Winamp 2 + Winamp 3 = Winamp 5!

An anonymous coward writes: Having been a loyal iTunes user for quite some time, after seeing the report on Ars Technica about the newly released Winamp 5 Final, I simply had to try it out. It's pretty amazing, rivaling iTunes in many ways on Windows (mainly, speed). Ripping, library, etc: They're all there. Plus it comes with a slew of of new scriptable features. Simply put, it's dead sexy. Get your copy now! Note, last link requires some other OS.

Some other OS...

[Anonymous Coward]

You know.. the one that hardly anyone uses.. I think its called Windows or something.

Obscure thing. :)

Winamp 5 on Wine

[arunkv]

What's interesting is that with minimal trouble Winamp 5 installs and runs on Wine! (I'm using Wine 20031212.) That should open up Winamp 5 to a lot of people. I haven't done much experimentation but the player works (including Shoutcast streams), so does the equalizer. The visualization plugins however cause Wine to crash.

Re:Winamp 5 on Wine

[bored_SuSE_user]

I know flash MX runs fine with crossover office product. Although, it's not official, I've had no problems. Photoshop 7 also works like a dream.

Re:Winamp 5 on Wine

[IamTheRealMike]

I just fixed this. The patch is available here:

http://bylands.dur.ac.uk/~mh/file.c.patch [dur.ac.uk]

Apply it in the root of the Wine source tree, like so:

patch -p0 </tmp/file.c.path

then do a make and make install in dlls/kernel. Run the installer - it should install fine apart from complaining about "Sonic Pro" or something.

Be warned. The "modern" skin does some funky stuff with window classes we don't yet support. Use the classic skin.

I'm going to take a look at the subclassing stuff now. As an aside, the NSIS code is awful. Great product, nasty as hell code :/

troll in the eye of the beholder

[Doc Ruby]

The problem with moderating something as "troll" is at one reader's troll is another reader's "interesting". Likewise, an insightful comment, when provocative, is "flamebait" to a flamer.

FWIW, a troll in the eye of the beholder is flamebait, or at least deathbait, with the beholder's 13-level "Finger of Death" ray causing at least 3d6+13 HP damage to a 6d8+36 troll (_Monster Manual_ v3.5 pp26-7, 247).

Link Broken

[Flounder]

Get your copy now! [nullsoft.com] Note, last link requires some other OS.

Also note, the link does appear to look at the referrer. Able to get to the file from WinAmp.com [winamp.com], but not from the direct link.

Noted!

[Anonymous Coward]

That really licked the llama's ass.

Re:Link Broken

[admbws]

Seems to work well enough from here, but on a slightly offtopic note, should anyone actually honour the referer header anymore? It's a horrendous privacy flaw. Mozilla/Firebird users can add this to their user.js to disable it:

user_pref("network.http.sendRefererHeader", 0);

Re:Link Broken

[AntiOrganic]

I'd imagine they're using sessions of some kind to keep track of your IP address, since I visited the site before and the direct link from Slashdot works fine for me.

Re:Link Broken

[Evil Adrian]

Ultimately, who cares if they track the referrer or not? This has nothing to do with anything...

Re:Link Broken

[admbws]

$ wget http://download.nullsoft.com/winamp/client/winamp5 0_full.exe
--14:00:00-- http://download.nullsoft.com/winamp/client/winamp5 0_full.exe
=> `winamp50_full.exe'
Resolving download.nullsoft.com... done.
Connecting to download.nullsoft.com[64.12.168.244]:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 4,207,711 [application/octet-stream]

Blah blah blah (Lameness filter encountered)..

14:00:36 (114.79 KB/s) - `winamp50_full.exe' saved [4207711/4207711]

No problems for me!

Re:Link Broken

[ChaosDiscord]

Seems to work well enough from here, but on a slightly offtopic note, should anyone actually honour the referer header anymore? It's a horrendous privacy flaw.

Horrendous privacy flaw? The heck? The only potential privacy flaw is that some stupid web site might encode private data using a GET request (a Bad Idea), and you might move from there to another untrustworthy site. But in the vast majority of cases all the web site learns is where you came from. Is that such a terrible secret? Getting a general sense of where people are coming from can be quite helpful for improving your web pages, understanding your audience, and reacting to changing circumstances (Am I under a DDOS attack, or did Slashdot link to me?).

