RIP Winamp?

[xpmule]

i too would like to see a reason why.. that would put things into perspective as to how e should all handle things from this point on.. we need more info

[Sanjay.K]

Originally Posted by rvrbnk

JRiver can probably pay to host a forum and help with porting if we can get some help from users or from AOL.

We might also pay for a developer, but AOL would need to allow access to the source.

jimh at jriver

Originally Posted by rvrbnk

If AOL doesn't continue to support this forum, JRiver might be able to do so.

If anyone from AOL is reading, I'd be grateful to discuss how we can help your users.

Thanks.

Jim Hillegass
JRiver
jimh at jriver

As long as JRiver is serious about helping and is willing to support Winamp without undue interference, I think the powers-that-be at AOL should have the grace to accept such a generous offer.

While I agree with DrO that many forum posts might be outdated, that doesn't necessarily mean they're all useless. The forum contains a veritable treasure trove of information of historical significance, and dumping all that so people (both devs and users) are ignorant of what came before makes no sense as far as I can see.

As for the offer of continued development, I think that is simply fantastic! A lot of us feel open-sourcing the program would be best, but this would be an equally acceptable solution IMO to keep a fantastic program alive. DrO, in case no-one at AOL has seen Jim's posts yet, can you bring them to their notice? We're all waiting eagerly for an official reaction to JRiver's offer, and I sincerely do hope AOL doesn't disappoint Winamp's long-term fans.

[martin.deimos]

Originally Posted by DrO

my point about SC is that basically they split off because they didn't think here was relevant anymore at the time (at least that's how i interpreted it).

with whatever is / isn't happening, pete and i are sorting out something at them moment.

Well, that's not entirely true

As we started we had the aim to become something similar to TheSkinFactory with website, downloads etc. The reason for creating a new forum was mainly due to the fact that some moderation decisions here were..., well old stories i don't want to dig up


I also don't think that importing stuff to the SC database is what we (/me speaking as SC admin) are keen on. Tbh, there isn't much activity on there either.

In the end that last thing we should do now is to separate stuff even further and create lots of small communities.

[DrO]

agreed which is why i've tried to get in quickly with things so setting up a forum with pete's help to cover maybe more so the Winamp / plug-in specific aspects (as iomegjaz seems to be focused on a purely GD replacement at least that's how i'm taking it from what's been said).

[Victhor]

Martin! This reminds me what happens here, when a big football team is in danger to lose its category, old glories return to try to avoid that and save the club. So then I would be just the goalkeeper substitute hehe.. call me when you need me! =)

[arods.island]

Hey guys, I just want you to know I had a blast writing my deadhead plugin -- I still get emails from Dead fans telling me how much they like it.
Great software, and great plugin API. You'll be missed.

A.Rod

[evil_pro]

Originally Posted by DrO

agreed which is why i've tried to get in quickly with things so setting up a forum with pete's help to cover maybe more so the Winamp / plug-in specific aspects (as iomegjaz seems to be focused on a purely GD replacement at least that's how i'm taking it from what's been said).

If you're going to create a new forum for the Winamp community, could you please also add a section for people that want to get started with developing their own plugins for Winamp?

[rvrbnk]

Originally Posted by Sanjay.K

As long as JRiver is serious about helping and is willing to support Winamp without undue interference, I think the powers-that-be at AOL should have the grace to accept such a generous offer.

While I agree with DrO that many forum posts might be outdated, that doesn't necessarily mean they're all useless. The forum contains a veritable treasure trove of information of historical significance, and dumping all that so people (both devs and users) are ignorant of what came before makes no sense as far as I can see.

As for the offer of continued development, I think that is simply fantastic! A lot of us feel open-sourcing the program would be best, but this would be an equally acceptable solution IMO to keep a fantastic program alive. DrO, in case no-one at AOL has seen Jim's posts yet, can you bring them to their notice? We're all waiting eagerly for an official reaction to JRiver's offer, and I sincerely do hope AOL doesn't disappoint Winamp's long-term fans.

