WinAMP media player is almost a sacred music (and later video) player for millions of users. And indeed, it is characterized by minimalism, a wide range of functions, consumes few resources, thanks to which it works well and without lags on almost any PC or laptop. And there was (and is) a lot of plugins for music visualization, and the plugins are very good.
The other day there was information that WinAMP is revived, having received a new logo and updated the site. The owner of WinAMP rights – Radionomy Group company – is working on the new product and has announced a search for developers. Plus you can already test the new version of the media player. In the light of these events, it would be worthwhile to recall the history of the legendary program, plus, if you have already tried the new version, tell us about your impressions. And it’s also worth reflecting on the player’s prospects.
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How it all began
The WinAMP player first became known in 1997. Then a developer named Justin Frankel presented an alpha version of this player. It was version WinAMP 0.20a. It would seem that it was just a player – but no, it was so successful that after a year and a half the number of downloads amounted to several tens of millions. The user base totaled 15 million people.
It must be said that Frankel released the player very timely – at that time there was already a lot of music, but the software that can not only play music, but also systematize it, as well as show detailed information about the played tracks. The developer created a convenient player, and his idea was liked by many music lovers and ordinary users.
The full name of WinAMP is Windows Advanced Multimedia Products, and it was initially distributed for free, then under a shareware license with a price of $10. However, quite a few people were willing to pay, so the developer’s business was booming. And this was even though the free version offered the same features as the paid WinAMP. Eventually the company (Frankel, seeing the success of the player, decided to create an organization with developers, management, etc.) began to bring the creator about $100 000 every month.
The company’s name is probably known to almost every WinAMP user – it was Nullsoft, with a logo in the form of a llama. There were only a few employees, but everyone was passionate about their work and immediately saw their work’s results.
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Purchase of the player by AOL
Seeing the product’s success, the player decided to buy out the AOL company – it was quite successful then, developing several popular products simultaneously. The purchase price amounted to as much as $100 million, which even now is a very solid sum within the framework of such a deal. But at that time it was an almost unprecedented offer. No one in Nullsoft could refuse such an offer – it was a lot of money.
The purchase could have become a new milestone in the history of player development – but it didn’t, AOL just continued to use what they had. And everything would be fine, but the corporation then turned into a very sluggish system with several internal problems that began to take a lot of time to solve. Managers spent much more time maintaining what they had, taking the focus away from developing new directions.
“AOL did many things to make its development impossible,” said one Winamp team member from the early 2000s. “More than anyone else. They bureaucratized every decision. Good ideas were just dying.” Frankel was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do. He said at the time, “I always hoped they would look back and realize they were killing the player, and then start trying to find a better way to develop. But AOL seems too busy with internal politics to do anything else.”
In addition to all of this, there was also competition from hardware players rather than software players – Apple offered the iPod concept, which, as we know, soon became very popular.
All this mountain of problems led to a decline in the player’s popularity. Developers from AOL for some time tried to create new versions, including software for other platforms. So, in 2010, there was an Android version of WinAMP, and then a Mac version. But then there were already a lot of new products, from hardware to software players, so AOL had to eventually stop supporting WinAMP. Eventually, all rights were bought out by Radionomy Group in 2014.
Well ok, but now WinAMP is being revived, right?
It’s hard to say. The thing is that in 2019, the media already published loud headlines informing the reader about the return of the player. Forbes, techcrunch.com, Digitaltrends, and others have covered it. And yes, the company wasn’t just touting plans – three days after the announcement, it released a new version of WinAMP – it was v 5.8. It was made compatible with Windows 10, added support for Microsoft Audio and, on top of that, freed from the license, which implied some payment for the player.
WinAMP has been taught to work with streaming, podcasts, leaving the ability to listen to local and online music. Representatives of the company that owns the rights to the player announced that WinAMP has become a cross-platform player.
The music community and individual users were quite optimistic about the news. But, unfortunately, information about the updated player stopped being published quite soon – perhaps Radionomy Group failed to reach an agreement with its partners. Or maybe the player monetization model was not thought out, which makes WinAMP development pointless for a commercial company.
Now the situation is very similar to what was described above. Announcement of a new software version, updated website, enthusiasm of the company management that owns the rights to the player… But will it be possible to bring it back to life? It would be good, although in the new conditions it is extremely doubtful. Yes, nostalgic users will download the new version, admire the visualization and… most likely, they will either not use the player at all or will forget about it soon.
Indeed, now there is Spotify, Google Music and many other online services. Will WinAMP be able to compete with all of them? One would hope so, although there are some doubts in this regard. Besides, despite the nostalgia, it will not be the “lamp” player we all remember. The times of computer clubs, music on disks and WinAMP are gone. Or are they?