On a related note, if you're concerned about it, feel free to switch it off. A few people doing so really isn't a big deal. And if everyone actively choses to do it, so be it, but I think the web will be worse for it. If you run into problems accessing some poorly designed sites, I'm willing to yield that perhaps you should automatically set the referrer to the page you're retreiving (but I'd suggest visiting less brain-dead sites). But please don't change the referrer to something arbitrary like "Field protected by Outpost (http://www.RETARD-SOFTWARE-VENDER-NAME-HERE.com/) " You're just making a nuisance for the guy examining the logs. Don't be rude. The standard makes the field optional, if it bothers you, just don't send it.

Re:Link Broken

[admbws]

I was thinking more of a website being able to track things such as search requests. Here is one website [weblogs.com] dedicated to strange, funny or just downright disturbing searches people have found in their referer logs.

Uh no

[autopr0n]

I've found pages that were obviously personal start pages in my logs for autopr0n, and google indexed mine and put it up as the third search result on my real name (amazingly, they actualy removed it from their index when I emailed them).

Re:Link Broken

[Echnin]

And Opera users can do this by pressing "F12" and "f"...

Re:Link Broken

[Earlybird]

The download pages do not work with Mozilla Firebird 0.7 -- I get the 404 after going to the pages and asking to download. It works fine with IE, so they're obviously checking the User-Agent header. Stupid, stupid admin (or is it AOL exec?) creatures!

Re:Link Broken

[Ewan]

Sorry works fine in firebird 0.7 here, so stupid stupid user is the correct cry :)

Ewan

Re:Link Broken [mirror that should always work]

[Neophytus]

Well, providing that freecache has a chance to cache it in the first place this link [freecache.org] should always work, without ip or referrer tracking :)

Re:Link Broken

[jasondlee]

This link (from download.com) works:

WinAmp 5.0 Full [com.com]

When the duplicate story arrives...

[benito27uk]

Will it be winamp 10?

Re:When the duplicate story arrives...

[ArmenTanzarian]

It's Fibonacci, that'll be Winamp 8.

Ex:
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 2 = 3
2 + 3 = 5
3 + 5 = 8

So your sequence is 1,2,3,5,8

Re:When the duplicate story arrives...

[aneurysm36]

thats amazing! ive got the same combination on my luggage!

Re:When the duplicate story arrives...

[nsuttitinagul]

That's not Fibonacci. Fibonacci is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...

The series you mention is called the Lucas series, which is simply the Fibonacci series without the initial 1. Considering Winamp 1 wasn't released twice, I don't believe it's Fibonacci. Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Link to privacy policy returns 404

[corebreech]

See? [winamp.com]

Also, if you're going to compare it to iTunes, mention the fact that you can't do a lot of things (like ripping to MP3) unless you pay for the Pro version.

iTunes is free, right?

So maybe somebody should mention this.

I'll take care of it...

[interactive_civilian]

corebreech said:

So maybe somebody should mention this.

Don't worry. I'll take care of this.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know that while iTunes allows you to rip to .mp3 or AAC as well as other things (like run on a Macintosh) for FREE, you have to pay for the pro-version of WinAmp to do the same things (well...accept for the AAC and MacOS support).

Just wanted to mention this...

;-p

heh...oh well...I have some karma to burn.

Re:I'll take care of it...

[m3rr]

If I remember correctly, there was a plugin available for Winamp 3 that allowed Ripping and I thought it worked quite well. Of course, it's not packaged with the software... You have to scour Winamp.com for a while to find it.

Re:I'll take care of it...

[ucblockhead]

Winamp 5 usings the Winamp 2 plugin architecture rather than the Winamp 3. Which is good for me, but crappy if you have a Winamp 3 plugin you like.

Re:I'll take care of it...

[nolife]

And I've always used EAC and LAME on W32 which are both free (and damn good also).
These do not get mentioned because it does not fit into the Apple zealots agenda when they feel the urge to contantly defend thier position.
I guess an "all in wonder" solution that some think the iTunes provides is good for some people but the Apple defenders will never admit to an Apple product as not being perfect without 15 lame excuses about why Apple did it the way they did and how you too should feel that is was in your

Re:I'll take care of it...

[danielsfca2]

Hey Man-Who-Loves-Stereotypes-Dude:

I'm an "Apple defender." And look:

The following Apple products are not perfect:
Mac OS X
iTunes
Safari
Mail

There are more, but I suppose you get the idea.

