Windows 95 and Minecraft game startup sound added to National Sound Recording Registry

The United States National Recording Registry has added two new digital compositions — the Microsoft Windows 95 boot sound, created by British producer Brian Eno, and the Minecraft: Volume Alpha soundtrack by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, known as C418.

The registry includes recordings recognized as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant in American history. The new additions reflect the impact of digital technology and video games on modern culture.

The Windows 95 startup sound, created by Brian Eno in 1995, has long become iconic. It accompanied the release of the operating system that made personal computers more accessible to a wide audience. According to his memoirs, Eno provided the Microsoft team with 84 options for short melodies. As a result, the sound was chosen, which turned out to be almost twice as long as the technical specifications, but most accurately conveyed the given themes of friendliness, hope and progress.

In 1995, the Windows 95 operating system was released. It was introduced by Microsoft on August 24. The operating system was supported until December 31, 2001.

The OS supported the execution of 16- and 32-bit code. It introduced elements such as a desktop with icons, a taskbar, and a Start menu. It also introduced support for long (up to 256 characters) file names and the Plug and Play system, which was later used in all subsequent OSes.

An important innovation was support for 32-bit programs. In 95, only part of the Win32 capabilities from Windows NT were implemented. However, the ability to run programs itself contributed to the popularity of the OS.