Ancient Web: Augsburg’s MIDI List Kept a 1990s Jukebox in Plain HTML

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

Before somebody could summon almost any song with a streaming subscription, the web offered a less glamorous alternative: click a MIDI filename and let the computer do its best impression of an orchestra.

Visit Augsburg's Favorite MIDI Files.

This surviving personal page barely explains itself. A graphic announces Augsburg's Favorite MIDI Files; two sentences tell visitors to right-click a song title to save it or left-click to listen. Then comes a long, hand-arranged alphabetic list. It is effectively a jukebox made from links.

The selections range across decades and styles. Johnny Mathis's "Twelfth of Never" appears near the top, followed by the "Third Man Theme," "Achy Breaky Heart," "Amazing Grace," and music from The Phantom of the Opera. Farther down are the Braveheart theme, "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Hooked on Classics," songs associated with ABBA and the Carpenters, and two versions of the Titanic song "My Heart Will Go On."

The juxtaposition gets better. "Color of the Summer Sky" from the video game Secret of Mana shares space with "Wabash Cannon Ball" in polka style and the Queen stadium staple "We Will Rock You."

Saving music meant saving a little file

A MIDI file is primarily note and instrument instruction data, not a recorded performance. What listeners hear depends heavily on their computer's synthesizer or soundfont. The page was made for a web where a user could have a local MIDI player associated with the browser and where the instruction "Save Target As" was normal music-library guidance.

A separate link advertises a Christmas MIDI collection. The main list keeps abbreviated filenames and imperfect spellings such as "abchoochoo" next to neatly labeled song names. They are reminders that someone assembled and maintained the library by hand rather than importing a polished music-service catalog.

The preserved page does not identify a reliable creation date or explain exactly who Augsburg was, so calling it a definitive dated snapshot of 1997 would go beyond the evidence. Its content and download-first design do capture the experience of personal MIDI collections that thrived on the older web.

This is not a discography, a licensing statement, or proof that every linked sound file still plays. It is a useful artifact of the moment when strangers could build their own miniature public jukebox without needing a platform.

Browse Augsburg's original MIDI song list.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.