived about three years after the MP3 codec itself did, in 1997. It was from a South Korean company called SaeHan Information Systems and was called the MPMan F10 when it officially went on sale in the Spring of 1998 in parts of Asia.
It was available in 32MB and 64MB capacities which meant that even the larger option could only hold about 12 songs, depending on their compression level and file sizes. It also synced to a PC using a dock over a parallel port connection that was excruciatingly slow, and when it arrived in North America later that year under the Eiger Labs branding, it cost the equivalent of $250—truly bleeding edge technology.
