The Winamp player is celebrating 10 years of existence next month with an Anniversary Edition player so it can build on its 60 million monthly active unique user empire.
Take that iTunes!
Long before Apple decided on a music player and download site, Justin Frankel and his friends started Nullsoft, a play on Microsoft’s name and built a dandy little MP3 player called Winamp.
It was simple. It was straight forward. It had a great mascot: Mike the Llama and unlike Real Player in the late 1990’s, it worked every time.
I was at my first start up when I first experienced Winamp. The office was exploring the joys of peer-to-peer music sharing and Winamp version 2 was our player of choice.
In addition to playlists, you could make your own skins and there was a Visualizer that was wicked cool.
Flash forward to 2007. Winamp is owned by AOL.
On Thursday, the company launched its 10th Anniversary Edition (version 5.5) is now in beta. The general release will be available on October 10th.
According to AOL and Nullsoft, the latest version will include:
a “redesigned user interface with album art; dynamic “More Like This” playlist service; expanded “Remote Access” to media, including video and access via next generation gaming consoles; the “Media Monitor,” which automatically detects and playlists playable Web content; and integrated search features that let you explore articles, videos, find up-to-date concert information and more about your favorite artists.”
OK, I know you are saying that iTunes has more than six million songs, 550 television shows and over 500 movies available.
Apple iTunes has also sold over three billion songs, 100 million TV shows and over two million movies.
I say, save the drama for your Llama. There is always room for more than one media player in this world.
Winamp was recently rated as the second most downloaded Windows application behind ICQ, by CNET and besides, Winamp has changed with the times as well.
AOL said the Anniversary Edition will host iPod and other MP3 player support. You’ll be able to manage music and videos and create playlists on your iPod or other MP3 player.
Plus, as an added bonus, you can install Winamp on Linux. Apple only allows iTunes on Mac or Windows.
How about you? What’s your favorite media player?
- Using The Nokia Music Store | August 29, 2007
- Interesting News About NBC and Apple | August 31, 2007
- iTunes: One Billion Sold | February 23, 2006
- Apple Hits The 100-Million Mark With iPod | April 9, 2007
- Apple’s Steve Jobs Calls For DRM-Free Music | February 6, 2007