The poster was trying to make the point that with one (admittedly big) free download iTunes seamlessly supports MP3 and AAC encoding and CD burning, while Winamp charges you for this. This is a valid point. He didn't say it was perfect. I mean come on, your counterargument was essentially: No, iTunes having more features than WinAmp is not reason to give it any credit--because one can get other software to implement those missing features! Well duh. The point is that with iTunes, you only need one program for both those tasks instead of needing to install two. And the integration is good: Does EAC add the encoded tracks to your favorite player's library? Does your favorite burning app write a CD from a playlist with two clicks, within the player? I doubt it. Winamp's Pro version probably does these things, but it's, y'know, not free. iTunes is. Free is good.

And if Apple was the one charging for this, you people would be screaming all over the place that Apple is ripping you off, "when program XYZ does this for FREE!" Take for example the way the Anti-Apple-Zealots seethe with hatred every time they see the "Get QuickTime Pro" nag screen. Word to the wise: If you don't like the nag screen, then GET A KEYGEN AND CRACK IT! It's not that hard to find it. It's not even unethical to do that if you don't use the pro features.

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[Liselle]

I don't find them mutually exclusive. I use iTunes to organize portions of my music library... the portions that go on my iPod. I might be missing something, but I don't find iTunes terribly useful for listening to single one-shot tracks.

I use Winamp for playing files with weird extensions, because there are so many nifty plugins that let me listen to PSFs, NSFs, etc. There's no reason to have a one-size-fits-all music player. I have Winamp 2, Winamp 3, and I use them both. Downloading Winamp 5 now, and we'll see how I like it.

Foobar 2000

[Mitchell Mebane]

I use Winamp for playing files with weird extensions, because there are so many nifty plugins that let me listen to PSFs, NSFs, etc.

I used to use Winamp for that, but now I use Foobar 2000 [foobar2000.org]. While not as polished as Winamp, it's an amazing piece of software.

Re:Foobar 2000

[swv3752]

Why not? Any setting where one would have a DJ, pure tonal quality is not going to be a concern. In any case I can think of for a DJ, a FM radio will do almost as well. Clubs, Weddings, School Dances; these are typically noisy places. Any well encoded MP3 (something at 160kbps or better) is going to be near indistiguishable from a CD or wave file.

Yeah so you can tell the difference on your home theater. Now try that on a couple of speakers in some large reception hall with lots of people holding conve

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[drwav]

The Media Libary that was introduced in 3.0 and then made not to suck in 2.90+ (3.0's ML was god awful slow and insisted in scanning your entire HD everytime it loaded) does this.

More importantly, it does this in addition to the playlist based functionality that Winamp fans know and love. If you don't like the Media Libary feature you don't have to use it, but it's there and works great if you do.

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[watzinaneihm]

Nothing big there methinks.Their help page, which is available by clicking on the help in winamp is also not available see! [winamp.com]
I just downloaded it before the /. effect (got the link from ars) , and it does look dfferent. Equaliser is no longer a seperate panel, it is part of the main panel (I am calling each seperate piece in winamp 2.x a panel, eg. main player, equaliser, playlist , visualistation etc.) .
The preferences menu is back to what it was in 2.x almost.The player appears bigger than 2.x or 3.x on my screen, I suppose it is designed for some huge resolution monitors.
Maybe some internal changes too, turning on equaliser to maximum somehow doesnt seem to cause the cracking sound on my speakers anymore, Im not sure but it does seem to do software amplification better.

MP3 patent

[tepples]

you can't do a lot of things [in Winamp] (like ripping to MP3) unless you pay for the Pro version.

MP3 is patented, and the patent holder is not willing to license encoders on royalty-free terms.

iTunes is free, right?

The iTunes client is proprietary, and the no-charge version's MP3 encoder licensing fees are presumably subsidized by QuickTime Pro revenue and Macintosh hardware revenue.

Re:MP3 patent

[Alan Partridge]

"The iTunes client is proprietary"

And just what the fuck is that supposed to mean in this context? How is it more proprietary than WinAmp?

Sure, Apple subsidises iTunes with the iPod - Apple probably consider iTunes to be nothing more than promotional software FOR the iPod, but that doesn't stop iTunes being FREE AS IN BEER, does it?

Apple Defensiveness Syndrome

[kylef]

And just what the fuck is that supposed to mean in this context? How is it more proprietary than WinAmp?

Good lord, man. If you don't stop being so defensive, you're going to combust spontaneously.

