Winamp shutting down after over 15 years

I didn't even use computers back then. Let's just say the only music I heard were nursery rhymes.

First program for multimedia was Windows Media Player 8, then Media Player Classic, and now VLC. Wasn't into music (didn't even download MP3) until adulthood.

So obviously with that history Winamp had very little, if anything, to do with me.

 

Well, there you go, had you used a media player in 1997-2000, you would have heard of Winamp. In fact, I remember in 1997, few media plays could even play an mp3 file, so the choice was very limited. Winamp in 1997 was head and shoulders above other media players. Although I have not used it in a long time, I am still sorry to see it go.

 

Nero still comes bundled with new PCs and new DVD players, so it may still be around for a long time.

Winamp, unfortunatly did not have this going for it, so it had to die.

 

I haven't used it for years myself.

 

It's a real shame about Winamp. I haven't used it for a very long time - I usually use SMPlayer for playing MP3s these days, which isn't that often, as usually I play them with my DJ software.

 

Shoutcast is independent of the Winamp program itself right? I used Winamp up until about 2007 when I switched to foobar2000.

Oddly enough a few weeks back I was searching for an audio player for my smartphone and after trying a few, chose Winamp as my favorite and have been using it on the phone. I guess it will be the end of the android version as well then

 

I still use Winamp

used it for 12 years I think. How the time flew.....

 

Yes, Shoutcast has its own service actually. But it too is being shut down. As I understand it, Microsoft is reportedly looking to buy Shoutcast along with WinAmp. I'm still not sure what they would do with WinAmp, but Shoutcast would likely become mixed in with XBox Music.

 

same here. never needed something else. if something ain't broke, don't fix it...

 

One of the reasons I removed it from all my home computers around 2004-2005 was due to excessive amount of porn channels streaming inside Winamp. You can setup a filter on your router to block porn sites opening on your home network, but when it is coming through Winamp, you cannot block it. So, there was no choice for me but to remove Winamp and since I did not use it by then anyway, so it was not missed.

I do not know when or who decided it was a good idea to start steaming porn into Winamp, but this surely moved it from a family friendly media player to a family unfriendly media player and probably contributed to its unpopularity.

 

Streaming porn without user intervention?

 

I used Nero (Bundled with my burner) up until 2010 or 2011 then switched to Imgburn and im still using it as of today.

 

It didn't volunteer the porn, it just made porn channels available in the streaming radio.

 

it would be awsome if they made winamp open source.

 

If they did, I would start using it again

 

Of course user intervention is required, but when every other channel is a porn channel with a very suggestive title, it becomes very difficult not to click on it and view it at least once. And since it bypasses the family filters set on your router, so it is not a good thing to have installed on your home computers.

 

Sure it is. All the computer users in my house are adults. If you have kids it is your own responsibility to keep your kids safe from the internet and NOT the developers' or gov't.

 

Exactly and you keep them safe by uninstalling the offending software, which in this case was Winamp. This probably played a role in Winamp's decline and eventual demise. This was the only reason why I brought this issue up in the first place.

 

Most people that got originally hooked up on winamp are already adults. So I doubt that this is much of a cause for decline. I thnik that lack of direction and too much bloatware was the reason.

 

Dont forget iTunes and also that Windows Media Player plays common formats so why look for a third party player when Windows comes with one that works fine?

 

Yes, but iTunes is an abomination. Windows Media Player is, now, a far cry from what it once was. Back then WinAmp was miles ahead of it. Today, not so much unless you're looking for a heavy duty media manager.

 

Good old times.

 

I don't like iTunes, and due to me not owning any "i" products, I thankfully do not need to use it. As for Windows Media Player I don't like it that much and prefer to use a 3rd party player like SMPlayer. If I played MP3s a lot I would probably still be using Winamp. I really like having a player with a small window rather than one which takes up most of the screen. When I did play a lot of MP3s I opted to load songs by browsing to the music folder under Explorer an opening the files from there rather than having my music player catalogue all my songs, and searching for songs in my media player. Also I made a batch file which would scan all of my music folders and make a playlist of all my MP3s for times when I wanted to listen to all my songs on shuffle.

Also, I find WMP gets a bit resource hungry at times when you have a massive music library.

Edit: But I do understand how having WMP included with Windows, and the large use of iTunes is big contributor to the unfortunate end of Winamp.

 

I won't miss it either. IMO, it was too much like iTunes... bloated! (Not a bloat or playlist based player fan.)

Was a Spider Player fan. Now I like AIMP.

 

I discovered that I couldn't play MP4 (video) files from my phone on WMP. Yet I found that QuickTime, VLC & SMPlayer will play them. Maybe WMP can add more codecs or whatever but I just got used to VLC. I use SMPlayer as a back-up.