After 15 Years Of Whipping The Llama’s Ass, Winamp Shuts Down

[Indianatone]

I just use itunes easy and can put music on the iphone/ipods we have. For videos I just use the default WMP just works why change or add stuff if it just works.

This is not an insult or meant to start any kind of a flame war, but only an Apple user would say "why add or change stuff it just works". Just working has never been good enough for me. iTunes is an abomination that takes over and organises your files as Apple sees fit and does not have a place on any of my systems. Even Quicktime has grown into an overblown monster that installs extra crap that is not needed.
There I said it. Perhaps you should try Winamp instead of itunes. Winamp plays music and it plays it very well and does as it is told.

I don't own any apple stuff besides the phones or ipods. Anyways is just easy, does everything already that I need. I already tried winamp it feels like any other player since the only time i open them up is to hear music nothing else or to put music in the phones or ipods ect. I got no loyalty to apple if that's what you think. I just use what ever to be honest and since I need itunes for the ipods ect I just keep that installed and don't feel the need to have multiple music players installed. I don't use it for anything professional I just want to hear music and this is just what happens I end up using though I am open for anything else that could be a good music player. Winamp is fine and works fine , I just don't like having multiple apps that do pretty much the same stuff and i'm more of a casual music listener where ill'l just open the app to hear music or put music on one of my devices. I will give it a go again but I haven't found anything worth while at least yet to keep using it , the radio thing is nice but I don't use that since I just listen to what ever is on my computer. I'm happy you enjoy winamp and encourage you to keep using it since you like it. I don't use quick time myself so I have no opinion on that matter.

I just use itunes easy and can put music on the iphone/ipods we have. For videos I just use the default WMP just works why change or add stuff if it just works.

Hi there.

I HATE ICHOONES !!

Also it's nearly (or almost) impossible to get GOOD UNCOMPRESSED music from them these days -- OK nothing wrong with some compressed formats for listening on portable music devices on the go (while travelling) but I like HIGH QUALITY UNCOMPRESSED music on high end equipment - and ICHOONES often has stuff riddled with DRM so it's a hideous mess if you want to move / play music on other devices.

Huge Mass storage devices are ridiculously cheap these days so there's no problem keeping uncompressed music and then compressing it as and when you need to for Ipods etc. Remember also every time you process a LOSSY compressed music format such as edit it etc you get LOWER quality - so eventually the mp3 or so will degrade to barely listenable after a few edits -- FLAC / WAV is uncompressed so you can use this as your master copy and make mp3 copies as often as you like --- some of you will soon want better than the 128 kps mp3 that ICHOONES often has.

I respect your ideas on their app and have no problem with and can see why you dislike it. Thanks for commenting learned a couple things. As I said the app works fine and sounds fine imo though i'm open to trying other things and hearing them in that other format. I mainly just use mp3's and a couple flac's. If there was another app that could sync to iphones ect trust me I would be using something else.

Like I said, no flame war, I respect your opinion, we are all different and have wants and needs. Music is very important to me and the quality is the number one requirement. I 99% of the time buy CD's. I use Amazon, they have the instant rip for immediate download of MP3 whilst you await the CD's in the mail so I can rip it to a FLAC. The only time I'll settle on an MP is for the one Track of an artist I like and don't have. Such as recently I bought Je Suis un Rock Star by former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman. Don't want the whole CD. Anyway good luck with your music collection.

 

[MourningStar]

Oh well - been using this since day one. The only free player I know of (other than wmp, yuk) that plays audio, video and radio with some nice dsp plugins to boot. And I will continue to use it as long as the OS allows. I will try 5.66 and 5.7. My current version is very stable, so I will keep that around as a back-up.

 

[barnabas1969]

I never thought it added anything that Windows Media Player didn't already have. I was first introduced to WinAmp back in the 90's, and didn't see the point of using it.

 

[lehnerus2000]

The trouble is ...

I never thought it added anything that Windows Media Player didn't already have.