I've tried some of my old contacts at AOL but haven't received a reply yet. I'm not sure who is in charge any more. Almost ten years ago, we had some serious discussions with AOL about doing development for Winamp, but it never happened.

I'm going to make an offer to the forum. JRiver will distribute fifty free licenses or so to the first people who send me a good story about Winamp or the forum or Justin Frankel or a llama. I'll post them in a thread on our forum, but without any email addresses or personal details.

Just send me an e-mail with your story. It has to be heart felt and real. If your story gets published, you'll get a license. It may take a week or so.

Thanks.

Jim Hillegass
jimh at jriver

[Jay]

An interesting twist:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/21/sou...m-aol/?ncid=fb

[TrexRadio]

That's sort of interesting to see there... as currently most of the links for shoutcast are pointing to iTunes.

Is shoutcast going down as well?

[Xaser]

Microsoft buying Winamp might be good or might be bad. In the worst case they just do it to keep it from becoming open source, and feature their xBox music player.

[Jay]

My concern is that they are doing this for traffic. Which was how AOL got into this mess. As far as SHOUTcast going down. No one at AOL is talking but this article seems to be indicating that SHOUTcast is a package deal with Winamp in AOL's eyes. So you could speculate from that, AOL is not interested in continuing SHOUTcast either.

All speculative of course.

[papadoc]

Not happy about this at all. Winamp is the only player I've ever used. But I'll be patient and see where this goes, not only development, but this forum.

[Sabine Klare]

Also I myself never want to use another media player, and I will keep my eyes open here and everywhere, more than ever...

[thevan]

And let's not forget about the Android version! The wireless syncing is unmatched! It's amazingly convenient to be able to whimsically transfer songs without having to hunt down that pesky cable.

[garetjax]

I am working on 1001skins.com as a fully viable solution for housing, skins, plugins, templates and etc. 1001skins has always been specifically about Winamp. I have already begun downloading the latest installers for winamp to make available from 1001skins...unless there is a problem doing so.

Additionally, while I do not have any plugins yet...I will add the feature to enable support for uploading them within the next few days.

I haven't yet created a forum but, have looked at a solution to do so. A lot of my work has gone into revamping the system and updating the original source code.

As for archival and etc. of content on the site, there is no such plan on 1001skins. If you post it will be there. At present, 1001skins.com has been happily living in coexistence with winamp.com for 12 Years; it will continue to do so.

However, I am only one person and have a load of work to do on the 1001skins.com site, so I am unsure if I will have all the features necessarily completed by Dec 20, 2013 deadline.

If your a developer (html, asp.net c#, jquery\json\bootstrap, sql) and want to help...please contact me via my email garrjo(at)gmail.com or webmaster@1001skins.com (though I prefer the former).



Note: If your a moderator/admin/etc and want to do the same on 1001skins when I do have the forums installed...(soon) shoot me an email and I can set you up as a moderator there.

[Squishy Tia]

I really wish this day wasn't coming. WinAmp is the only Android player I can tolerate as it allows me to use it while I'm driving via the swipt to next song feature, and I'm going to really be sad if down the line my VGM plugins stop working. WinAmp is the only means for me to put many of those VGM soundtracks into a format that I can play on the phone or computer interchangeably (.WAV).

Are there other VGM players out there? Yes. Do they offer >native sampling such as 96 KHz/24-bit and write to disk as WAV together? No. And since some soundtracks are impossible to find or just don't exist outside of things like NSF or PSF/PSF2 files, WinAmp has been the only way for me to listen to them easily.

Since the days of MacAmp (WinAmp for Mac OS 9) I've been a WinAmp diehard. Losing an iconic media player like this is beyond depressing. I know time marches on, but some things just haven't been outdone and still go away and it isn't fair.

There's a reason I don't use iTunes - I like control over my media and devices, and WinAmp gives me just that. And it's the only plugin capable mdeia player that fully works in Mac OS X via CrossOver/Impersonator - the rest choke on the X11/WINE implementation Apple uses.

