Winamp

2024: Source Code Discovery

On May 16, 2024, Llama Group announced the discovery of the source code for the Winamp multimedia player. This means that programmers from all over the world will be able to take part in the further development of the product.

It is reported that from September 24, 2024, developers will be able to obtain a license from the Llama Group to work with the Winamp code. As noted by TechSpot, Llama Group is looking for programmers interested in developing the product, but the company will retain full control over the official version of the player. In other words, Llama Group will make decisions regarding innovations and changes made to the media player.

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Winamp

Winamp is much more than just a music player. The product embodies a unique digital culture, aesthetics and user experience. Through an initiative to open source, Winamp opens a new chapter in its history, giving users the opportunity to directly contribute to the improvement of the player, the Llama Group said in a statement.

At the same time, the company itself intends to focus on creating new mobile applications. It is noted that the improvements proposed by the community and enthusiasts will be made only to the Winamp edition for Windows operating systems. Player versions for macOS as well as Android and iOS will still remain completely proprietary.

The decision to open source code will delight millions of users around the world. Our focus will be on new mobile players and other platforms. Nevertheless, we do not want to forget about tens of millions of users who use the player in Windows, "emphasizes Alexander Saboundjian, CEO of Winamp.[1]

2022: Winamp 5.9 RC1

July 29, 2022 it became known that the release of the first updated version of Winamp in almost four years took place. This was announced by the TechSpot portal.

Winamp. Photo: cdnews.ru.

As reported, the developers taught the updated Winamp to work in Windows 11.

This time, Winamp 5.9 RC1, a kind of beta, was released. This is not a stable release yet, but there are still a lot of functions in 5.9 RC1. Importantly, it was possible to download Winamp 5.9 RC1 for July 2022 only from the TechSpot website, plus it has already been posted on various torrents. On the official website of the winamp.com, including its Russian-language version, only version 5.8 was available for download.

In addition to non-obvious support for Windows 11, the updated Winamp 5.9 RC1 has acquired the ability to sync with the mobile version of the player under. Android It also now has the function of importing the entire media library from. iTunes The developers added support for the M38 code and implemented a widget to control music playback without the need to display the main window of the program.

In total, the developers have made more than 30 changes to Winamp. The vast majority of them are aimed at optimizing the stability of the internal elements of the program.

The main thing that the authors did was leave intact compatibility with plugins and skins released for early versions of the player. In other words, a user listening to music in Winamp for decades can safely update to version 5.9 RC1 and not be afraid that after the update, any of the plugins he needs will stop working, and his favorite shell will begin to display incorrectly. The classic standard player interface is also in place.

The authors of Winamp 5.9 RC1 stressed that all the main functions work stably. However, they decided to leave the RC1 (release candidate), since some innovations still need testing.

2019: Plans for a full Winamp revival

Radionomy announced plans for a full revival of Winamp in 2019. The company made ambitious plans that ultimately did not implement either in 2019 or in 2020 or in 2021.

2018: Winamp 5.8

In October 2018, a beta version of the Winamp 5.8 build leaked to the Web. The source of the leak was not found, and the developers eventually decided to post the distribution on the official website. Release 5.8 did not have very many differences from 5.66, but also did not look like a beta version, as it worked stably.

2014: Acquisition by Radionomy

In January 2014, Winamp itself and the Nullsoft brand were transferred to the Belgian company Radionomy. The parties did not disclose the amount of the transaction, but, according to TechCrunch, it could range from $5 million to $10 million.

2013: Intention to get rid of Winamp

In November 2013, AOL announced its intention to get rid of Winamp as soon as possible and sell it to someone else. The development of the player was discontinued, version 5.7 was never released.

2010: Winamp 5.6

Winamp 5.6 was released in November 2010.

2007: Winamp 5.5

Update 5.5 was released in October 2007.

2004: Winamp 5

Winamp 5 was replaced by Winamp 3 - it was decided to skip the fourth version. It was the classic Winamp 2, in which only the really necessary functions of Winamp 3 were integrated. This was the third stage in the development of the player.

Users received this version very well. Having got rid of unnecessary garbage, the player again began to work quickly and smoothly, without loading the system. However, the next big problem was not long in coming - the initial development team decided to leave the project in 2004.

1999: Winamp 2.1 и Winamp 3

In June 1999, Frankel sold Nullsoft to AOL Corporation for $80 million. By that time, Winamp was available in version 2.1, which is considered classic for July 2022. AOL quickly implemented its orders in the development of the player, which resulted in the release of Winamp 3. With the release of version 3, Winamp completely changed, receiving a lot of functions that no one really needed, but made the player work slower and consume more system resources.

1997: Winamp 1.0

Winamp 1.0 was released in July 1997 (Frankel and Boldyrev worked on it) - by that time Frankel had already founded Nullsoft, which later developed Winamp for years^[2].

Notes