This Bizarre Xbox CD-ROM From 2001 Can Now Be Accessed In Full Online

As we celebrate Xbox’s 25th anniversary this year, we’ve been looking into the archives and reminded ourselves of Soundtrack 1: The Definitive Xbox Compilation – a CD that featured the likes of The Crystal Method and Fatboy Slim.

The CD actually goes for a decent amount of money these days, and it’s got a pretty cool cover too!

You can find the soundtrack online easily, but something that hasn’t been so simple to access is the bonus CD-ROM that came with it. There’s a YouTube video showing off its contents, but that’s not quite the same as browsing it yourself.

Here’s the video anyway if you just want to flick through it:

However, about a year ago, someone very quietly took to Reddit to reveal that they’d archived the bonus Xbox CD-ROM on a website that allows you browse it exactly the same way as you would have done on a PC back in 2001, aside from the fact that the “auto playing” feature of the videos doesn’t work properly (you have to start them manually).

This means all the buttons are clickable, all the photos and videos are accessible, all the transitions from menu-to-menu remain intact, the loading screen is still there, and the bits of documentation about the Xbox can still be read too.

Flicking through it, while there’s nothing groundbreaking to be discovered here at first glance, it’s still pretty fun to look through the various screenshots (hundreds of them!), trailers, interviews and behind-the-scenes videos, especially for games like Halo: Combat Evolved where there’s actually a fair bit of content that you may never have seen.

The music section is much less interesting, basically serving as an advertisement for The Crystal Method’s new album at the time (“Tweekend”), but you do get two full music videos along with an “Artist Feature” and details on the album.

Anyway, we just thought this was pretty cool! With old CDs often facing compatibility issues, and the price of this CD-ROM actually rising a fair bit over the years, it’s nice to know we can still access this content online here in 2026.