/ultrasadpanda

[956400]

very sad to see this happen. been using it since the very beginning as its quality and functionality are unmatched. still use the basic classic skin and wouldnt change it for anything. i have tens of thousands of music files scattered across several disks in dozens of folders and the awesome media library is the only way i can keep track of them. winamp has for me always been the best tool for organizing media files.
there were two very useful plugins that i used for years... one is the EXPLORER CONTEXT MENU plugin, which is now dead, and DRAG N DROP FROM PLAYLIST EDITOR, which now mostly crashes. both have neatly bridged winamp and the windows explorer experience. extremely useful for browsing files in winamp and transferring them to another software (like dj software or cd burning app).
i've been using itunes for mass tagging only, but now it seems the new winamp version will make itunes useless for me
managed to offline-download the android app for future use. if only there was an option (post-shutdown) to get or even buy the winamp for android pro update, would be a shame to see it go to waste.
there was, as i remember, the Winamp Remote initiative, a way to stream your home music files to your phone via the internet, which is in my opinion the greatest idea in the history of mobile music. too bad it didnt go anywhere...

if microsoft indeed buys winamp, lets all just hope it doesnt get ruined the way skype got ruined when it merged with windows live messenger


anyways, best of luck to everyone working hard to keep winamp and the community online. will be checking regularly to see what is happening with this. if i find a way to help, i will definitely pitch in. however, i am not a developer and my help would probably be limited to contributing ideas

resurrect the llama's ass!!

[xfullmetal17]

How would Gracenote be affected? Unless it's being bridged through the Winamp website or something, I can't see why it would be an issue.

I'm hoping Microsoft does NOT buy Winamp, or else we'll end up being forced to link it to a Microsoft account, needing XBL Gold to use Gracenote tagging (if they even let us), etc.

Squishy Tia: Root and install Cyanogenmod, you can set it up to hold vol-up/down to do next/previous track. Should work in any media player, not necessarily the stock one.

[garetjax]

well, the hopes of it going opensource are just as fruitless. Though, for my opinion being what it is, continual support long into the future of winamp and its programs, skins, plugins and services...any company purchasing it would be better than it dying.

[rvrbnk]

Originally Posted by xfullmetal17

How would Gracenote be affected? Unless it's being bridged through the Winamp website or something, I can't see why it would be an issue.

Gracenote is owned by Sony now so it's not going away, but the service could go away. It might depend on licensing. I believe that the original FreeDB (before it became Gracenote) initially provided the service at no charge to Winamp, but that may have changed when AOL acquired Winamp.

[mfbscs]

I just wanted to give my farewell 2 cents.

It was 1998, I was 18 years old, and someone told me about cool things called mp3s. What should I used to play these? Someone recommended Winamp.

Shortly after, I discovered Geiss.
A couple of years later, I found Milkdrop.

From then on, the standard operating procedure was:
-Play music on Winamp
-Ctrl+Shift+k to run Milkdrop

In 2009 I did a 3 month effort to fully organize and tag my cluttered collection and it paid off huge.

In 2011, I bought my first LCD TV and mounted it on the wall. I ran an HDMI cable from my PC to my TV via a subtle looking cable channel. So now, when listening to music, the output of MD was on the wall! Everyone who came over loved it.

It's 2013, I'm 34 now and I still set it up like that to this day, whether relaxing solo or having guests. And as far as I know, none of my friends have such a setup =)

So I just wanted to say thanks to Winamp and Milkdrop for all of the good times. I will continue to use it and explore new visualizers.

[Zypher76]

Originally Posted by dLoc

Winamp is the best media player ever. Im using it since 1997 and never changed to another player. Just can`t believe it`s going to be shutdown

Please make it Open Source!!!

I agree with every word of yours! I mean EVERY!

[xpmule]

any news yet ?

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by mfbscs

I just wanted to give my farewell 2 cents.

