After decades of connecting Americans to its online service and the Internet through telephone lines, AOL recently announced it is finally shutting down its dial-up modem service on September 30, 2025. The announcement marks the end of a technology that served as the primary gateway to the World Wide Web for millions of users throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
RIP, I still remember getting those AOL CDs in the mail, and was so excited by the concept of a disk that could allow me to connect to the world wide web.
My big turn on for AOL is all you needed was a checking account and bam you were in. No credit card required. You still ran out of minutes way too fast.
I remember the 3.5" floppy disks saying “200 free hours!”
I remember drilling out the the write protect hole so I could reuse them. Floppies were expensive and I was broke as a teenager, I loved aol disks.
My uncle would take me to computer shows and your could grab a 50 pack of those floppies shrink wrapped. I might even have a few still floating around in my computer junk drawer.
I use some as coasters.