Jump to content
Autumn Variations

Janet Jackson's single Rhythm Nation apparently causes old laptops to crash

Recommended Posts

janet-jackson-london-2019-696x442.jpg

Quote

Janet Jackson‘s 1989 single ‘Rhythm Nation’ is said to have the power to cause older laptops to crash.

In a recent blog post (via Hot New Hip Hop), Microsoft’s principal software engineer, Raymond Chen, explained: “The song contained one of the natural resonant frequencies for the model of 5400 rpm laptop hard drives that they [an unnamed major manufacturer] and other[s] used.”

Chen claimed that the frequency caused laptops from around 2005 to crash after playing the audio. The issue is similar to how an opera singer is able to shatter glass by singing at a certain pitch.

“The manufacturer worked around the problem by adding a custom filter in the audio pipeline that detected and removed the offending frequencies during audio playback,” he continued.

“I would not have wanted to be in the laboratory that they must have set up to investigate this problem. Not an artistic judgement.”

x

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Replies 4
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic


  • Browsing now   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×