The trouble is that MS kept:

• Adding to it:
  • Obnoxious DRM in WMP 11 (it may have been Vista's fault and not WMP's though)
  • Uncontrollable Library integration in WMP 12 (not to mention bugs)
• Changing things:
  • Awful GUI in WMP 12

IMO, WMP 10 was the best version (I still use it in my XP installs) and it went downhill after that.

 

[barnabas1969]

I never thought it added anything that Windows Media Player didn't already have.

The trouble is that MS kept:

• Adding to it:
  • Obnoxious DRM in WMP 11 (it may have been Vista's fault and not WMP's though)
  • Uncontrollable Library integration in WMP 12 (not to mention bugs)
• Changing things:
  • Awful GUI in WMP 12

IMO, WMP 10 was the best version (I still use it in my XP installs) and it went downhill after that.

Well, to be honest, I never used my PC to listen to music much. I toyed with it a few times, but I've been a Sirius satellite radio subscriber since almost day one that the service was available.

Before Sirius, I had CD/DVD changers at home and in the car... so I had no real need for the PC to play my music.

Nowadays, I have an unlimited data plan on my smartphone, and can play music (Pandora) from it in my car. At home, I have an Internet-enabled 3-source, 3-zone AVR that can play Sirius, 50,000+ Internet radio stations, Pandora, and several other Internet sources... all of which are controllable from my smartphone... so it fulfills all my music needs at home with separate zones for the living room, master bedroom, and pool/patio area.

It's just convenient... no need to rip CD's, no need to pirate music, and it sounds great to me. I realize that there are some compression artifacts in music that is streamed in these ways... but it isn't very noticeable. Honestly, most music on Pandora has much better sound quality than Sirius satellite radio.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I have ~9000 mp3s on my PC.
I run Winamp (on shuffle play) whenever I'm using my machine.

 

[Indianatone]

I have ~9000 mp3s on my PC.
I run Winamp (on shuffle play) whenever I'm using my machine.

Just like me, I have the PC on downstairs playing music suitable for the "ganng of hungry people" arriving for Thanksgiving dinner. Celtic music, The Carpenters, ABBA, Chieftains, Loreena McKennitt etc. as that is the kind of music the folks like, being trained musicians. Up here I am playing my normal rock. PC = on = Winamp playing on shuffle.

 

[RommoR]

Never used other music player other than Winamp, RIP

 

[lehnerus2000]

Final Update?

There was an update a few days ago.
Winamp 5.666 Update - Filepuma

I signed the petition now, expecting tons of spam each week about other petitions but it was worth it.

I signed the petition the other day too.

 

[Lebon14]

Winamp. Everybody owning a computer since the mid 90's knew of Winamp at some point. It's sad to see it go. Personally, I'd like to see the player go Open Source. However, I still use the Lite version to rip to WAV 24/96 SNES music from the emulated files.

For my major listening (and even some converting), I use Foobar2000. It seems that I'm only the second here that uses it. Here's my UI:

(Uses only one optional plugin to have this UI; it's the Waveform Seekbar available on the official website)

As you can see, it's a simple playlist setup. No library or anything
Let me know if you want the .fth so you can have a carbon copy of my UI. (Note: For monitor of a minimum of 1920x1080 - Below that, I can't guarantee it'll look as good as it does for me).

 

[jimbo45]

Winamp. Everybody owning a computer since the mid 90's knew of Winamp at some point. It's sad to see it go. Personally, I'd like to see the player go Open Source. However, I still use the Lite version to rip to WAV 24/96 SNES music from the emulated files.

For my major listening (and even some converting), I use Foobar2000. It seems that I'm only the second here that uses it. Here's my UI:

(Uses only one optional plugin to have this UI; it's the Waveform Seekbar available on the official website)

As you can see, it's a simple playlist setup. No library or anything
Let me know if you want the .fth so you can have a carbon copy of my UI. (Note: For monitor of a minimum of 1920x1080 - Below that, I can't guarantee it'll look as good as it does for me).

