What Ever Happened to Winamp?
- Thread starter Shawn Knight
- Start date
I used Winamp for some years until foobar2000 comes out with better playback sound
antiproduct
Posts: 311 +439
I use AIMP for the most part, switched from Winamp after it started to get too bloated. Works great. I don't really care to stream when I have all the albums I'd want or buy them as I find new stuff. No sense in paying for a streaming service that gives loads of money to music I don't care for and gives pennies to bands that I do care about. I'd rather buy the album from the band and have them get a larger chunk of my cash, since they deserve it.
The first version was based on the MP3 decoder made by Tomislav Uzelac, which was the first proper MP3 decoder at that time. But it was made to run on Unix-compatible systems, so they adapted it to work on Windows. MP3 decoder was the core of the app, since it wouldn't work without it.
In later versions of WinAmp the initial MP3 decoder was replaced with Nullsoft own decoder, but the success of WinAmp was based on it being first, and using the first successful decoder.
When WinAmp was purchased by AOL for around $80 million the creators of the app didn't give a dime to Tomislav, so he had to sue them. He won the lawsuit and was appointed around $20 million.
In later versions of WinAmp the initial MP3 decoder was replaced with Nullsoft own decoder, but the success of WinAmp was based on it being first, and using the first successful decoder.
When WinAmp was purchased by AOL for around $80 million the creators of the app didn't give a dime to Tomislav, so he had to sue them. He won the lawsuit and was appointed around $20 million.
I received same comments. When I asked ”What do you use instead?”, I tried that program, no jump to file, no queue, no equalizer, no delete duplicates in playlist, no options to adjust the text size in playlist, no Visualizer, and each other software became very slow charged with more than 2000 songs.
Winamp is the best!
BTW, I use Winamp 5.0 and 2.9 skins.
Winamp is the best!
BTW, I use Winamp 5.0 and 2.9 skins.
Winamp brings back a lot of memories. The best memories would be using the Karaoke plugin and setting it up at party's. Be it friends or family it was always a blast.
Antias
Posts: 14 +14
I've never stopped using Winamp however, where I used it in its earlier incarnations for mp3 folder playing, I now use it purely for the Milkdrop visualisations, which I use to mux with my own Progressive House, Techno & PsyTrance 2 to 3 hour mixes that I create... I end up with an mp4 file that friends and a number of venues like to have playing up on big screens for parties etc
I've never found another (free) program that can make visualisations as high rez and responsive as Milkdrop in Winamp...
I've never found another (free) program that can make visualisations as high rez and responsive as Milkdrop in Winamp...
Vanderlinde
Posts: 436 +274
Winamp was the only MP3 player for my former Cyrix PR233+ or so that woud'nt hog up the CPU like Windows Media Player would.
Since then got hooked to it, and still using it today. Spotify just cant beat it. The quality of a good MP3 or even flacc is just better then spotify as well (and I use HQ streams).
Since then got hooked to it, and still using it today. Spotify just cant beat it. The quality of a good MP3 or even flacc is just better then spotify as well (and I use HQ streams).
corrosive23
Posts: 57 +92
Avro Arrow
Posts: 3,721 +4,821
One of the things that made WinAmp really cool was the creation of the SHOUTcast Network. This little feature allowed amateur streaming DJs to broadcast shows online. That was pretty ground-breaking work by Nullsoft. It made WinAmp more than just another media player.
terzaerian
Posts: 1,517 +2,260
In crypto we have a saying - "not your keys, not your coin." Basically, if you don't hold the private keys personally - you've left the token on an exchange, for example - someone else has the power over it and can take it from you. Streaming content is the same deal. If you don't physically have the content in question in an unrestricted form, on physical media you own - be that an HDD, a DVD or a Bluray - it can and probably will be taken away at some point.
Shoutcast seems to be for the ones who want to earn money for the music they provide
I bet you can only use it if you pay a hefty fee to shoutcast.
In my view winamp is dead as the company never released another version, the sad thing is I payed for it but as usual those licenses are lost in infinity.
As the licenses where no longer accepted just before winamp posted to be sold
I do not believe winamp is ever again really released in the wild since the sell
The last beta is the only one ever released, which does nothing better than the old versions.
I admit still using the old winamp everyday as my music player on my pc.
As there is no reason to find another player, as no replacement does anything better either.
I do not use lists or whatever people do I just select the folder where my music is stored and pick the type of music I wanna hear and push play. If I actually would play all my music which I have bought over my lifetime, it would play for many years into the future .....
It would not surprise me that I never would hear the end of my collection
I bet you can only use it if you pay a hefty fee to shoutcast.
In my view winamp is dead as the company never released another version, the sad thing is I payed for it but as usual those licenses are lost in infinity.
As the licenses where no longer accepted just before winamp posted to be sold
I do not believe winamp is ever again really released in the wild since the sell
The last beta is the only one ever released, which does nothing better than the old versions.
I admit still using the old winamp everyday as my music player on my pc.
As there is no reason to find another player, as no replacement does anything better either.
I do not use lists or whatever people do I just select the folder where my music is stored and pick the type of music I wanna hear and push play. If I actually would play all my music which I have bought over my lifetime, it would play for many years into the future .....
It would not surprise me that I never would hear the end of my collection
I agree that winamp does well on all older and lightweight computers, not everybody have the luxury to have the money or need for a super powerfull pc, or soundsystem.
Most people who I know use winamp on their laptops and tablets as well.
VLC is good for playing super hires movies with difficult compression, for normal mpg and lower bitrate movies I use MPC if not work .. VLC
And winamp for all my music which often is flac or at least 320 Mp3 as I love the skins of my winamp showing as a super high quality hifi set
It took me ages to get my music into flac/wav/mp3 as the online stores often do not sell the HQ or use VBR which degrades the quality, and I really hear the difference very well if it is recorded at high bitrates. Often it is only less than 128 or 192.
Especially if you listen classical music with low grade bitrates I hear it almost instant, as you either hear the breakoff of the voice as it should have been or miss the effect of instruments which you clearly hear at the higher segment recordings
That is also why I always try to get studio recordings through my friends who are able to get their hands on them, which often are gifts, and sometimes artists sell these great quality products themselfs.
I admit you need a pretty darn good soundsystem to hear them as well, a simple soundsystem can often not even come close to be able to play it as the artists wanted.
Now if you buy these systems new the prices are scary high, but if you are like me in a large group of music lovers with superb systems they sometimes sell their previous systems to the others and that is where I get the superb gear I use.
Still pretty costly but well worth buying as these products are build to last very long.
Some even own systems older than I am and really never want a new one
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Disagree. I like to keep my audio separate from video. Also I much prefer Winamp's interface and usage over VLC. So therefore I will keep both for their own purposes.
ZedRM
Posts: 1,804 +1,207
This. 100% agree. I use Winamp for music and MPC-BE for video. I'm not really a fan of VLC.
ZedRM
Posts: 1,804 +1,207
That was then, this is now. Winamp is back in active development.
Streaming services that I have tried are way too similar to radio stations. Too few songs in rotation on every channel.
I own over 350,000 flac sound files myself in many genres and use Winamp to listen to every one of them with the exception of high resolution files. Winamp has no library file size limit or playlist length limit afaik.
How can a streaming service with maybe 50 songs in rotation on a channel try to get me to pay to listen to them?
I own over 350,000 flac sound files myself in many genres and use Winamp to listen to every one of them with the exception of high resolution files. Winamp has no library file size limit or playlist length limit afaik.
How can a streaming service with maybe 50 songs in rotation on a channel try to get me to pay to listen to them?
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