Windows ME, short for Windows Millennium Edition, was released by Microsoft in 2000 as a home-focused successor in the Windows 9x family. Its startup sound greeted users when the system booted, becoming a small but recognisable part of the experience of using a turn-of-the-century PC. As retro computing videos, nostalgia edits and memes about aging technology grew online, the short jingle was reused as audio shorthand for that era. It remains popular because it instantly places a scene in the early 2000s without needing any explanation.
About this sound
The Windows ME startup sound, the short chime from Microsoft's 2000 operating system, often used in retro tech videos and nostalgia edits about old computers.
The Windows ME startup sound is a short, bright electronic jingle that plays as the old operating system loads, beginning with a soft chime and building into a brief, optimistic melody before fading out. It instantly signals an aging desktop computer, a slow dial-up era workspace, or a machine about to struggle with a simple task. For many listeners it carries a warm, slightly dated feeling, part nostalgia and part gentle comedy, because the cheerful tone contrasts with memories of crashes, freezes and long loading screens.
