Winamp 6, the need
 

So we've had a great winamp 5 for several years now, but Winamp 5 is stagnating. It's been months that we've had 5.33, and frankly 5.33 has made 5.3 bearable. But alot of work can be done.

Somethings i think winamp needs that it doesn't have now, are surround support/extension. Why can't winamp filter 2ch stereo into 5.1 ch internally, sure there are plugins, but they don't work on vista x64.

How about fixing the vista issues for winamp 6. Good reason to have a new version number.

Have the media library remember it's last state. And declutter it, even on a 1680x1050 screen i don't have enough real estate to really manage a library.

Add native AC3 support.

Implementing the UI in openGL instead of GDI or GDI+. Vista would be happy about this.

Make full screen video controls more Quicktime/WMP11 like.

Universal keyboard controls across windows, why can't i seek with right arrow in media library and i can in playlist and main window?


And fix the regression errors. Once you fix a bug, keep it fixed.

Maybe some of those are stupid and selfish, but it's a start. I'm just one guy, but i don't think winamp is as good as it can be, and the community deserves a winamp 6.

I suppose you missed the Winamp 5.34 Beta Preview sticky thread at the top?

Vista issues already fixed/addressed for 5.34 = CD Burning & improved video playback.

Winamp already supports Surround Sound, if the audio was recorded that way
(Winamp > Prefs > Playback > Allow surround sound)

Multi-speaker Output (remapping a stereo 2ch source to 5.1/7.1 speakers) works fine on all Windows OS'es, but Vista doesn't natively support DirectSound hardware acceleration, so you either need a sound driver update from the sound card/chip manufacturer, and/or you need to set up your speakers in Vista accordingly... as instructed here.

Other than that, an OpenAL or Kernel Streaming style Output plugin is already being planned for Vista (but doesn't warrant an entire Winamp version # change).


What do you mean by "have the media library remember it's last state. And declutter it"?

Maybe you need to install the Essentials Pack or something (see first post in 5.34 Beta thread). The ml_lite_n plugin included with the Essentials Pack makes the ML remember the collapsed/expanded state of the nodes in the left pane. Or did you mean something else?


Native AC3 support requires a license from Dolby.
It could be added to the Pro version, which would bump up the cost even more.


A new fullscreen video OSD is already planned (just don't ask when) ;-)

I've no idea what you meant about 'universal keyboard controls'.
Seek with the right-arrow in the ml? What do you mean?


And finally, all known regreesion bugs are fixed for 5.34 Final.

Firstly, i'm already using 5.34 beta, however most of us have not been using any beta.

I'm aware winamp does support multiple channel, i've followed all the appropriate forum links to no avail, and all extension plugins crash. Maybe it's just me.

As for decluttering the media library, when you click local media, audio or video.....you're presented with 4 internal windows, is that really necessary, what about organizing albums with + boxes, might be innovative.

Remember the state, means when i alter the "left navigation window, (collapse an item like local media) it should stay collapsed after i close winamp and when i open it again.

We can't acheive AC3 support through a codec like AC3 filter?

Universal keyboard controls means make how the keyboard functions in winamp consistant. I'm able ot use the left right arrow keys to seek and backtrack in the winamp windows and playlist window, but if i click in the media library, they no longer function like that.

As for everything else, good to know.

I've no idea about your multi-speaker output problem. It works ok for many other Vista users (as reported here on the forums). Maybe it's your sound card/chip drivers to blame...?


Re: decluttering the ml
4 internal windows? Hmmm, I'm still not sure if I understand what you mean.
Do you mean the 3-pane Artist/Album/Track mode?
You can resize it to just show the Album pane if you wish, or you can change it to Simple mode (Tracks pane only) via rt-click > Edit View > Filters tab.


As I said in my first reply, the ml_lite_n plugin included in the Essentials Pack makes the Media Library remember the collapsed state of the left pane after closing & reopening Winamp.


Yes, AC3 support can be achieved by adding AC3 to the Extension List in:
Prefs > Plugins > Input > in_dshow > config
but it will only work if one of eg. AC3Filter or ffdshow (configured to handle AC3) is installed. We can't include either of these with the Winamp distribution, because 1) we're not licensed to natively support AC3 and 2) both of those filters are under the GPL license, which means we'd need to GPL the whole of Winamp in order to include one of them (which isn't going to happen).


