Winamp Prepares a Relaunch

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Winamp is getting closer to release with a redesigned website, logo, and a new beta signup allowing users to soon test the upcoming version of the media player. Before we streamed our music, users would rip their albums or download MP3s to listen on their computer using media players. One of the most popular media players to play MP3s was Winamp, with its retro skins and animated visualizers that moved along with the music you were playing. However, Winamp had not seen any further development after its version 5.5 release in 2007.

In October 2018, after Winamp 5.8 was leaked online, the developers decided to publish the leaked version on their website Winamp.com to allow everyone to use it in all its nostalgic glory. Unfortunately, while Radionomy, the owners of Winamp, said they had big plans for Winamp, no further versions have been released since then. The only new Winamp development we have seen has been by the Winamp Community Update Project (WACUP) who released Preview version 1.0.20.7236 with bug fixes and improvements. You can sign up for a Winamp beta test here.

Winamp

[LondoMollari]

It really kicks the llamas ass

Re: Winamp

[LondoMollari]

Or was it whips?

Re: Winamp is for fudgepackers

[EurinalPoop]

Thank you for the clarification. Back when I was in junior high, everyone had LAVA! AOL had bought Winamp, and though AcidTag was still around, it wasn't the player it had been. By the way, it's way too early for whippits.

Re: Winamp

[kopecn]

Whichever it does, the lamaâ(TM)s butt must be really sore. I feel with Winamp on this multi year hiatus has gives much relief to the Lamas of this world.

Re: Winamp

[memory_register]

Beat me to it!

Re:Winamp

[EnsilZah]

More like flogs the dead llama's ass at this point.

Re:Winamp

[jwhyche]

More like flogs the dead llama's ass at this point.

Pretty much it. It's not a question of can the llama relaunch, its a question "if it matters?" When Winamp first launched it was the best mp3 player out there. Not so today. I use Foobar2000, a friend of mine uses Musicbee, another friend uses VLC. Most people that still play mp3's just use whatever comes with the computer. Even the included media player that comes with Windows is good enough to for most people.

All that, plus with the take over of streaming service, I don't see how Winamp could make a comeback and be profitable. It has been out of action for so long most of the fans have simply moved on.

Re:

[Duds]

And I still use Winamp.

The thing is, I can't see what they can possibly add to this that I'd want. I want it to play music files and be as small as possible. Winamp does this. It's not like it uses too much CPU or memory on a machine that has about 100 times more of both than it was designed for or anything.

Re:

[garyisabusyguy]

The only thing that I can imagine is snooping for unlicensed music and notifying the owner to allow for automated lawsuits under DMCA

Re:

[jwhyche]

I'm really surprised that Winamp still works. When I tried to bring it up a few years ago I never could get it to run correctly. I just chalked it up to Windows updates and left it at that. There are two things that I miss about the Winamp that Foobar2000 doesn't seem to have.

Shoutcast directory look up. I liked to look down the shoutcast directory on Winamp and see what was being played all around the world. I can still do that but it's not the same as having it in the actual player.

Window shad

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm still using version 5.6, from the original developers, Nullsoft, dated November 2013. I use it to listen to music and podcasts everyday and it works perfectly fine.

I have full confidence that this "new" version will be a steaming pile of shit.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I have an oldass one, all I want it to do is playlist handling of local files, simple drag and drop simple arrangement simple load and save simple edit simple lightweight efficient.

I'd probably debate the value of most "modern" player features, but acknowledge that it all becomes pretty irrelevant to septembers that want to be at the whim of streaming. They are numerous, no denying that.

I have major doubts on the new one, but am willing to hear how it works out. Probably full of cloud, accounts, subscribing

Re:

[egyas]

I really wish I currently had mod points, so that I could up-vote this! lol :)

Just leave it alone in its grave already.

[Pierre Pants]

As if there's a shortage of much better, much more customizable players. Winamp probably still uses ancient components that were developed by the guy who moved on to develop his own player which doesn't suck, foobar2000.

Re:Just leave it alone in its grave already.

[The-Ixian]

Yes. This is a solved problem. No need for resurrecting Winamp. Foobar2000 is so much better. It's what I still use today.

Re:

[antdude]

I prefer WACUP that updates old Winamp: https://getwacup.com/ [getwacup.com]

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

foobar2000 doesn't allow the layout I want, it uses album art, and tabs. I hate all of that.

