Winamp 5 on the horizon

Although technically quite advanced and versatile, Nullsoft's Winamp 3 never gained the popularity of it's predecessor, Winamp 2. Winamp 3 was supposed to be as quick as the earlier version, but instead turned out to be quite bloated and slow. Many Winamp 2 users never switched to version 3. Some sticked to the old version while many started using eg. Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

AOL, the online giant which acquired Nullsoft in 1999, has discontinued supporting Winamp 3 Wasabi-plugins. According to the plan announced in March, Winamp 2 and Winamp 3 will merge in Winamp 5 (2+3=5), due out this summer.

It is obviously in AOL's intrest to produce an in-house multimedia application capable of providing an alternative to Windows Media Player, Apple Quicktime, and RealNetworks' RealOne.

Source:
News.com

Written by: Jari Ketola @ 28 Jun 2003 2:30

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14 comments

domie

in house multi media player is cool but i think they are missing the point that most users wnated it only for listening to mp3s and MMJB and many others knock win amp off the road these days.
I know a lot of guys still prefer winamp but for me it was so damn infuriating..click in the wrong place and the whole damn interface disappeared to leave just one little line and it was really difficult to get it back to how you wanted it...not very user friendly

28.6.2003 14:05 #1

Praetor

um... what ever happend to Winamp4?

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28.6.2003 15:07 #2

domie

it's just a marketing gimmick..winamp2 + winamp3 = winamp 5 LOL

28.6.2003 15:45 #3

davidrose

Winamp 2 was always a great player Winamp 3 sux great+sux should vbe interesting to see and hear the newer version the best skins and visuals around anywhere

28.6.2003 19:21 #4

wealldoit

davidrose-that`s true, but Winamp 2`s great claim to fame was its brilliant plug-ins...

29.6.2003 12:50 #5

doxy2003

Winamp 2 is still the best...better than Winadows Media player and all other mp3 players and now has a movie player and a library. They never stoped developing Winamp 2. Winamp 3 has cool skins, but it's slow. I really hope that Winamp 5 will get the best from both 2 and 3. However, I'll still use Winamp 2.
Daniel AKA Digital Oxygen
www.mp3.com/digital_oxygen - free play and download my mp3's!!!

Digital Oxygen Music - the source of the winds is at www.mp3.com/digital_oxygen and at www.doxy.netfirms.com

29.6.2003 15:08 #6

Praetor

Quote:I know a lot of guys still prefer winamp but for me it was so damn infuriating..click in the wrong place and the whole damn interface disappeared to leave just one little line and it was really difficult to get it back to how you wanted it...not very user friendly I hear ya. Dont like WinAmp at all.... big Sonique fan here.

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29.6.2003 18:19 #7

Oriphus

test

Im gonna find you, and im coming to get YOU!

29.6.2003 19:45 #8

Jice

I agree about winamp 3 being a total disappointment, what waste! I miss winamp 2 and would gladly have it back. BTW, Oriphus is that how you got to be number 2 on the charts by posting bogus messages like the one you just did. Anybody could do that, Contribute please and don't just post to get your name on the list. Peace and Love to all.

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30.6.2003 06:39 #9

westgrveg

WA3 never got a chance. When WA2 was 1.x stages it wasn't all that good ethier.

BiAtcH 5.0

1.7.2003 13:00 #10

Powa

I've been using Winamp3 for a while now. Mainly because it has the cool MMD3 skin. Does that work in version 2?

WA3 is slow as a dog.

2.7.2003 03:36 #11

themies

fuck WA3 it doesnt work properly on 98,ME,95
it just has the "freeform skins". They'll put it in the WA5 too. And it should be out in the end of the summer if what i've heard is true..

Winamp 2.x is still the best mp3 player around no Ultraplayer and Windows Media Player will ever be better than it.. im looking forward to Winamp5 too if it'll take the best features from 2 and 3 it'll be awesome...

25.7.2003 04:12 #12

jimmycoli

well, i'll tell ya what. i downloaded the alpha version of winamp 5 last night right here on afterdawn.com . . . talk about tight! the thing that impresses me the most (besides the basic functions that are all more sturdy than ver.3) is THE VIDEO!! last night, i gave it a testrun with 2 full episodes of "the lone gunmen" in mpeg form and the audio was crisp, and there was not one time that the video and audio were not synched up (which was one of the problems with winamp3 in my book). winamp5 has the potential to sink wmediaplayer's battleship!

1.9.2003 15:52 #13

diskopo

Haha, what a coincidence. The first videos I tried on Winamp5 was also The Lone Gunmen and an episode of the X-Files.

Yeah, I signed up just to say that.

7.9.2003 00:35 #14

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