I call what you have "Apple Defensiveness Syndrome" (ADS) and it isn't healthy. I've lost many friends to the (dis)order. Suddenly, all Apple jokes and/or criticisms (or even mention of rivals) become lightning rods that threaten to ignite flamewars of gigantic proportions.

Try repeating this to yourself every time you get upset: "It's only a computer, it does not reflect my self worth."

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[deuce868]

Funny, I somehow got it on my Windows XP box with a free download from the Apple website.

Now a port for my linux box would be sweet.

Earth to AC troller...

[artemis67]

iTunes runs on Windows now, too. Time to crawl out from underneath that rock you've been living under...

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[li99sh79]

Free with a $200 OS and overpriced, underperforming hardware, sure.

Yes, but you can also run iTunes on a G5 with OSX. :D

-sam

Re:Link to privacy policy returns 404

[li99sh79]

Oh, you don't know. You were just making an assumption based on your complete stupidity?

Hello Pot, there's a Kettle on line one that would like a word with you.

-sam

Actually...

[citizenc]

Actually, if you were to actually READ THE OPTIONS ON THE DOWNLOAD PAGE (link [apple.com]), instead of just blindly clicking "submit", you would see the following options:

Download the free player
Select your operating system:

[ ] Mac OS X v10.2.5-10.2.8
[ ] Mac OS 8.6/9
[ ] Win 98/Me/2000/XP
[*] QuickTime and iTunes for Windows 2000/XP

Perhaps you should concider reading the entire page before bitching about it on Slashdot. It makes you look like a jackass. :P

Again...

[citizenc]

Again, you really should pay more attention to your web browsing. I downloaded QuickTime a few weeks ago and was pissed that it included iTunes. So I went back to the download page and looked at the different download options, and low and behold, there was an option to just download QuickTime, no iTunes.

It has _always_ been there, mon ami. Therefore, I submit that your statement:

"They only just added the seperate installer for quicktime base on the HUGE amount of complaints they recieved for the past week."

was complely made up as it has absolutely no factual basis.

Perhaps if you actually paid attention to what you were doing, instead of bitching when something doesn't behave precisely as you expected, you'd get more milage out of the web.

*Shrug* Don't start attacking me just because you didn't RTFP. I don't quite see how that's mature/intelligent/fair/logical... but that does explain why you are posting as an anonymous coward instead of being willing to back up your opinions. ;)

Ripping and Burning is Pro only

[hyperherod]

Looks like you have to pay $15 [winamp.com] to get MP3 encoding and CD burning functionality. Considering a lot of people want to rip and burn to save money (read: nicking songs!), this seems a pretty stupid idea if they want to go better than iTunes, and any other software which will do it for free.

Re:Ripping and Burning is Pro only

[duffbeer703]

Why don't you go sell some of your foodstamps and just fork up the $15...

For the price of one CD, you can copy thousands.

2.0

[Da Fokka]

I'm still using 2.whatever because it's faster than the newer versions, which have no additional features worth the speed decrease.

Re:2.0

[dschuetz]

Actually, from what I understand 5.0 is the 2.x engine with the interface controls of 3.x. So it's the best of both worlds.

I've been using a beta of 5.0 for about a month now, and it's very nice. Definitely worth checking out.

Re:2.0

[Bish.dk]

the newer versions, which have no additional features worth the speed decrease.

It took me about 0.5 nanosecond to fall utterly in love with "global hotkeys". Never again will I need to use mouse or ALT+TAB to find Winamp, just to change the song. Everything can be controlled from whatever program I'm currently using.

That's definately worth the increased startup-times (which, by the way, seems to only exist if you're using a "modern skin").

Re:2.0

[MooCows]

*cough* We've seen all of that before [foobar2000.org] .. And it starts up in 0.5 nanoseconds too.
Although it doesn't look as sexy as winamp, it (imho) beats winamp in every aspect.

Re:2.0

[Down8]

You are the reason for WinAmp5!

I avoided 3.x like the plague, as well, b/c it was a resource hog. WA5 has taken the goodness from WA2 (speed), the goodness from WA3 (awesome skins), and maintained the general WinAmp greatness (play anything, cool vis, etc.), and brought them to WA5.

Seriously, unless you're only looking ot be 31337, WA5 is worth a try. I would caution you again installing both and not expecting problems between the two though.

-bZj

Darn, I think they forgot my format.

[Joe U]

I used to use Winamp all the time, so when 5.0 was released, I jumped and downloaded it.