Re:

[Pierre Pants]

Then use the Classic User Interface (cool features) or Columns UI (cool features and power-user customization), and you don't have to enable album art or use tabs (although I have no idea why, because multiple quickly accessible playlists is a nice feature). Or you can use one of the many other players that are far better than Winamp in every way.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

Nope. None have a better layout than WinAmp.

Past age

[puddingebola]

Is it as good as Bananamp running in Windows 93? Probably not. I have some old mp3s somewhere, maybe I'll download this to play them. Or maybe Foobar 2000. I dunno, it's a streaming world now.

Re:Past age

[Comboman]

Yes, I'd much rather pay a monthly streaming subscription (plus use up airtime data if I'm mobile) rather than spend a few minutes to load every song I could ever want to listen to onto a super-cheap, multi-terabyte flash drive. You've been swindled and think it's progress.

Re:

[cascadingstylesheet]

Yes, I'd much rather pay a monthly streaming subscription (plus use up airtime data if I'm mobile) rather than spend a few minutes to load every song I could ever want to listen to onto a super-cheap, multi-terabyte flash drive. You've been swindled and think it's progress.

I've done both.

Yes, actually, $9.99/mo to listen to whatever I want, whenever I want, from the whole world's catalog, without ever having to worry about finding, buying used CDs and ripping (or finding decent scammed mp3s), backing up, cataloging, etc. etc. etc. actually is better, at least for me. YMMV.

Re:

[cheesybagel]

You pay for Youtube?

Re:

[Comboman]

You get internet bandwidth for free?

Re:

[burningcpu]

I already need it and I'm not paying by the byte. Not disagreeing with your other points.

A solution in search of a problem

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

Winamp works just fine as it is.
I can't wait to see what "features" it decides to add to become "relevant" in today's world.

Like/Dislike button
Social Media integration
F2P model
Bluetooth
e.mail client (because, why not?)

Re: A solution in search of a problem

[Type44Q]

I can't wait to see what "features" it decides to add to become "relevant" in today's world.Winamp adding "features" like Ryan Geiss's Milkdrop was what lead to ProjectM.

Long live Milkdrop!

Re:

[UnknownSoldier]

> Like/Dislike button

You forgot:

* Eventually the dislike button gets removed because some corporate sponsor got butthurt. /s

Re:

[toddestan]

Don't forget using some big bloated framework like Electron which will result in gigabytes of disk space and gigabytes of ram just to play a music file while having an interface that's noticeably sluggish on a high-end modern CPU.

For what it is, Winamp is amazingly small and lightweight by modern standards, especially considering the extensive feature set it has. Of course, this is because it's a program from a different era, when people still used single-core CPU's and 1GB of ram was unheard of.

Winamp is dead

[Gravis Zero]

The nice thing about Winamp was it was a no nonsense player that utilized minimal resources and was highly responsive while being extendable via plugins. Things went downhill quick with Winamp 3.x and it never recovered.
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it's some javascript garbage that runs on Electron and is delivered in a 200MB package.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

Have you seen winamp.com? My browser lags when I open it.

This does not bode well.

Re:Winamp is dead

[Moskit]

Try opening winamp.exe

Re:

[dysmal]

Agreed. The real selling point of Winamp was the plugin and skin communities in a time when it was a PITA to customize the color scheme in Windows.

Re:

[adonoman]

Yup - it was lightweight enough that I could play MP3s on my DX4/100 without stuttering.

Better than VLC?

[Ritz_Just_Ritz]

What does it offer that VLC doesn't? I've been using that for years since winamp fell off the radar. Works just fine on my linux desktop, android device, and in conjunction with android auto in the car.

https://www.videolan.org/ [videolan.org]

Best,

Re:

[Carewolf]

Nostalgia?

Re:

[mZHg]

I've been using Both Winamp and VLC for years. I use VLC only for video.

Winamp has a better, smaller interface when it comes to listening to music (and yes I still use mp3, I don't use any streaming service like spotify as they never have what I listen too), you can keep the playlist snapped to the player, which persist between launches and remember where you were at. Oh and global hotkeys too.

Also, by using both, I don't fucked up my music playlist when I want to watch a video.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

Mostly the layout. WinAMP is the only one that will allowed me to change the layout into something that make sense to me.