It was 1998, I was 18 years old, and someone told me about cool things called mp3s. What should I used to play these? Someone recommended Winamp.

Shortly after, I discovered Geiss.
A couple of years later, I found Milkdrop.

From then on, the standard operating procedure was:
-Play music on Winamp
-Ctrl+Shift+k to run Milkdrop

In 2009 I did a 3 month effort to fully organize and tag my cluttered collection and it paid off huge.

In 2011, I bought my first LCD TV and mounted it on the wall. I ran an HDMI cable from my PC to my TV via a subtle looking cable channel. So now, when listening to music, the output of MD was on the wall! Everyone who came over loved it.

It's 2013, I'm 34 now and I still set it up like that to this day, whether relaxing solo or having guests. And as far as I know, none of my friends have such a setup =)

So I just wanted to say thanks to Winamp and Milkdrop for all of the good times. I will continue to use it and explore new visualizers.

I have such a setup, and I use aWAR remote via my droid to control playback. u might be interested to see if it works for you too.

[FIJISUNRISE]

Originally Posted by TrexRadio

That's sort of interesting to see there... as currently most of the links for shoutcast are pointing to iTunes.

Is shoutcast going down as well?

Really going to miss shoutcast. There is nothing that could replace that I'm afraid many of the streams will die on Dec 20. I've been avoiding iTunes for years. All I remember was some service that would keep resurrecting itself in windows after deletion that would keep calling home (Apple). Having streams at a single click in bookmarks just does not happen in this day of age. It also has the best Christmas stations as well. And those to will die before Christmas this year? Sure there is Spotify, Pandora etc.. I've got those on my system but why do I still go to Winamp all the time for the last 16 years? Because its still for the most part a product that came out of Justin's head and not a bunch of corporate heads with all the agenda's that go with it.

[DrO]

i suggest you re-read the announcement which is _only_ on the Winamp site and _not_ the SHOUTcast site.

[FIJISUNRISE]

Originally Posted by DrO

i suggest you re-read the announcement which is _only_ on the Winamp site and _not_ the SHOUTcast site.

But the main site says "Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. "

Shoutcast is built into the player and IMO is one of the associated services that will get killed off.. unless MS or somebody else picks it up. I see no reason why AOL would maintain and keep the shoutcast servers running if they killed off the main application that runs it. I understand that one can stream directly from shoutcast.com Its looking like no Christmas tunes from winamp come Dec 20. Time will tell. IMO, shoutcast if bought, will become more like spotify, pandora. Shoutcast as we know and love, will most likely die. Its not corporate friendly if you know what I mean.

[DrO]

associated web services is stuff from winamp.com - SHOUTcast is separate and you're thinking about things completely wrong as Winamp is just one of the many clients which can play SHOUTcast streams (as people do anyway).

it just happens to have a view provided in the Winamp client (which can be chosen whether to install or not) and is maintained separately of other online services. it also has no bearing on the ability of Winamp or any other client to play SHOUTcast streams either via the Directory or directly from the DNAS servers. plus if SHOUTcast was being stopped, then wouldn't there have been a message on it's site as well, not just on the Winamp site...? there's a lot of 1+1=3 going on is all i'll finish saying on the matter.

[FIJISUNRISE]

Originally Posted by DrO

there's a lot of 1+1=3 going on is all i'll finish saying on the matter.

Yes, only time will tell I am afraid. Many of the articles on the web have taken the assumption that shoutcast will also be eliminated. But Shoutcast as I remember it was created by Justin and was part of the original AOL buyout. IMO, winamp and shoutcast are one in the same.

At any rate, in two weeks we will know that answer.

[Jay]

DrO I think the problem is the lack of clarification regarding SHOUTcast. SHOUTcast was a Nullsoft product and a lot of people see Winamp as being part of a bundle with SHOUTcast. It's history that is causing the confusion. BTW I will mention that Winamp.com says nothing about this shutdown either, only the download page for some strange reason.

