Welham Girls' School

“I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don't understand
I can take myself dancing......”

Hi there! I am MP3 (not media player 3 but MPEG Audio Layer III) and this is my story. My human seems to like this song a lot. It speaks volumes about her character and now it seems to be my favourite too. In some time, I will be sick of it (figuratively of course) and then I will switch to another one with my human. My human is lovely and kind and takes care of me, but the story isn't about her. It is about me, and I'll have to start with a basic introduction because not many people know about me. 
Do you want to guess who uses me the most. It's the hostel community, of course. Those girls and boys who are away from home in boarding houses and away from my highly demanded younger brother (born in 2007), the iPhone. Kids these days love using my, more useful and cooler brother and I am hidden behind my more prominent relatives, but I don't mind it honestly. Everyone has their purpose in life and mine I have come to discover is to be there for my lovely human who needs me and keeps me close to her chest. Even if my presence is not acknowledged as often and my birthday is celebrated only occasionally, still I am glad to be of help. 

Anyway, back to my basic introduction (I tend to drift off), MP3s are data compression forms for encoding digital audio, particularly music. I have revolutionized the music industry by allowing smaller file sizes making it easier to store and share the music digitally. Fraunhofer team identified the internet as a big application area for Layer III and needed a file extension - the used.mp3. I knew they would realize my importance sometimes. Speaking of my birth I can't miss out on my father - Karlheinz Brandenburg. He is rather modest telling about how he doesn't like the title “The Father of Mp3” but hey it's the truth!
I am as important to my human as my human is for me. Just as my human takes care of me, I take care of her as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship of sorts. I am her one true friend with her through thick and thin, from dark nights to sunny days, and from lonely moments when she misses home to every other minute of the day when she needs company. I play upbeat songs for her when she is low and wants to get out of that mood and low melancholic ones to comfort her. I give her company when she doesn’t want to be around other people, and I give her friendship when she is lonely. I provide her the perfect calmness and relief after a hectic school day. I alleviate loneliness and am safe for all kids to use. What more could anyone want?