Hi there.

WINAMP made playing music SIMPLE -- especially if you can't be bothered with playlists -- even from windows explorer just select a few files right mouse click and choose play in winamp. SIMPLICITY itself.

If you need to rip or tag files it uses GRACENOTE which is far superior to other databases --FOOBAR doesn't use Gracenote.

It's not that there aren't other players --it's just Winamp did the job efficiently and with the minimum of fuss -- not needing libraries or any proprietary data base systems and could play most common formats.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Lebon14]

I don't use automated online services for my tags: most often than not, there's something wrong with them. Everything is done manual and if there's something's wrong, it's my own darn fault! Also, Foobar2000 can pretty much play any files you want with a simple double-click or drag and drop. I use a playlist here, but it doesn't mean you have to use one, Jimbo.

As for Gracenote, I heard and used it at some point. The problem with Gracenote is that it needs a licence to use (which isn't free!). But, according to this, it changed a few months ago. So, it's only a matter of time until people use this to include Gracenote in their software.

Jimbo, I believe you should use dedicated CDripper such as CDex, EAC (in burst mode; since you probably won't care in doing perfect rips), etc. Tag the tracks yourself, it's much more rewarding. Tagging software? MP3tag does the job perfect (despite its name, it covers most of audio files) and you can do so much with it, it's not even funny!).

 

[boohbah]

MP3tag does the job perfect (despite its name, it covers most of audio files) and you can do so much with it, it's not even funny!).

it is funny ,
i often find myself laughing hysterically whilst tagging my tunes with mp3tag.
especially the eurobeat tunes

 

[Lebon14]

i often find myself laughing hysterically whilst tagging my tunes with mp3tag.
especially the eurobeat tunes

I... fail to understand. Seriously. Why would you laugh while tagging?

Oh, and, you are also a Eurobeat lover?

 

[Indianatone]

I suspect Julian is taking the pee.
I too use MP3Tag. Run it through Winamp and then rename the file names to my liking in MP3 Tag if they are not correct.

 

[MourningStar]

...It's not that there aren't other players --it's just Winamp did the job efficiently and with the minimum of fuss -- not needing libraries or any proprietary data base systems and could play most common formats. ...

still does!

 

[Indianatone]

Obviously you can get Winamp at Winamp dot com but there are some official add on's you can get from here:

Winamp Essentials Pack Free Download - Audio Plugins

Very useful.

 

[boohbah]

I suspect Julian is taking the pee.
I too use MP3Tag. Run it through Winamp and then rename the file names to my liking in MP3 Tag if they are not correct.

yep! :devil:


Did you know if you highlight the entire track list in now playing window then right click/send to/auto tag and then follow the steps in the auto tag window ,when you open the same album folder in mp3tag you can rename the filename from the tag,
its really handy and quick for albums you have ripped that have the list ,track 1 ,track 2 ,3,4 etc,
in just a few click you can rename the entire ripped album without typing a letter,
before i learned this way i used to have to type the track names by hand ,each rip.
bloody tedious that was.

 

[Indianatone]

Did you know if you highlight the entire track list in now playing window then right click/send to/auto tag and then follow the steps in the auto tag window ,when you open the same album folder in mp3tag you can rename the filename from the tag,
its really handy and quick for albums you have ripped that have the list ,track 1 ,track 2 ,3,4 etc,
in just a few click you can rename the entire ripped album without typing a letter,
before i learned this way i used to have to type the track names by hand ,each rip.
bloody tedious that was.

Yes I do, send to auto tag is one of the greatest features of Winamp.

 

[boohbah]

yeah i figured you would, the clever bit is the tag to filename in mp3tag once you have the tags in winamp.
in mp3tag you can set the order in how the filenames appear ie track number% track name%artist % album etc
really clever ,i had these two softwares a couple of years before i found out how to use them together, so maybe this post will help others.