In the spring of 2001 Kodak introduced an innovative device that was ahead of it’s time. It was called the Kodak MC3 because it had three functions. It was a camera, video recorder and MP3 player all in one. There were two versions, one with a 16mb card ($229) and one with a 64mb card ($299).

Like other digital cameras of that time it took really small size pictures. The file size was 640 x 480 pixels (about 300kb). If you tried to print the pictures any larger than 3 x 2 inches they looked terrible. The pictures were more suited to sending via email.

The videos were only 320 x 240 pixels and you could only record about 1 minute on the 16mb card and 4 minutes on the 64mb card. Those videos could be played on your computer but in a small window.

The last function was that it could play MP3 music files. The 16mb card would only hold about 15 minutes of music but because you could change songs on the card very easily. The first generation Apple iPOD would come out in November 2001. It had a much larger capacity (5gb) on a hard drive but it didn’t have a card slot.

I bought a MC3 for myself for Christmas 2001 and still have it. After a year I bought a 256mb card and had hundreds of songs on it. I haven’t used my MC3 in many years.

Kodak stopped selling the MC3 about late 2002. Sales were not very good. They never did have another camera that could play music. I think that the reason that sales were so bad was the terrible commercial they had for the MC3. The commercial barely mentions the three functions. Watch it and see if it would make you want to buy the MC3.