Windows XP, released by Microsoft in 2001, included a set of system sounds for everyday events, including a quiet alert for a laptop running low on battery. As the operating system became a shared cultural reference, its sounds were clipped, uploaded to soundboards and reused in YouTube videos, streams and memes. The low battery chime survived because it is instantly recognisable to a generation that grew up with XP, yet subtle enough to work as a joke about exhaustion, dying devices or ideas that have run their course.