Brian Eno wrote one. Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote another. Jim Reekes slipped his into the Mac's ROM when nobody was watching. Spin the turntable below. Tap Power on to wake a device. Hear it boot.
Brian Eno's six-second Windows 95 chime played at boot for decades. Andy Hertzfeld's 600 Hz beep kicked off every Mac since 1984. Ryuichi Sakamoto made Dreamcast's startup jingle, but Sega didn't even put his name on the box. Elwood Edwards recorded "you've got mail" in his living room for $200, and ended up as the most-heard voice on the internet.
This museum captures that split second, when 29 different machines said their first hello. You'll hear audio streams from the Internet Archive. Photos and logos come from Wikimedia Commons. Claims are all sourced. Each chime only plays if you click.
Always free. No junk. Past features: the keyboard listening museum, every Pokémon sorted, the Pixar cry chart.