Re:

[JThundley]

I use both Winamp and VLC on Windows 7, and the one thing that I know Winamp has going for it is it handles large playlists very well. I like the UI better than VLC and it is light on resources. In Linux I use qmmp for the same reasons.

Re:

[toddestan]

Winamp has a much better playlist and playlist editor. VLC's playlist editor for a long time seemed like an afterthought. They've improved it, but Winamp's is still better, especially with large playlists.

Winamp also has visualization plugins. I don't use them much, but every once and a while I'll fire up Milkdrop for some nostalgia.

Don't get me wrong about VLC. I have it installed and I've used it for years, but it's never been my primary media player.

Winamp 2.79

[jrq]

Happily running version 2.79 here. Compact, efficient, and an Explorer shell integration with "enqueue".

Re:

[Guspaz]

2.95 here. It still works just as well as it did two decades ago, so why change? The pixel double mode even makes it usable on modern higher resolution displays.

Re:

[Calydor]

Running 5.63 with the full retro skin here; looks just like it did when we worried about Y2K.

Plexamp

[PeeAitchPee]

Those of you with Plex Pass should check out Plexamp [plexamp.com]. It was originally inspired by Winamp [medium.com]. If you run a Plex server or two, once you try it you'll never use anything else for playing your music collections.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

That app is a pile of shit treading on WinAMP good name.

Re:

[PeeAitchPee]

Opinions are like assholes, son . . . everyone's got one. And mine's worth as much as yours.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

I don't about you, but my is better.
It produces shit that doesnt stink

My poor Llama

[ironicsky]

After Winamp came out, it's ass has never been the same.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

Don't worry the llama likes it. It is a dirty llama.

Speak for yourself

[Krakadoom]

Why stream music when you can own your own library of it?

Re:

[Guspaz]

And why wouldn't you use Winamp to play your own library of it?

Re:

[jwhyche]

Why stream music when you can own your own library of it?

Because its cheaper and better.

Re:

[ac22]

Yes, when you stream music, it PlaysForSure! *

* (Until the DRM servers are turned off in August 31, 2008)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[jwhyche]

I have no idea what PlayForSure is or was supposed to be but I fail to see any connection with music stream services like Spotify or Amazon music. If once of them was to turn off the drm servers that would mean they are out of business. I would just subscribe to one that is still around.

Re:

[ac22]

And any music that you'd spent on Microsoft's PlayForSure DRM'd tracks would have been wasted.

If you'd instead decided to download all the tracks as non-DRMd MP3s, they would still be on your hard drive, and there would be no need to pay more money for another streaming service.

Also, how the hell has someone with a 4 digit ID never heard of Microsoft's failed PlaysForSure music service? I even posted a link for you, but perhaps that was a little too much effort to click. Good job defending Microsoft's DRM s

Re:

[jwhyche]

What the fuck are you talking about? Nobody is defending microsofts drm schemes, or even talking about them. It should be clear to any one with more than a room temperature IQ that I'm talking streaming services like Spotify and Amazon music. Hell, I even said that in the post your are replying too.

I read your link and decided it wasn't important. It isn't since it has no bearing on the conversation. Reading comprehension is your friend.

Re:

[ac22]

The first post on this thread was

Why stream music when you can own your own library of it?

You replied with

Because its cheaper and better.

I made a tongue-in-cheek remark intended to point out that your music isn't always going to be available to you if you don't have a non-DRMd version of it stored locally. Not having an internet connection for streamed music or for DRMd music kind of ruins the experience.

If I have all the music that I want to listen to on my hard drive, how is streaming cheaper? My music collection is costing me $0/month. OK, how is streaming better? Any one streaming servic

Re:

[jwhyche]

Well if you want to listen to the same tracks over and over then I guess you have a point.

Personally, I like my music with tons of diversity. I just discovered a new genre of music today that I never would have found it I still relied on radio and music stores, Folk Metal.

How do you listen to music off line? Same why you do. I just tell Spotify to download some music I want to listen to offline. I don't do that often but I do keep a downloaded copy of a smooth jazz instrumental playlist. 1200 trac

Re:

[ac22]

How do you listen to music off line? Same why you do. I just tell Spotify to download some music I want to listen to offline. I don't do that often but I do keep a downloaded copy of a smooth jazz instrumental playlist. 1200 tracks but that is plenty for anytime I'm offline.