I still don't understand what you mean by 'seek and backtrack in the media library'.

Ah, i see.

"I still don't understand what you mean by 'seek and backtrack in the media library'."

In winamp, if you click on the player, or the playlist, if you then hit left arrow key or right arrow key while audio is playing it will seek forward or backwards in the playback. If you click on the media library, it will not.

Gar, i hate the GPL, death to crappy OSS people!

Oh well, i still think winamp 5 is getting long in the tooth.

seeking in ml:
why don't u use global hotkeys (located in wa prefs!)

why change for winamp6? we still have 66 free version-numbers after the [5dot], and who knows perhaps we have a 5.99996 in 6 years?

Global hot keys doesn't solve the issue of inconsistancy. It mearly changes how winamp behaves globally in windows. Now how winamp behaves by itself.

The ultimate point of all this is that winamp in line for a major update to it's code base. Ya know, a real set of new innnovative features. Don't ask me what those are, i'm not a software dev, and i don't really have anything in mind. But that doesn't mean that no one else shouldn't either.

I'm ready for a change of pace.

Because that worked SO well with Winamp3.

But, let's just throw away eight years of work and knowledge for a pretty new number!

Winamp 3 was actually pretty good, minus the resource hogging code crashing part of it.

Look where we are now, where we came from...and where we could go.

and doing that will lead to the Winamp3 route of new components, no legacy support and you piss off most of the userbase or you just keep slowly chugging along, adding a few new things here and there and getting down to obscure bug fixes. Winamp3 had it's good points and those are in 5.x (skinning engine and some aspects of the service driven nature of wasabi entered into it in 5.2x+ for internal implementation improvements, etc)

i can't see what would warrant a major jump to 6 though it's just a number, hell we could have been on winamp 286 or something by now (especially based on how the builds were thrown out in the early days). the number doesn't matter and if people are just driven by that then they need to re-evaluate their view on software usage.

if only it was that easy, sometimes you will fix a bug and then break that fix again with something else. it can and will often take a few tries at times to fix a bug once and for all - especially when there's complex actions going on or other dependants on an expected block of code's reaction to certain inputs (look at the recursive directory handling, yes, it was broken on/off for a few builds because there were far too many quirks in the old code to begin with and too much else relying on those things).

winamp has evolved a long way since the initial 5.0 release (let alone the 2.x series) and still has a way to go, but bundling everything under the sun in it to handle everyone's requests but don't forget those who want it minimal in the installer then you can never please everyone and no one in their right mind can expect that. winamp strikes the best balance that it can with the features it provides by default, the apis etc that it provides for 3rd parties to help extend winamp, and then what the powers that be and every other tom dick and harry want.

-daz

I now think, will think and ever think that if would be continued the development.... now Winamp3 could be better than WA 5.34 :rolleyes:

i doubt it very much so. maybe if Winamp3 had been released on a schedule where it had been allowed to have been properly prepared for full time use then maybe, but as it was, the release schedule of Winamp3 1.0 killed the product straight away.

it just wasn't ready and there was still the issue of everything starting over from the start again (just think of all of the gen and input plugins you lose straight off from a totally new api/component structure) and as i mentioned in another thread, there's not too many properly active winamp plugin devs around anymore (even i struggle to find the time to churn them out like i did a few years back).

Winamp3 was too much for the time and look at how people complain about modern skins still despite having massively more power machines than the 500Mhz+ machines that were around top spec of the time. it has good points which came to make 5.x (people don't know just how much wasabi there is in use in the more recent 5.x builds even in classic skin - is what deals with the w5s files that helped to cut down on a lot of code bloat in the distro due to all of the plugins duplicating up on certain libraries, etc)

-daz

Winamp3 had one genuine huge feature - the playlist editor with the multiple playlists. I miss that feature a lot. Apart from that I'm quite happy with Winamp 5

I pretty much agree with CaptainFuture here.

While a lot has changed with Winamp since the first 5.0 release, for my usage with it - nothing has changed really.

