Do you still remember Winamp? Do you still use Winamp?
Winamp was created by Nullsoft in 1997 as a community supported media play and was a pioneer as well as a disruptor in the digital media space. It is a free music player that captivated those that download and play their music on their computers.
Today, Winamp is one of the world's most popular media players allowing users to manage and play audio and video files. Winamp supports playback of 60 audio and video formats, and is available in two versions: Winamp Standard and Winamp Pro.
Unfortunately the era of Winamp will end soon. They just announced this week that by 20 December 2013, it will no longer make its player available for download and it would be shutting down its services.
"Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past 20 December 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date," it said.
"Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years," it added.
Since 1998, Winamp had offered users the ability not only to play their favorite mp3 music files, but also customize the players with skins and plugins.
The skins allowed the Winamp players to resemble various items, from iPods to mobile phones.
A report on Ars Technica said former Winamp employees blamed AOL, which acquired original Winamp maker Nullsoft in 1999, for mismanagement.
AOL bought Winamp in June 1999 for over US$ 80 million.
The Ars Technica article quoted former Winamp employees as saying Winamp's current revenue is around US$ 6 million annually.
It added Winamp has an estimated user base of millions worldwide.
“There's no reason that Winamp couldn’t be in the position that iTunes is in today if not for a few layers of mismanagement by AOL that started immediately upon acquisition,” it quoted Rob Lord, the first hire and first general manager of Winamp, as telling it in 2012.
Winamp was created by Nullsoft in 1997 as a community supported media play and was a pioneer as well as a disruptor in the digital media space. It is a free music player that captivated those that download and play their music on their computers.
Today, Winamp is one of the world's most popular media players allowing users to manage and play audio and video files. Winamp supports playback of 60 audio and video formats, and is available in two versions: Winamp Standard and Winamp Pro.
Unfortunately the era of Winamp will end soon. They just announced this week that by 20 December 2013, it will no longer make its player available for download and it would be shutting down its services.
"Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past 20 December 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date," it said.
"Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years," it added.
Since 1998, Winamp had offered users the ability not only to play their favorite mp3 music files, but also customize the players with skins and plugins.
The skins allowed the Winamp players to resemble various items, from iPods to mobile phones.
A report on Ars Technica said former Winamp employees blamed AOL, which acquired original Winamp maker Nullsoft in 1999, for mismanagement.
AOL bought Winamp in June 1999 for over US$ 80 million.
The Ars Technica article quoted former Winamp employees as saying Winamp's current revenue is around US$ 6 million annually.
It added Winamp has an estimated user base of millions worldwide.
“There's no reason that Winamp couldn’t be in the position that iTunes is in today if not for a few layers of mismanagement by AOL that started immediately upon acquisition,” it quoted Rob Lord, the first hire and first general manager of Winamp, as telling it in 2012.
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