When it comes to music, I like low tech. This morning, I grabbed one of my many mp3 compilations, put it on my old iPod shuffle and headed to the beach. If I get robbed or fall into the sea, I'm only out $20 :)

I'll "stream" Youtube sometimes in the evening by letting it auto-select the next track, but most of my listening is from my large, carefully curated collection of albums and compilations. There's probably months of audio there, so "repeating tracks" isn't really an issue. And there's zero quality con

Re:

[jwhyche]

Whatever works for you. An, I don't mean that in a smart ass manner. You got a system that works for you, so who am I to knock it?

But for me, the way I listen to music it would be least efficient way to do it. My musical moods can change from hour to hour. One moment I'm listening to Sinatra, then after lunch its crunch time so its ICP all the way. So streaming from Spotify is the best way to do it.

Re:

[flink]

Because there is still plenty of music out there from now defunct small indie or DIY labels that will never be on streaming services.

Here's Winamp from January 2005

[ac22]

The minimal install takes up 1.5MB. Running it now and it works just fine. Older versions are apparently available, but this was the first I could easily get my hands on and test.

https://www.filehorse.com/down... [filehorse.com]

Re:

[freeze128]

What other MP3 players fit on a floppy disk?

Well

[DarkRookie2]

The site and logo and not good indicators of what this is going to be.
This feels like this might become some kinda Spotify/Pandora client with a minor ability to play local content.

older is better

[groobly]

I still use the 2005 version. Works just fine, and doesn't need any new frobs.

And to think

[DrXym]

When AOL bought Nullsoft it had the world in its hand. AOL had streaming music, an MP3 ripper and player, and even a music label under its belt. With even a tiny bit of joined up thinking it could have done what Apple did with iTunes.

But being AOL, it fucked it all up. It squandered its purchase, stifled innovation and Winamp died on the vine with rest of the classic AOL empire. What a joke.

I hope it is for Linux

[OrangeTide]

Ideally Linux-only. It's the only platform left for traditional applications that aren't "in the cloud".

Winamp's dead.

[gizmo2199]

VLC is the current king of standalone desktop media players. It's open source, under active development and supports a wide-range of media codecs and available for Windows, Linux and Mac, as well as on the IOS app store.

Hard to see why anyone would install winamp now.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

It doesn't really do library management all that well. I don't even think it has a library view akin to WinAmp
Fun fact. VLC is also on Android! But it is a stripped down version missing things.

Commitment to modernizing

[evidentiary]

Ugly, generic logo - check.
Vague, poorly defined purpose - check.
Superlatives and aggrandizement - check.
Pitch for help disguised as chance at making a meaningful contribution to ... something? - check.

I imagine they even went the extra mile and paid an order of magnitude more for marketing than r&d.

Native Linux version, please?

[Rick Schumann]

WINE runs the Windows version so-so, but I'd prefer it if there was a native Linux version. QMMP is a poor substitute for actual Winamp.

Winamp 2.95 +MLipod+Milkdrop+SanzaZipClip+RockBox

[bd580slashdot]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Winamp 2.95
+MLipod to sync with portable players.
+Milkdrop for killer visuals
+MusicBrainz for autodownloading and embedding tags and album art for all those incorrectly labeled rips and youtube downloads (ytl-dlp for downlods from youtube).

And a bit offtopic but ...

+SanzaZipClip portable /tiny/ player
with 128GB SDXC card doubles as portable drive with multiboot (Win/Linux) plus holds all my music
+RockBox FOSS firmware to add ogg FLAC and other codecs

Super lightweight for outdo

Bah.

[RightSaidFred99]

I know some people have this weird desire to have their music on their own server and shit, but this whole mode of listening to music is for olds (and I'm pretty old myself, so I mean real olds). Spotify (or whatever streaming you prefer) is better in almost every way. I go on a jog and I have my whole spotify 600+ song playlist on my watch. Pretty much anywhere I want to listen to music I can listen to any song or playlist I want. Winamp... pfft. What next, are text based BBS's going to make a comeback? Ju

I've been using the public Preview builds

[Babel-17]

Very nice for bookmarking and then streaming the SomaFM commercial free channels.

it will fail

[argStyopa]

WinAmp was lean, simple, and clear.
It will be really astonishing if they don't
- build in 8 million features nobody wants/needs.
- make something 50 megs in size
- offer a UI that's not laden with ads
- block custom mods/skins, and instead offer ones for sale from their store.