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Media Music Software

New Winamp Update Adds Features, Fixes, and (Sigh) Support For 'Music NFTs' 47

Posted by BeauHD from the giving-the-people-what-they-want dept.
The release candidate for Winamp version 5.9.1 builds on the groundwork laid by August's 5.9 update to fix some bugs and add new features to the reanimated music player. "Most of these are straightforward updates or improvements to existing features, but because it's 2022, one of the only new features is support for music NFTs," reports Ars Technica. From the report: "Winamp's latest version lets music fans link their Metamask wallet via Brave, Chrome, or Firefox to Winamp. It then connects their favorite music NFTs to their tried-and-true player," the company said in a press release provided to Ars. "Winamp supports audio and video files distributed under both the ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards, and is launching this new feature for Ethereum and Polygon/Matic protocols." To directly display websites needed to download these NFT playlists, according to the release notes, would require an updated rendering engine for Winamp's in-app browser, which is currently based on Internet Explorer 10.

There's still plenty here for legacy Winamp fans to like, and it's nice to see that all the modernization work done in the 5.9 update is paying off in the form of faster updates. Among many other fixes, the new release includes a "memory footprint reduction," a bandwidth increase for streamed music, an update to OpenSSL 3.0.5, and a few other updates for the underlying codecs and other software that Winamp uses to do its thing. As for the NFT support, Winamp developer Eddy Richman (who goes by the handle "DJ Egg" on the Winamp forums) wrote that people who don't want it can remove it, either during the install process or after Winamp is installed.
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New Winamp Update Adds Features, Fixes, and (Sigh) Support For 'Music NFTs' More

New Winamp Update Adds Features, Fixes, and (Sigh) Support For 'Music NFTs'

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  • Winamp still exists?! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fbobraga ( 1612783 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @07:48PM (#63109144) Homepage
    used much it in 90's: good times :P

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I'm still using WinAmp 5.6.666 which was released in 2013.

      It works. It plays audio files. Everything else is pointless bullshit.

    • [stares into the distance]
      "Ahhh...WinAmp. Now there's a name I haven't heard in years...."

  • Music NFTs? Wow (Score:3)

    by youngone ( 975102 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @07:50PM (#63109146)
    At long last, someone can provide the thing that I have needed all my life.
    I'll call that nice Sam Bankman-Fried bloke to help. He looks honest.
    • It's the perfect thing for elitist music snobs.

      "Oh, this song? You've never heard it because I'm the only one who has it."

      • That makes me want it even more. Have you got Sam's new number? His old one seems to be disconnected. Weird.

    • How much you wanna bet that the *only* reason someone put time into updating this crusty old application was to add NFTs to it?

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Voyager529 ( 1363959 )

        How much you wanna bet that the *only* reason someone put time into updating this crusty old application was to add NFTs to it?

        I'm still pretty convinced it's a money laundering front.

        They've been hyping a new version of Winamp for a few years now; as far back as 2016 [archive.org].They also have a Winamp Foundation [winamp.com], which has a rather vague and dubious mission statement. A private beta program was implemented in the middle of last year, but I haven't been able to reliably find so much as screenshots...but lawd, were there Facebook ads for the title last year!

        NFTs are just the icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. By time we get there, ther

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by KlomDark ( 6370 )

          Even better, I was accepted into the private beta program, and I have yet to see anything for us beta testers to download. (But I haven't tried in many months)

      • Well, I hope so. Everything is better with NFT's.

        I've got this idea for an NFT of the NFT I bought from Metallica Trump. Send me $30,000 in iTunes gift cards and I'll cut you in.

  • Sure. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by lunchlady55 ( 471982 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @08:29PM (#63109200)

    But does it still really whip the llama's ass?

  • ... that I will not download Winamp, no matter how nostalgic I feel, is to have anything to do with NFTs associated with it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by blackomegax ( 807080 )
      Weird hill to die on since you can choose not to partake in that part of the app. Those who do choose it should have the right to do so.

      NFTs provide consumers with a new way to collect and own unique digital items. For many people, collecting physical items such as stamps, coins, or trading cards has been a popular hobby for many years. NFTs provide a new way for people to collect and own unique digital items, such as digital art, collectible items, or other one-of-a-kind digital assets. This can provide a

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Duds ( 100634 )

        No, I do not want an app that adds bloat to facilitate a pyramid scam.

        • Pyramid schemes are illegal, fraudulent schemes in which participants make money solely by recruiting new participants, rather than by selling a legitimate product or service. NFTs, on the other hand, are digital assets that represent ownership of a unique digital item, such as a piece of artwork or a collectible. While it is possible for people to make money by buying and selling NFTs, they are not required to recruit others in order to do so. Furthermore, the value of an NFT is based on its perceived wor

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by torkus ( 1133985 )

        I'm just curious if you typed that out from memory or have it sitting as a cut and paste.

