[End of an Era] Winamp is Shutting Down on December 20, 2013

Do you remember the good old days when “Winamp” was one of the most popular and the best media player available for Windows? We all loved to use Winamp to play our favorite songs in Windows XP.

Winamp was an amazing media player for Windows XP. It was very lightweight, simple and easy to use program. It provided users ability to create playlists and change sound effects using built-in equalizer.

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Winamp_Skin_VLC_Media_Player.png

There were many other media players available such as Real Player, Jet Audio, etc but Winamp was the favorite of all.

But since when AOL acquired Winamp, the great media player started losing its charm. The later versions of Winamp were too much bloated. Winamp was popular because of its simple and clean UI. It provided only required features. But the new versions of Winamp were disaster and people stopped using Winamp.

Now there are very few people who are aware of Winamp media player and it seems the company has admitted it.

The company behind Winamp has announced that its going to shut down Winamp and related services on 20th December 2013. Here is the official announcement:

Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date. See release notes for latest improvements to this last release. Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years.

The latest version of Winamp is 5.66 and can be downloaded till 20th December 2013 from Winamp website.

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Also Check:

Download Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) Skin for Winamp

Download Winamp 2 Classic Skin for VLC Media Player

Have you used Winamp in past? Will you miss the good old media player? Feel free to share your experience about Winamp with us…

Published in: Software

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

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  1. For those of you in panic about what program they now should choose
    Foobar2000 for Windows
    GoneMAD Media Player for Android
    🙂

  2. Yeah, when i still using windows xp Winamp is my favorit audio player before it got bloated.Now i am using windows 8.1 with Aimp as Winamp replacement.

  3. Winamp is foobar 😉 sad to see it go but i’ve not used it for years now (i use foobar) but who’s gonna kick all those llamas asses now?

  4. I’ve used it as far as I remember. I haven’t had different default music player for ages… until now. I’m gonna miss it.

  5. Winamp became a POS ever since it was acquired by AOL. And for those people who are still feeling sad about the end of support for Windows XP this coming 2014, just let XP die already! All the architecture beneath Windows XP can’t keep up to today’s standards and demands anymore and it’s finally time for an antiquated OS to get its well deserved rest.

  6. It sure sounds a bit weird. I look up the website and there’s only a little message when you go to download it. Nothing on their blog. Nothing on their Twitter account… It feels more like the website has been hacked since I would imagine it would be a bit more visible.

  7. Winamp is my favourite music player because of its awesome music library management! I am so saddened and surprised by this news… Whatever may be people’s opinion but I will always remain a diehard fan of winamp!

  8. When I had XP on my desktop before , Winamp was the default player for me…But Since v5.3 , I’d stopped using it..So now I am using WMP in Win 8.1….

    Ya but I’ll miss Winamp

  9. HAVE HOPE PEOPLE! I HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS! MICROSOFT HAS BEEN TALKING TO AOL IN AQUIRING WINAMP:D . I CHECKED ON THE NEWS TODAY!

    PLEASE EDIT THIS POST VG:)

  10. Ah yes..crapamp, my old nemesis. I thought I would take this last version out for a spin, for old times sake. It was worse than I remembered, sweet Lord baby Jesus what a piece of crap. After uninstalling I no longer can add album cover tags with Foobar or Easy CDDA extractor to any music files. Both have worked wonderfully until now. BLAAAAH..should have known better. Thank you winamp, you will be sooooo missed. Never stop dying.

  11. Never liked winamp!Good riddance!I used Sonique instead and atm use xmplay plus it can use winamp plug-ins!

  12. @martin j pollard
    Yes, if you read, Winamp and services are going bye bye.
    Which is too bad. I use to use Winamp. It was a damn fine media player.
    R.i.p winamp!

  13. Too bad. I use it as my primary audio player , i like it for the Global hotkey option which i have been using for years. 🙁

  14. I was not aware of AOL acquiring WinAmp but now I understand why I have been finding the program has been getting worse and worse recently.

    I have switched over to Media Player from Source Forge. Seems to handle anything I throw at it.

  15. I am still using Winamp 2.91 – and I will. I don’t see any reason why I should upgrade to any newer version. 2.91 does what I need – plays music in MP3 and WAV and I don’t need any special functions. I have also several plugins which are important and comfortable for me. I broadcasted an internet radio using 2,91 and 4 plugins, for about 5 years, it was absolutely stable and still working. Now I use Jazler automation software and it is very strange and unstable. So, Winamp forever! Best player ever!

  16. It really does seem like Microsoft isn’t going to let WinAMP die.

    Bill Gates has the kindest heart ever (unlike a certain Steve), although I do hate they’re ReALLY egging us to get Windows 8/8.1.

    VG, please reply.

  17. Still remember the good ol days, when was using windows 98 and Winamp was my main media player.

  18. who cares about winamp… AiMP v3 is the NEW POWER. Total FREE,best features,ripping/converting and a million more.

  19. Vishal, please update the article. Winamp was purchased by Radionomy.
    Kitten, in mid-00’s, AOL renamed WinAMP to Winamp.

  20. Sotiris and Luis is right. Winamp is back. Please update this article. LONG LIVE WINAMP!!!

  21. Error. Winamp was clashing with MS players and winning. We were all waiting for the dust to settle down and the OS to stabilize. To date, I do not use MediaPlayer, stopped listening to music, I only double click and if it does not work it is OK, trash. MediaPlayer still asks if user wants it to be the default application! Visiting Nullsoft Winamp s site was a major experience, and skinning a minor work of art. The visualizer was great math. I have not found again anything compared to Winamp radio stations, so my experience as PC user was diminished. I just decided to see if it was ready for Win8.1 and found this mess! It was just a matter of wrapping codecs as plugins… Nothing yet is even remotely near the thin collapsing rack application window utility Winamp had. Now if available downloads do not function or ruin anything… I think there is some black story hidden here. Can the original authors still make remarks? Why not try autopsy.io to explain? I do feel something criminal transpires in this story.

  22. it’s 2020, I’m still using my sweat Winamp… Been using it since 1996. See no issues to make me switch to anything else. It has ASIO output, VST host plugin, it has beautiful skins, user friendly UI unlike foobar or portplayer… and starts in less than a second! why would I use any other players?

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