2 Years Today With No Update For Winamp!

[musicf8]

winamp ≠ best

best is subjective. Though imo Winamp sucks in regards to video

[Sabine Klare]

At least Winamp can play the most .wmv-files. If a .wmv-file cannot be played by Winamp, then it also cannot be played by IrfanView.

I have a few buggy .wmv-files, made with a buggy update of a video-converter by Hamstersoft, which I uninstalled later. Only Windows Media Player can play them.

The most .wmv-files had been made with Windows Movie Maker, before I used also MAGIX Video Deluxe 17 Premium. And after Winamp had come onto my PC the first time, they got their first plays directly in Winamp, before they came to YouTube...

[wxrance]

So i just got an email from Radionomy today saying will 2016 is here and we got great news. We just release a brand new app. So for 2 years this is what they were working on for 2016. The only reason they bought Winamp was for the Shoutcast radio stations. They are not going to do anything about Winamp. They have a bigger library of radio stations and that's all they care about. Its not a Winamp app.

[musicf8]

So i just got an email from Radionomy today saying will 2016 is here and we got great news. We just release a brand new app. So for 2 years this is what they were working on for 2016. The only reason they bought Winamp was for the Shoutcast radio stations. They are not going to do anything about Winamp. They have a bigger library of radio stations and that's all they care about. Its not a Winamp app.

They should then spin off winamp to a separate company. Nullsoft was profitable tmk before AOL shut them down.

[musicf8]

before I used also MAGIX Video Deluxe 17 Premium

OMG Magix... that takes me back... Makes me wanna load up my copy of Magix Music Maker 2000 and create some beats haha

[Sabine Klare]

Maybe we will see us in YouTube some day...

The Deluxe Premium Version of MAGIX Video has also a built-in screenrecorder, and after I had put the Milkdrop Visualizer onto the desktop, I had recorded it. But I had to play a song twice to get the recording in the full length. I know, there are also Fraps, Camtasia, Hypercam, but MAGIX can be bought directly in a real store without online-banking.

For Windows 7 this single post is very important:

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.php?p=2993140&postcount=17

My Winamps on my PC & notebook still work. I love the Milkdrop Visualizer of Winamp very much, and I have customized it more and more. Now it is very perfect for enjoying the music. I have added very much skins, presets, textures etc., and the software folder Winamp has 1.36/1.39 GB now...

[Tohno_Neil]

Any news?

[musicf8]

Any news?

yes

[mellowlandings]

Much as it pains me, I'm inclined to agree. Being a long-time Winamp fan, it's heartbreaking to watch a great media player grow stagnant. The overall questionon that being: Why would Radionomy, after fighting as hard as they did to save it from extinction, just let it lay dormant? It's been two years...surely somebdy could have done SOMETHING in that time!

I really think Radionomy bit off more than they could chew with this. If I'm wrong, then somebody prove it.

[DJ Egg]

I'm pretty sure I already explained everything via the links in the first post of the News thread...

We could release a public 5.8 beta right now....
Though there would be no CD Burning, no Gracenote (cddb, autotag, playlist generator, etc) replacement, and no Queuing features
(Q / Alt+click, enhanced J dialog, and all other features provided by JTFE).

We could probably get away with one or two of those things, but I'm not sure about all three.
Sure, there's currently no working Gracenote features in 5.666 either....
But what I don't want is another Winamp3 type situation with tons of "where's this? where's that? you suck!" type of complaints.

This is what HAS been done so far:

1. Replaced Fraunhofer MP3 Decoder with a top quality open source decoder (details to come later).

2. Replaced Fraunhofer AAC decoder with native Windows decoder (Media Foundation)

3. Replaced H.264 & MPEG-4 Part-2 video decoders with native Windows decoders
(we were looking at using OpenH264 but it has limitations and doesn't currently support High Profile)

4. Replaced Sonic CD playback & ripping engine with native Windows API

5. Removed DRM support from Windows Media Decoder (WMA/WMV/ASF)

6. Removed MP3 and HE-AAC encoders from the installer (these will now need to be downloaded separately)
Note: We were planning on also writing a new AAC-LC-only encoder based off Media Foundation...

