This version of Winamp recreated in HTML5 really whips the llama's ***

[Shawn Knight]

It’s been a tough year or so for iconic MP3 player Winamp. After launching in 1997 and exploding in popularity over the next several years, the once go-to media player quietly vanished from relevance through the latter half of the 2000s thanks largely in part to iTunes (and mismanagement on AOL’s part).

The rise of streaming music provided the final nail in the proverbial coffin as Winamp was to be shut down late last year. That date came and went with nary a word on the matter until early this year when Radionomy bought Winamp and Shoutcast from AOL.

Regardless of what happens to the software in its new owner's hands, Winamp will live on in infamy thanks to one Jordan Eldredge. Through the use of HTML5 and JavaScript, Eldredge has created a (mostly) working version of Winamp 2.9 that can play MP3s hosted online. Yes, this really whips the llama's ass!

Found is a TechSpot feature where we share clever, funny or otherwise interesting stuff from around the web.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/58728-winamp-recreated-html5.html

 

[cliffordcooley]

Anyone thinking this wasn't possible before now?

Maybe the author should have focused a bit on possible enhancements that were not possible before. If there are any that exist. I'm trying to picture why "this really whips the llama's ***". HTML5, yea maybe. But you don't need HTML5 to play MP3's. And MP3's are what the author seems to be concentrating on.

TechSpot can be so confusing with their articles at times, when they summarize everything they publish.

 

[seefizzle]

Anyone thinking this wasn't possible before now?

Maybe the author should have focused a bit on possible enhancements that were not possible before. If there are any that exist. I'm trying to picture why "this really whips the llama's ***". HTML5, yea maybe. But you don't need HTML5 to play MP3's. And MP3's are what the author seems to be concentrating on.

TechSpot can be so confusing with their articles at times, when they summarize everything they publish.

I don't think you're catching everything that's going on here. Winamp is a beloved music playing software that's been around for years and years. It's been owned by AOL for a while, then basically died, and no one knows what will end up happening to the program in the future. People loved winamp, and now it's basically dead.

The person who made winamp in HTML 5 did it as a homage, not to add features to the program. It's basically someone just doing it to say they did it. It's similar to building an emulator to play Nintendo games. It's fan art.

"Winamp, it really whips the llama's ***", was Winamp's slogan.

 

[Guest]

I've been using Winamp since it first came out and still happily use it.

A lot of features (auto-tagging of songs, etc) no longer work because it's no longer supported, but still my go-to lightweight audio player of choice 24,000 songs later.

 

[Sniped_Ash]

I was just using WinAmp last night to play stuff I got off of Amazon.

 

[psycros]

To this day Winamp is STILL the only media player I can stand to use. Its still the only one with REAL smart tags that can handle raw files. It syncs with practically every device you can plug in to a PC. While third party development of addons and skins has almost come to a halt the sheer number and variety will keep fans going for years to come. Right now the biggest complaint is Radionomy's clunky redesign of the built-in Shoutcast webpage. Its ugly and missing most of the features people were used to. Even stranger, the Android version of Winamp is no longer in Play store.

 

[Jim$ter]

MilkDrop!!

 

[war59312]

Been dead in my eyes.

Foobar2000 FTW. Let POS WinAmp die already! Every since lame version 3 and 5!

 

[yukka]

Miss Winamp. Was an essential download when installing a new pc for me. Antivirus then Winamp.

 

[TS-56336]

And it still really whips a llamas ***

 

[JohnCB]

Anyone thinking this wasn't possible before now?

Maybe the author should have focused a bit on possible enhancements that were not possible before. If there are any that exist. I'm trying to picture why "this really whips the llama's ***". HTML5, yea maybe. But you don't need HTML5 to play MP3's. And MP3's are what the author seems to be concentrating on.

TechSpot can be so confusing with their articles at times, when they summarize everything they publish.

First and foremost, it's merely a homage to the platform and not an official release. So if you're going down the lines thinking it's available in HTML5 as some sort of progressive update then we can just stop here.

Now if you're asking why no one's bothered to do this previously, HTML 5 is entirely the answer. Yes you could technically play MP3s by either forcing download/autoplay in HTML4 or even through Flash, but it was very limiting.

HTML5's canvas has stepped up the game for web development. Stack that alongside with jQuery and you can do some serious interaction and logical programming with the client browser to do all sorts of crazy things you couldn't do just a handful of years ago.

At some point someone probably made a winamp in flash. This is the next generation of that with a much more capable platform, stronger languages and better user experiences.