Only to find out it doesn't seem to play WMA lossless.

I have 60GB of free space and a pretty darn good 7.1 speaker system on this computer. I don't need to compress the music I listen to into a lossy format, so I went with WMA lossless when I re-encoded my collection.

So, unless I've found a bug, Winamp 5 is out for now. (But it does stay installed, just in case)

Yes CmdrTaco...

[Nos.]

Note, last link requires some other OS.
Imagine that a product called Winamp requires windows.

Pre-slashdotted for your pleasure!

[StickMang]

Moments after this story was posted, the download links were unavailable. Glory be the power that is slashdot!

Wheee SlashDotted already!

[Crypto Gnome]

http://download.nullsoft.com/winamp/client/winamp5 0_full.exe brings up 404.

Looks like someone at Nullsoft saw the HUGE load [slashdot.org] and pulled the file.

anyone got a Mirror?

No video support in winamp 2?!

[ooby]

I've been watching videos in winamp 2 for a while. It even runs better than Windows Media Player, though sometimes it's upside-down. I don't think the reviewer ever tried to run video in winamp.

And another thing: 4MB?
Winamp 2 is 1MB. No, thanks. I'll stick with my winamp 2.

Re:No video support in winamp 2?!

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

Yeah! Since when are good programs larger than 1MB?!? ;)

Re:No video support in winamp 2?!

[TopShelf]

1MB??? You've got to be kidding - why should anyone need more than 640K?

Re:No video support in winamp 2?!

[dotwaffle]

Video in Winamp 2.91 is quite cool actually, more over it's fast at loading, unlike Winblows Media PLayer. Yeah, I've stuck with 2.91 for months now, and I don't want to upgrade to do the same stuff, but with "modern skins". Sorry, but Justin leaving has corrupted Winamp. I can see why he left. AOL's presence can be felt. I mean why should I pay 10 ($14.95) for a media player? Come on! Chances are, Winamp 5 has DRM and everything too... And it probably abuses third world children... No wait, that's another

655k is less then 1MB

[DeadScreenSky]

And another thing: 4MB?
Winamp 2 is 1MB. No, thanks. I'll stick with my winamp 2.
Why don't you just follow the link and get the 655k Lite version, then?

Re:No video support in winamp 2?!

[Naikrovek]

wow what an excellent bit of logic there.

its you who is missing out, and you have only that logic to blame. winamp 5 kicks ass (kicks the llama's ass) and don't just take my word for it, read the thousands of other e-pinions out there.

have fun in winamp2 land.

(for those of you that don't know, you can choose the classic skin and the behavior/performance of winamp is EXACTLY like the unreleased winamp 2.99. - there really is no reason not to upgrade)

Re:No video support in winamp 2?!

[Apreche]

to fix video problems in winamp install ffdshow

anyone else get this?

[1000101]

When I go to http://winamp.com [winamp.com] it looks different than when I go to http://www.winamp.com [winamp.com] Why?

Re:anyone else get this?

[Vellmont]

Someone forgot to update where the winamp.com virtual host points too?

Re:anyone else get this?

[Down8]

You know, when I heard WA5 dropped (this morning), I went to winamp.com and just figured the new build got leaked early. Then I later ended up at www.winamp.com and figured they had just updated it. Wouldn't have noticed had you not pointed it out. Weird. Guess they were saving the old in case the new site borked or soemthign.

-bZj

Re:anyone else get this?

[(trb001)]

Technically, they're separate websites. In reality, they're typically set to the same thing. If you want to get technical, when you set up your DNS file, you are supposed to declare www as a CNAME of your domain (in this case, winamp.com). You don't have to...in fact, a lot of places don't. Try removing the www from some websites and note that they don't go anywhere...those are people that haven't set a resolution for their domain, only for www.domain.com.

I believe it became a 'standard' early in the web's (note: not the *Internet's* life, the web's life) life. I remember in high school (Thomas Jefferson HS for Sci/Tech, near Washington, D.C.), we had the first high school web server (hell, before most colleges) back in the early 90's, and it was http://thor.tjhsst.edu. We switched over around 1995 because www was more 'normal'. These days, people take it for granted.

--trb

DNS Entries

[Bios_Hakr]

I don't know how much you know about DNS, but here goes:

When you request a URL, you make a request to your ISPs DNS server. It, in turn, makes a request back to (eventually) the rood DNS servers. Those point you to the DNS server of the domain you are trying to reach.

ftp.winamp.com
www.winamp.com
mail.winamp.com
download.winamp.com

Are all resolved to IP addresses by the DNS server sitting in the winamp campus.

