Death Knell Sounds for Nullsoft, Winamp

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/Death_Knell_Sounds_for_Nullsoft_Winamp/1100111204' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/Death_Knell_Sounds_for_Nullsoft_Winamp/1100111204</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The last members of the original Winamp team have said goodbye to AOL and the door has all but shut on the Nullsoft era, BetaNews has learned. Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected. Winamp's abandonment comes as no surprise to those close to the company who say the software has been on life support since the resignation of Nullsoft founder and Winamp creator Justin Frankel last January."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/winamp.jpg" /> <br /><br />I'm not really sad, but Winamp was the first MP3 player I ever used. The upgrades to Winamp have been a disappointment and most people have moved on to Windows Media Player, Musicmatch and iTunes. As with Netscape, most people fondly recall the software, but don't use it anymore. Oh well, progress....

[Jason Dunn]

I find it pretty sad, but the upside is that the creators of Winamp all became millionaires from the AOL buyout, which is great because Winamp truly revolutionized audio playback on the PC. There was nothing cooler than Winamp with GEISS as a visualization tool and a wicked skin that someone in the community developed.

Farewell Winamp!

[Gary Sheynkman]

www.oldversion.com

:wink:

[kevdawg2003]

I hope someone else buys them. This makes me very very sad.

[Mike Temporale]

I'm not really sad, but Winamp was the first MP3 player I ever used. The upgrades to Winamp have been a disappointment

They had the market share, they just couldn't pump out a decent upgrade and they quickly fell behind. :( It's a shame, but not the first, or last, time this will happen.

[Godsongz]

Its true, they just fell behind the pack. WinAmp was always on my "1st to install" on a new computer or after a reformat, but this last time I didn't even bother. WMP10 fills my needs just fine.

[Christian]

Currently, about 70% of the MP3s on my new Media Center 2005 machine are unplayable in Windows Media Player 10 due to codec problems - even after spending half a day trying to load every codec in the book. Everything plays flawlessly in Winamp on the same machine. :roll:

[Crocuta]

I'm really sorry to see them go. Winamp was my first and is my current MP3 player. I imagine I'll continue to use it until it gets so old that it can't do the job any more.

[Jason Dunn]

Currently, about 70% of the MP3s on my new Media Center 2005 machine are unplayable in Windows Media Player 10 due to codec problems...

Seriously? That's shocking - WMP10 plays EVERYTHING for me (other than some funky video files). Can you email one of those problematic MP3 files to me? jason at digital media thoughts...I'll see if I can pass it along to someone on the Windows Media team and they can figure out what the problem is.

[Tim Williamson]

I think I started out with Winamp and HATED the skins and look of Winamp overall, so I switched to Sonique which had a beautiful and intuitive interface and at the time I think had a better decoder. I've recently gone back to Winamp when they released Winamp Advanced, and I couldn't live without the windowshade mode.

[Littleshmee]

I started off with Winamp too, but I hated the not-so-random randomizer. It didn't take up so many resources as WMP though. Then, I discovered Quintessential player and I've never gone back ;)

[Christian]

Currently, about 70% of the MP3s on my new Media Center 2005 machine are unplayable in Windows Media Player 10 due to codec problems...

Seriously? That's shocking - WMP10 plays EVERYTHING for me (other than some funky video files). Can you email one of those problematic MP3 files to me? jason at digital media thoughts...I'll see if I can pass it along to someone on the Windows Media team and they can figure out what the problem is.

Thanks, but I'll relay the feedback to the WMP team myself. I agree though, I was pretty shocked myself... :?

[phillypocket]

Currently, about 70% of the MP3s on my new Media Center 2005 machine are unplayable in Windows Media Player 10 due to codec problems - even after spending half a day trying to load every codec in the book. Everything plays flawlessly in Winamp on the same machine. :roll:

Have you tried re-writing the mp3 tag information? I had many files that inexplicably would not play in media player but would play in other applications. I forget the exact error message I got, but when I looked it up it suggested that the header or tag information was ill-formatted. I used Mp3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html)to re-tag my files and the now play fine. Just a thought.

[dean_shan]

I still use WinAmp 2. Best player out there.

[ctmagnus]

I used Mp3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html)to re-tag my files and the now play fine. Just a thought.

I just found a new tag editor! :D

fwiw, I've been using MP3-Library (http://www.jumpingcholla.com/jce_trapper.htm) up to now.

[Christian]

Currently, about 70% of the MP3s on my new Media Center 2005 machine are unplayable in Windows Media Player 10 due to codec problems - even after spending half a day trying to load every codec in the book. Everything plays flawlessly in Winamp on the same machine. :roll:

Have you tried re-writing the mp3 tag information? I had many files that inexplicably would not play in media player but would play in other applications. I forget the exact error message I got, but when I looked it up it suggested that the header or tag information was ill-formatted. I used Mp3tag (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html)to re-tag my files and the now play fine. Just a thought.

I'll try that out, thanks for the tip. :wink:

(later)

It worked! Apparently, using XP to edit the tags renders them unplayable by WMP10 on the new computer (but not by WMP10 on the computer where the tags were entered). Either way, thanks!

[sub_tex]

Winamp 2.9x is still my favorite mp3 player period. I've never been into big apps like WMP or iTunes. To me they're more like everything but a straight forward player. With MEXP for all of my song db and ID3 tagging, winamp still works perfectly and only takes up 2 megs of RAM when running.

With hotkeys, I never even open the player from the systray.

I tried iTunes when it first came out for PC and I think it's a great app for burning playlists, and organizing my music. But as an mp player? Way too big and resource heavy.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Yea, I like winamp for what it is.. a good audio player with just the right amount of features. Personally I dislike WMP for all the visual junk it spews out.

[Magellan]

I used to love Winamp. I am sorry to see it die. I have since made the switch to iTunes, but I still liked having it as a backup.

[MadTxn]

I luv winamp.

I have Shoutcast installed, and I wrote a PHP script to control the player over the internet. I can search my list and play files as I please. I can even control it through Trillian.

It's a dark, dark day.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I still don't understand the mentality.. just because it's not updated doesn't mean it's unusable. I'll keep on using Winamp till Windows changes to the point where I can't use it anymore. Either that or I'll find an open-source Winamp clone somewhere that greatly improves on Winamp.

[Suhit Gupta]

... I'll keep on using Winamp ...
I completely agree. I use it on a daily basis and I don't plan to switch any time soon.

Suhit