Winamp to go dark on December 20th

posted by Maxwell R. / Nov 22, 2013, 2:32 AM

If you have not thought about Winamp much (or at all) recently, you are not alone. The last time we wrote about the media player was back in 2011, when the company launched a player for Android devices.

Since then, not much else has happened. Winamp has been found itself in the shadow of other media players like iTunes, internet radio applications, streaming music apps, even Zune. What happened to what was the “go-to” app for those that wanted to stream music on their computers just 10 or 12 years ago?

Some would tell you the slow death began once Winamp was acquired by AOL in 1999. Outward appearances would show stunted support, save for the development for Android, in the wake of the fall of Napster. Support for the Android compatible player has been ongoing, with updates as recent as last month.

While support from AOL was more than a mere token, the culture of Winamp and Nullsoft has never truly been compatible with what has become a corporate culture at AOL. Winamp was developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev in 1997. The two are free thinkers and Frankel was dubbed by Rolling Stone magazine as the "world's most dangerous geek."

Winamp still has a user base of millions of people around the world, and it is estimated that AOL still generates upwards of $6 million per year from the product. The application will no longer be available for download after December 20th, though those who have it will be able to continue using Winamp after the lights go out.

If you want to get a copy of Winamp before it goes the way of the Dodo, click the source link.

source: Winamp via MSN Money

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13 Comments

1. Mittal

Posts: 494; Member since: Dec 14, 2011

I will miss the skins :'( brings back such memories

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 2:56 AM 5

2. the_best

Posts: 139; Member since: Oct 14, 2012

I remember winamp back in the day, it was superfast and didnt lag at all on my win98. All the other programs wanted to do all kind of differnt things like the laggy windows media player and the super laggy Itunes, but my winamp just wanted to play smooth Music. And so it did from 1999 to 2009 when i got spotify. Rest in Peace dear winamp, you have given me joy in my Life.

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 3:50 AM 7

3. taikucing unregistered

Bye bye Winamp. You are legend

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 4:11 AM 4

4. pwnarena

Posts: 1129; Member since: Feb 15, 2013

Y O Y that's the best mp3 player for me (for desktop). it's very fast and very light. all other programs on my pc may freeze but winamp still continues running.i don't mind the skins because i don't really have anything on screen when i use winamp. i just hide it as an icon and control it through the global hotkeys. a real gem! hopefully someone continues development for it just like the classic liero game.

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 5:43 AM 0

5. marbovo

Posts: 658; Member since: May 16, 2013

I remember when winamp went to version 3 and that really messed it out...

6. dil2abu

Posts: 315; Member since: Nov 09, 2011

Omg.. As a user I'll definitely miss winamp

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 7:04 AM 1

7. threed61

Posts: 259; Member since: May 27, 2011

Another victim of AO-hell incompetence.

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 8:15 AM 1

8. p0rkguy

Posts: 685; Member since: Nov 23, 2010

Victim? Winamp hasn't been relevant for ~10 years... No more llama ass whooping.

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 9:00 AM 1

9. Deadeye37

Posts: 305; Member since: Jan 25, 2011

I'm listening to my mp3s right now using Winamp. I've never really liked the streaming services that it offered. However, the music playback is great! Winamp will be missed! I'm going to keep using the desktop version until its not possible anymore!

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 9:44 AM 0

10. BattleBrat

Posts: 1476; Member since: Oct 26, 2011

Crap, I still use Winamp!

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 10:13 AM 0

12. PBXtech

Posts: 1032; Member since: Oct 21, 2013

I do to, best flac converter I've ran across yet.

posted on Nov 22, 2013, 4:46 PM 0

11. jroc74

Posts: 6023; Member since: Dec 30, 2010

Winamp was great. But like it was mentioned....so many decent alternatives came...it became forgotten. I think Spotify is a great alternative. I use Poweramp exclusively as my mp3 player. Maybe ppl thought it was associated with Winamp?