So, when someone made the entries in their DNS, www.winamp.com and winamp.com were pointed to different IP addresses. One should have been an a-record (I think) and the other should have been an alias (or cname) to the first. But that didn't happen.

At some point, someone changed the IP address of the http server and only one DNS entry was updated.

winamp.com resolves to 205.188.245.120
www.winamp.com resolves to 205.188.244.138

So it looks as if Winamp has two servers sitting on two seperate class C address spaces in their NOC.

In short, bad DNS management and oversight lead to two DNS entries for two webservers on seperate address spaces.

Re:DNS Entries

[Anonymous Cow herd]

Not at all. First of all, both addresses could be pointing to different interfaces on the same machine. Second, I can almost guarantee that one of the IP addresses/hostnames is tied to an SSL certificate (for online registration/payment, perhaps?) Or possibly firewall rules based on the destination class C.

Cmdr Taco: How good is this one really?

[AtariAmarok]

I'm still using Winamp 2 because they later started to degrade the project with bloating. Is this one really good, and is there any whiff of "DRM" to tell me what I cannot do with my own content on my own machine?

Uninstall?

[AtariAmarok]

Uninstall? Welcome to the Windows world. Most applications that you "try, find out they are crap, and uninstall" leave pieces of themselves all over the system directory and registry.

Does WinAmp render right finally on Win2k?

[192939495969798999]

I have used WinAmp in the past, and like most apps with "skins", it flashes, blinks, doesn't quite work right, and is generally retarded on Windows machines. Does this version finally work OK? Does anyone else have these problems?

Installing..

[MikeDX]

Remember to untick "Add AOL shortcut to desktop"

2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 19...

[3Suns]

2+3=5

Is Nullsoft adopting a Fibonacci versioning system?

'cause that would be awesome.

Re:2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 19...

[3Suns]

Um, that should be 21, not 19 in the subject... I can't add this morning.

Makes more sense than CPU versioning

[CausticPuppy]

That still makes more sense than intel's chip versioning.

Back in the early 90's, the original Pentium was called "P5." 5th generation, I believe, whereas the 80386 and 80486 were 3rd and 4th gen.

For example, Gateway had model numbers like "P5-120" for 120MHz Pentiums.

Pentium Pro became P6.

Then came the Pentium 2. This became abbreviated as P2. Or sometimes P-II.
Pentium 3 = P3. Or sometimes P-III.
Pentium 4 = P4.

I sure hope they never come out with anything called "Pentium 5" or somebody will get pun

Re:2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 19...

[American AC in Paris]

Is Nullsoft adopting a Fibonacci versioning system?

'cause that would be awesome.

...I dunno. Fibonacci versioning sounds cool and all, but tech support would be a nightmare:

Tech: "Okay, sir, which version of our software are you running?"
Customer: "Version 1."
Tech: "OK...which version 1 are you running?"
Customer: "Huh?"
Tech: "Are you running the first version 1 or the second version 1?"
Customer: "Ummmm..."

Does it still

[LittleLebowskiUrbanA]

hijack your bookmarks and change your video preferences to open everything in Winamp regardless if you specifically denied it that right during setup?
After Winamp3 did that to me, that was it.

iTunes vs. Winamp: Media Library Is Still a Mess

[John_Booty]

For me, iTunes sets the bar here, as far as anything I've tried on Windows. It's so easy in iTunes to drag songs to other playlists. Why does iTunes get this SO right, and nobody else comes close?

What I like to do is listen to my entire collection on shuffle, most of the time. Occaisionally I'll hear a song that I'd like to add to one of my playlists (coding music playlist, one for my next roadtrip, etc). In iTunes this is easy. In Winamp it's possible but kind of a mess, and you can't drag from the playlist window to the list of playlists in the Media Library window. And I diskike the "let's have a different window for everything" interface concept of Winamp in general.

Those are nitpicky concerns, but for a music player they're pretty vital. It's got to be easy to use, since I have it open, off to the side, while coding... if I have to devote a lot of thought to futzing around with somebody's kludgy interface, it's a big distraction.

Not that iTunes is perfect. Chugs like a mofo when you've got 50-60GB of music imported...

Re:iTunes vs. Winamp: Media Library Is Still a Mes

[EricWright]

It's so easy in iTunes to drag songs to other playlists. Why does iTunes get this SO right, and nobody else comes close?