The only thing I miss is indeed the WA3 playlist...

I also miss the playlist sidecar, so I busted out my Winamp3 build #498 and played around with it a bit (it still works!)

Anyways, Winamp should not skip to version 6 any time soon, we still have to wait for 5.420

why 5.420?

dope kids!
i think we should skip 5.420, or just have 5.42 :)

/looks forward to 5.39

Winamp 6....

Why not?

- Just needs new Default Modern Skin...
- Do some more work on the video(dvd, osd, maybe a vlc plugin that doesn't need divx..)
- Maybe comes with vista widget...
- Maybe a included WA MediaCenter with support to use the Ml with a remote
- And maybe better modernskin support(like a modern/wasabi playlist with normal sliders)
- And design a new feature for skins that enables the developer(noraml xml&maki) to design a lets say 200x60 layout that will be used in Winamp's own tray(like WMP does when you minimize it)...

If the above things can be implemented in the current Winamp Core, Winamp will crush all the other kids on the block...

Or you can then call in Winamp 10... twice as good as 5 :)

That would be the definitive answer, we won't need any other versions of Winamp from that point on :P

PS: my only wish for winamp is as always a linux versions (either native or via libwine like google's picasa).

Maninblack,

Trying to reach a point about using universal keyboard shortcuts, I think that Global hot keys is the best alternative, especially for people with disabilities (in particular visual, that is mine). This way, you can freely control with the keyboard cursor the items to be collapsed or expanded, without creating bareers to accessibility... And in my opinion, the controls with the global hotkeys becomes even more faster, especially when seeking... Also remember, that these global hotkeys can be adjusted according to your preferences, so you can avoid any possible comflict... Even if you take some time to setup, you discover that controling the player from any place on Windows becomes more interesting than clicking to switch to the application. Here is a personal example:

So I'm just reading news on the web... I was listening to an Alicia Keys album, and I want to pick up "The Dark Side of the Moon" by 'Pink Floyd'... In my case, to activate the media library globally, I use Win+I, and the ML appears... I just click the album artist/album I want to listen, press enter, press the Win+I combination again, and the ML disappears.... Then I go back to what I was doing. WMP to my knowledge, even being pretty accessible, does not give such flexibility. See for example, you can't use ctrl+shift+f and ctrl+shift+b to seek ahead or seek back (respectively), in every file.... Even the seek bar just works with the left/erro keys when you give it a focus.

So I can configure Winamp to sit on the tray while I'm doing other things... And I should say, again, it's even faster controlling it globally than using the out-of-the-box commands.

Glad you've opened this thread.

Peace, Edu.

HEAR HEAR! I would sell my organs on the black market to support Winamp development if this was a sure thing, only thing i would add to your list is modern skin support for a native windowframe. Thanks for excavating this thread, it brought a tear to my eye.

things i want:

support ratings in tags (coming in 5.58 it looks like)
support editing TCMP (itunes comp tag)

a plugin that powers "squeezebox" hardware directly

upnp/dlna support (let winamp power clients, or be a client)

winamp remote control (i'd love to buy a combo wifi/rf piece of hardware to control winamp)

similar to the above, an ipod/iphone type "app" to control winamp

it would be neat to use winamp like an apple tv type of thing. (btw, i hate itunes and have no apple stuff, except one mac mini)

i'd also like the ability to set the pixel size of the album art while maintaining aspect ratio, "large icons" are anything but. also, ability to hide album names in large icon view like on the winamp www pages.

optional colored spectrum analyzer in the top left in bento.

better beat mixing. i can't even tell if winamp actually supports this or not. but good beat mixing of songs with adjustable seconds overlap is really a great feature.

multiple frame support. if a file has eg. multiple ARTIST / TPE1 tags, use them!

support for user defined tags, such as TXXX

and last but not least, multiple column sorting! i should be able to sort albums by year, not always alphabetically. (meaning when more than one artists albums are showing)

thx devs! you guys do a great job!

Did you really just bump a thread from 2007?

"- Just needs new Default Modern Skin..."


+1

Modern Skin it's a lot much better than Bento

This is an old thread. Be forewarned. That said, I miss the playlist editor from Winamp3.