        The attempts at adding centralized DRM to digital music in the late 90s/early 2000s is not greatly different than the current music NFT's ... which I expect will suffer the same fate.

        Could NFT's be useful? Maybe. As implemented? fark no.

  • The update in August broke some things I use to run Shoutcast radio, which is odd since the same company makes WinAmp and Shoutcast server. It is the only way to broadcast Shoutcast v2 that I have found. Everything else only does Shoutcast v1. Very strange backstory, but anyway... Long Live Internet Radio :)

  • Will likely not update. Does what I need it to do and no reason/desire to roll the dice on trusting modern NFT infused llama ass kicking.

  • WACUP! (Score:4, Informative)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @10:10PM (#63109348) Homepage Journal

    https://getwacup.com/ [getwacup.com]

    It uses the original Winamp version with fixes and updates.

  • I had no idea. I Loved Winamp back in the 90's. I've been using Media Player Classic that comes bundled with the Klite CODEC Pack for probably the past 20 years now and it works for everything. I see no need to switch back to Winamp, even with NFT support?? I mean, huh? I've never seen a .NFT music file?

  • Winamp is run by people who can't leave well enough alone. I had no doubt that the new "back to roots" Winamp won't last. When Winamp 3 came out and really sucked the llama's ass, one of the developers quit in anger. And proceeded to create his own music player that just did what it is supposed to do.

    Foobar2000 has been a no-nonsense excellent music player for 2 decades now. I highly recommend to anyone to leave Winamp in the 90s where it belongs. I mean common it's not the 90s anymore. Your software should

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      It comes back to a simple philosophy: software reaches a state of maturity and has great functionality. Instead of just releasing fixes, the development team and managers involved with development have to justify their jobs. As a result, they ruin the original product and somebody comes out with a new product with the original functionality. The loop then continues indefinitely. See also AOL IM, Yahoo messenger, ICU, Skype, telegram, etc. Telegram is in the process of the "making it worse" phase.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by torkus ( 1133985 )

        It comes back to a simple philosophy: software reaches a state of maturity and has great functionality. Instead of just releasing fixes, the development team and managers involved with development have to justify their jobs. As a result, they ruin the original product and somebody comes out with a new product with the original functionality. The loop then continues indefinitely. See also AOL IM, Yahoo messenger, ICU, Skype, telegram, etc. Telegram is in the process of the "making it worse" phase.

        It's not only limited to software. Management LOVES to do the same. Politicians? Heck yah, let's "improve" xyz law.

        I wonder if someone's done their thesis on humanities misguided drive to 'improve' things that either don't need improvement or get so mangled by misguided attempts that they then do need fixing (and rarely get it).

        The ironic part is Oracle still exists as do platforms based on it!

      • I agree in general, but there is plenty of software that presents a nice counter example including the one I mentioned. However there are two things in your post I completely disagree with:

        Skype - The development team knew perfectly well how to keep a good product in maintenance mode. It was *Microsoft* who bought them and turned the product to a steaming pile of turd.
        Telegram - Telegram was never a product relegated to maintenance mode. It was always a "try anything" chat product. And the big issue is they

  • I had completely forgotten about it. These days, I have everything on a Jellyfin server, and use a variety of front-end clients to access it. On the desktop, I mostly just use the web interface.

  • Stupid, But Not Harmful (Score:3)

    by rsmith-mac ( 639075 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2022 @08:49AM (#63110110)

    The upshot, at least, is this is one of those situations where Winamp's plugin-centric architecture excels. The NFT component is just a plugin, so it can be installed/disabled/removed like any other plugin.

    So while I'm rolling my eyes at the whole matter (thanks, Radionomy), it's not something that compromises the overall design or usability of Winamp. For the 3 people that actually want to have musical NFTs, they now have a plugin they can use..

  • Like milkdrop or dancing people, they can do whatever the hell they want with other features (like those silly NFTs)

    Visalualizations (specially dancing people) are a godsend for small scale raves and small dance clubs. And milkdrop is a joy to contemplate while listening in the privacy of your own home.

    JM2C YMMV

  • That's it, put crap in your program that no one wants. : P

  • Haha. Havent' found any reason to upgrade winamp for the past 15 years.

  • There is no such thing as an NFT music. There was no reason to even build the add-on functionality. That's like building a program that only works after the rapture - completely useless.

  • someone had to, come on 90's kids, represent....

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