Because that's The Apple Way(TM).

Mirror.

[themassiah]

Hopefully my local RoadRunner's NOC can handle this. I know they just laid a new buttload of fiber, we'll see if we can get them to light it up. *crosses fingers*

http://home.twcny.rr.com/scooper2/winamp50_full.ex e [rr.com]

Thanks

[AbbyNormal]

"Its dead sexy."

Great, now everytime I run Winamp, I'm going to think about fat bastard! "I'm Soooo Sexxxxxxxxy". Thanks for the mental vision!

long time?

[Down8]

Didn't iTunes for Windows only drop a month or two ago? How does one count a month as being a "long time" user?

-bZj

Ratios?

[m00nun1t]

Note, last link requires some other OS.

I can't find the link off hand, but I seem to recollect CmdrTaco revealed in an IRC log that over half of /. hits were from Windows.

Re:Ratios?

[m00nun1t]

Found it: "Windows is 72% of traffic on Slashdot" [slashnet.org]

Winamp3, not Winamp 3

[berkut1337]

It's actually was named Winamp3, not Winamp 3. Supposedly Nullsoft really wanted to have mp3 in the product name...

Lite Version

[RussGarrett]

There is a lite version available here [nullsoft.com], which doesn't include freeform skinning, or video, and is basically "old school" winamp2. And it's only 650kB.

Loyal iTunes user...

[Sinistar2k]

... for some time?

How long has that service been around that one can make it sound like they've been a subscriber to iTunes from way back when it was just a local band?

Some mirrors:

[Vellmont]

Canada Mirror [ctech.ca]
mirror 2 [clubic.com]

Winamp 5 is a Good Thing(TM)

[angstorm]

I've used Winamp 5 pre-releases for a month, here's my observations:

* FAST: As snappy as 2.x even on old machines using the "classic" skin.
* STABLE: In a month of use, no crashes or uncouth behavior.
* 2.x FEATURES: "Jump" and "Physically Delete" have been re-introduced.
* SKINS: Works with version 2 and 3 skins. New default skin is user-friendly and purdy.
* RIPPING: Making good MP3s from your CDs is fast and easy.
* Global hotkeys: Control all program features through global hotkeys, e.g. press CTRL-ALT-5 to activate pause/play, even when Winamp is not focused as the active app.
* Media library: Quickly find songs based on title, album, and artist.

If you liked Winamp2 but not 3, you should give this a try.

Re:Winamp 5 is a Good Thing(TM)

[Mattsson]

Just curious. How good is the mp3-encoder it uses and has it got error correcting cd-ripping?
If it's not as good or better than the Exact Audio Copy / Lame combination, the cd-rip feature is not worth paying for. (I read that you had to pay for the cd-rip version.)
EAC/Lame is fast, easy and makes good mp3's for free. =)

But the global hotkey does seem interesting...

wasabi

[nazh]

for those of you that prefere winamp3,
it will continue as wasabi-player. http://www.wasabidev.org/ [wasabidev.org],
with they call a mostly opensource licence [wasabidev.org]. but they do mention crossplatform :)

A Skeptic's View

[Apreche]

Ok. I'm a winamp2 nut. I refused winamp3. So naturally my first reaction when I heard about 5 was, screw that! winamp2 forevar!

But I couldn't resist trying it. So I downloaded the free winamp5. I must say that this is an appropriate analogy.

windows2000:windowsXP::winamp2:winamp5

winamp 5 can be turned into winamp2 with a few mouse clicks
windows xp can be turned into windows2000 in a few mouse clicks

winamp 5 can run every plugin, skin and visualization from winamp 2
windows xp can do everything windows 2000 can do

winamp 5 has more options and more features than winamp 2
windows xp has some stuff in it that win2k don't got

The audio quality is identical. On my fast pc the speed is identical. I don't need cd burning or ripping because I have CDex and Nero, so I don't need to pay for the pro version, which only costs 15$.

My faith in nullsoft has been restored. I'll try winamp 5 a week and see if I find a reason not to use it.

Oh, the minibrowser is gone (yay!) but it is present in the media library (boo!), but you can click one button and it will go away (yay!). So it's all good.

shoutcast video

[SubtleNuance]

Another, very interesting feature is NSV streaming video. [winamp.com]
Like the 'internet radio' stations streamed by shoutcast, there are a few internet TV stations. This my friends, is truely significant. Winamp becomes a digital-tv tuner (....i dont mean HDTV). People will be able to stream out any video they'd like -- the other day I watched a few episodes of aqua teen hunger force, some pr0n, and the movie Phone Booth.
Imagine a million streams of public access tv, mixed up with random bits of quality niche movies/shows....

