Most of the radio stations I listened to remained the same, with Radio 538 being one of my favorites.   ✱   I also listened to Radio 3 FM (whenever Radio 538 was hard to receive), as well as local pirate stations that played dance music.   ✱   In the latter half of 1998, I still tuned into the local dance-oriented station Radio Atlantis/Channel X, though sadly it went off the air after New Year's Eve.   ✱   In spring/summer 2000 I also listened to Power 105.4, a local and danceable format.   ✱   And I recorded songs from the weekly 'Hit 50' chart on Studio Brussel. It was often typical Belgian mainstream dance music. I was generally interested in Belgian dance, also played on stations like C-Dance (and, before 1999, also on Channel X). I couldn't pick up the station and wasn't listening to internet radio yet, but compilation CDs made up for that.

⟶  Pic 1: A couple of Radio 538 related pics.  |  Pic 2: A printed version of the Radio Atlantis/Channel X site.  |  Pic 3: The site and schedule of Power 105.4.

⟶  Video: A Radio 3 FM commercial from the late 90s.  |  Sound 1: A fragment of Channel X, late in 1998.  |  Sound 2: 'Maak Het Of Kraak Het' ('Make It Or Break It') on Radio 538, +/- 1999. I regularly recorded this twice-daily segment, which introduced new music. It often featured dance music.  |  Sound 3: A 'Hit 50' compilation, in 1999 recorded from Studio Brussel. But not by myself, and the typical Belgian dance isn't there.

I still recorded tons of cassette tapes from the radio. Besides this (compilation) CDs were still borrowed/bought - and recorded. But I don't remember many titles of this era. I guess most of the CDs seemed part of the 538 series, or late Mega Dance releases. Sometimes I played a regular full (artist) album.

⟶  Pic 1: The cover art of a tape recorded spring 2000.  |  Sound 1: The sound compilation of that tape, with the transitions and jingles.  |  Pic 2: A much played 538 Dance Smash Hits CD.  |  Pic 3: An article from the Dutch magazine 'Oor'. In 1999/2000 Basement Jaxx - Remedy was a much played full (artist) album, besides all those compilations. In hindsight it feels like a preview of the next era.  |  Pic 4: Where would you buy CDs back then? Possibly at MediaMarkt, a retail chain selling CDs, electronics, and much more. The chain was new in the Netherlands in 1999.

TMF, the main Dutch music video station, was still important. And I still read a lot of teen magazines, like Fancy and Yes (no Hitkrant anymore), partly about music.

⟶  Pic 1: An article about the Dutch music video station TMF, published in 'Oor'.  |  Pic 2: The Dutch girl magazine Fancy, providing an article about All Saints.  |  Pic 3: The Dutch girl magazine Yes, providing an article about Milk Inc.

During my last year of high school (near the end of the prevous era) I got internet. The dial-up version, with the famous modem bleeps, provided by WorldOnline. I was checking the home pages of radio stations and TMF now, at the most 1 hour a day. And I was searching for pics and fonts to use on my first 'pc made' cassette tape artwork, early in this era.

⟶  Pic: A list filled with music/media related home page urls, created March 2000.

Now I was also following publications like the 'high rotation' playlist on the TMF site, and don't forget that 'Maak Het Of Kraak Het' thing mentioned earlier. And from time to time I played older danceable music, which was mostly released from around 1987 onwards.