7. A plethora of new features, bug fixes, updates & optimizations.... and there are many many of these !!!

1-6 makes Winamp legal, and also means that we don't have to pay anyone for licenses/patents/etc (like AOL were doing previously), and we can release it as 100% freeware again (i.e. no more Pro version - the free version will be fully functional)

Note that the Media Foundation decoders are Windows Vista and higher, so there'll be no native support for those formats on WinXP (though it will still install on XP sp3, and relevant plugins/decoders from 5.666 will still work)

So.... current team....as I explained in the News thread.....

From Jan 2014 to Sep 2014 it was just DrO and me.
From Sep 2014-Aug 2015 = nobody. We had to work on SHOUTcast 2.4.x+ instead.
No working SHOUTcast monetization meant no revenue meant no Winamp.
From ~Sep 2015 onwards... no more DrO :-(
DrO removed his JTFE plugin from the code base and distribution.
The team is now made up of me, plus a few other former Winamp coders who already have another full-time job.
We are doing the best we can, the others are doing it in whatever spare time they can find.

As also previously explained, DrO committed a lot of code between Jan-Sep 2014, most of which was awesome, but some of it was unfinished and made v5.8 unstable when switching skins and when dealing with metadata, amongst other issues. So we decided to roll everything back to ~Feb 2014 and started recommitting / cherry-picking code.
We're now almost back to where we were before. There's now no crashes like before, and we have a pretty stable build.... except, unlike how there has been for the past ~13 years, there's now no Queue / JTFE features :-(

Of course, we could've all just stepped aside and let Radionomy take over with new devs who weren't familiar with any of the Winamp code (unlike the rest of us who've got between ~8-16 years experience), and maybe there'd be a new Winamp version out by now. Would it look and be anything at all like the current Winamp that we all know and love, with all the same great features? Who knows? Though my guess would be 'probably not'.

But let's also not forget that without Radionomy, we would not be here right now. So praises be to them!

I'm very sorry that it's taking so long. We're doing the best we can... and we're getting there... slowly but surely.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[MrSinatra]

great update Egg, and while it may be redundant, posts like these once a month or so are imo, a great idea! you and Benski are the greatest!

[MrSinatra]

Egg and Benski et al,

i just wanted to point you to EAC, Exact Audio Ripper, for a few ideas:

1. check out how it gets album art. i think it does a targeted websearch, and gives the user a few cool ways to sort the results. the plus of this is you shouldn't need to pay anyone to give users access to album art.

try ripping a CD with EAC v1.1, you'll dig it.

2. check out how it does metadata. its a plugin based system. so, if you want freedb results, you use that plugin. or, if you want cuetoolsDB results, you use that plugin. both DBs are free for you to distribute/access as far as i know. pick the plugin easily on the fly right in the main UI for ripping.

with a plugin system, you could add MB later if you want, and if any one goes down, the user can still use something else.

3. accuraterip. this lack keeps audiophiles from using your software, and you WANT fanatics! it should be pretty easy to implement this.

also:

4. please be careful to make sure, that regardless of what metadata source you use, you allow the user to pick what fields/frames are included or not, so MB and similar don't spam a bunch of nonsense into the tags. thx!

ps. go with 5.7 or 5.9

why? idk, but 5.8 feels weak.

[musicf8]

ps. go with 5.7 or 5.9

why? idk, but 5.8 feels weak.

5.7 already had a beta before the AOL shut down. I think 5.8 is fine, gives enough room for improvements before 6.0 if that ever comes.

Actually with all the changes, it might make more sense to call it 6.0.

[MrSinatra]

i know, i was a beta tester. but i still think 5.8 sounds weak.

[j.digity]

Long time listener, first time caller. I was using Groove music tonight and frankly, it sucked. A lot. It sucked a lot. It was a steaming pile of lama dung and I'm being nice I think.

I've used Winamp since the mid 90's and it will always have a place in my heart as a low footprint always works never crashes media player that stuck to it's roots.

Glad to hear from the dev's. When you come I'll welcome you with open arms. Best media player ever.