THAT is what makes winamp5 cool. Now, i might just be ignorant, but is there another app that puts a selection of streaming video stations together for you to surf?

Idiots

[elohim]

Those idiots should have torrented this. Here's a working link though:
http://64.12.168.244/winamp/client/winamp 50_full.e xe

Ah Nullsoft...

[phildog]

The company that AOL wants you to forget they own... Nullsoft releases cool software called Waste, AOL pulls plug almost instantly. Nullsoft releases cool software called AIMazing, AOL pulls plug almost instantly.

I still use WinAmp, but this company no longer whips the llama's ass.

Will NullSoft honor...

[Keick]

... us early adopters who actually paid for WinAmp back in the day?

If I'm not mistaken, you could purchase WinAmp back then with free upgrades for life. 2 monthes later, they honored that contract by making it free. Now that the Pro version isn't, I want my free upgrade :)

Re:Will NullSoft honor...

[NullPhi]

Unfortunately, no.

NullSoft is being really stupid on this issues. They have stated you paid for "WinAmp" and that this new product is "WinAmp Pro". You still have the ability to receive "WinAmp" for free, but not "WinAmp Pro".

This is quite a poor decision -- especially since it will only affect a handful of users (and would not really put a dent in their sales).

Yay for being greedy!

Re:Keep Getting Your Digs In...

[DrWhizBang]

dude - relax.

actually, some people may not know what an .exe is. or they may assume it is just a mis-named zip. or something. there is nothing wrong with pointing out that the file at the link provided is platform specific. I also don't find it insulting to say "some other OS." He probably is not using Windows. It's not like he said "some other CRAPPY OS".

If there's anything worse than ia troll, it is someone hunting imaginary trolls.

Re:Smart Playlists

[Monglord]

Oh crap, n00b alert. How do you delete posts here?

Let's try that again shall we.

QUOTE:
iTunes is slow as hell on my reasonably fast system but I deal with it because I love its song rating system and smart playlists. Syncing with my ipod comes in a close second behind any of these. A quick glance at winamp 5 seems like it has none of these


Look again my friend.
Winamp 5.0 has song ratings & smart playlists in the media library, and much much more, and there's also an iPod plugin available here:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?postid=104 1916#post1041916

To be truthful, in general, too many people have blindly posted here without at least even trying out Winamp 5 first. How can you knock something without actually trying it? Forget about any grievances you had with Winamp3, this is Winamp. The same old Winamp you all once knew and loved. This is Winamp 2.x updated with a few extra features (if you decide to install them) - yes, remember, Winamp is MODULAR - you decide which features you want - and this includes the option to not install support for freeform skins, video, media library, and any other optional feature/plugin. Heck, you can even install a Lite version to upgrade your 2.x version to the latest 2.x equivalent version - but with loads of bug fixes.


And, as for people moaning about paying for it - well you don't ever have to pay for it if you don't wish. There's no nag screen or anything. So, you don't need the ripper or burner, fine, download the Standard Free version instead, with all the features of Pro, except for ripping & burning.

But if you want Pro, then Nullsoft actually has to pay for the licence, on a per user basis, to Thomson/FhG for MP3 Encoding, to Dolby for AAC encoding, and to Veritas/Sonic Solutions for the ripping/burning engine.

So, you've got an app which does it for free, have you? Well, just do a bit more research first, and I think you'll be quite surprised at the results of your find. I won't go into too greater detail, because this post is long enough as it is - but hey, all I can say is this:

Please just give it a try first, just for a few days even, and then if you're not happy, sure, go ahead and uninstall it and then come back here with a valid criticism.


Thank you for your time. :)


Oh, and if anyone's having problems downloading it,
then try here (download.nullsoft.com direct ip link):
http://64.12.168.244/winamp/client/winamp50_full.e xe

WinXP file properties

[ZxCv]

3. Using WinXP (right click properties), apply batch Tags (artist, album title etc) to MP3s.

When you do this, is it just working with the filesystem metainfo that is available for all types of files, or is it actually working with the ID3 tags in the files? My initial thought was the former, but if it is the latter, then props to Winderz cuz thats pretty fsckin' cool.