Download Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace... -

The glow of the CRT monitor was the only light in Leo’s bedroom as the clock struck 2:00 AM. It was 1999, and the digital frontier felt like the Wild West. On his screen, a progress bar crawled forward with the glacial pace of a Sarlacc’s digestion.

Leo leaned back, his eyes bleary. The hype for The Phantom Menace had reached a fever pitch. He had seen the posters of a young boy with a shadow shaped like Darth Vader, and he couldn't wait another week for the local premiere. He wanted to be the first among his friends to see the podrace, to witness the double-bladed lightsaber he’d heard whispers about on IRC chatrooms. Download Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace...

The file size was a staggering 300MB—a behemoth for a 56k dial-up connection. He had been "acquiring" this piece of cinematic history for three days straight, praying no one in the house would pick up the landline and sever his connection to the Force. The glow of the CRT monitor was the