Given that you do work on SHOUTcast you are probably the only reliable source of information on these forums regarding what is going on. Given your viewpoint, I have no doubt that SHOUTcast.com will continue to function after the 20th. However, who knows what will happen after then, and the closure of Winamp says a lot about what AOL is thinking.

All speculative of course.

[johnny_chronic]

Winamp is a production studio for many people. Listeners, DJs, audio producers. If winamp stops support, the effect may be catastrophic for those who depend on winamp's resources and have not upgraded to the modern OSes. There shall be compatibility issues for the hardcore fans and users in the future.

Release the source code. Find a new reason to maintain it's existence. Money is needed only by the ones who hate their jobs. The winamp staff closes the doors on the developers for winamp plugins in the future which may affect artists who use winamp.
Winamp has been with me since v1.xx.
I am a producer who uses winamp and the plugins.

http://www.twitter.com/johnny_weed

[DrO]

Originally Posted by johnny_chronic

Money is needed only by the ones who hate their jobs. The winamp staff closes the doors on the developers for winamp plugins in the future which may affect artists who use winamp.

explain what you mean by both of those points as having been on both sides of the fence (3rd party then 1st party developer), i can't say what i'd like to as my first reaction to what i think you mean by those comments, but i'd love you to clarify what you mean.

[Sagehorn]

I'm really glad to hear that. Compared to others i really hope, that Microsoft will "catch" Winamp.
Think about it! AOL wasn't that "independent" company, but it worked. And I don't think, that Microsoft would have so much financial advantages. I think they mainly try to win our hearts

Give it to Microsoft, but not into the trashcan or sth like that!

Edit: I just wanna add, that the most important thing would be then, to guarantee some kind of consistency concerning technique, ideas, policies, spirit and persons..

[djpete]

All of this could have been solved if AOL put out a more thorough message from the start instead of one short paragraph that has quite a few interpretations. Maybe they can't say any more because they don't know or didn't know much more then.
Maybe negotiations ARE happening and all this is very fluid, therefore they cannot say any more.

In any case though, all of this speculation and angst could be put at some ease by AOL making a public statement update, saying what they can say.

Any communication is better than none and it would prove that AOL ARE thinking of Winamp users and DO appreciate the anxiety we are going through.

We all realise it's their business and their money and they can do what they like, but there is also public image and with all of the PR people AOL would have it would take them all of 10 minutes to put out a better more substantial empathetic statement.

[Victhor]

Originally Posted by johnny_chronic

Money is needed only by the ones who hate their jobs. The winamp staff closes the doors on the developers for winamp plugins in the future which may affect artists who use winamp.
Winamp has been with me since v1.xx.

Wow.. how idealistic (you forgot to mention love and sacrifice haha)... but pesimist at the same time;

Winamp is a production studio for many people. Listeners, DJs, audio producers. If winamp stops support, the effect may be catastrophic for those who depend on winamp's resources and have not upgraded to the modern OSes. There shall be compatibility issues for the hardcore fans and users in the future.

Winamp no-support will not be catastrophic, it will just make it fade aways slowly... and plugin developers are long gone now (except for 1 or 2.. we are fighting against them to see who has LESS members.. skinners or "plugers"..), so you won´t notice that too much..

[jesseg]

The speculation about SHOUTcast being part of this has to be fueled somewhat by the fact that AOL pulled the free relay bandwidth from insider tmi redacted

[barcrest]

I only registered because of this... I don't think I have used winamp or even installed it in over 10 years. It used to be one of the first things I installed on a new PC but it has had it's day. I actually only found out about it being canned by accident and this speaks volumes for why it's going. No one even mentioned it at all on my jukebox site, even though I have some built in support for winamp.

I do find it quite funny that jRiver thought it might be a way to expand their userbase without actually having to spend any money.

[Sagehorn]

what happens btw with all those posts in this board? all deleted? complete relaunch?

[SugarD-x]

Originally Posted by Sagehorn

what happens btw with all those posts in this board? all deleted? complete relaunch?

The entire forum and website goes bye-bye.