Winamp is in the active development phase again, but may not arrive in the format we remember it by.
The Winamp music player was first released back in 1997 and quickly became popular as one of the best media players for computers.
However, in the early 2000s, it began to lose popularity after a series of poorly implemented updates, and there were several short-lived attempts to revive the project.
Winamp is now back in the active development phase, but the latest renaissance of the popular player may not arrive in the form of an original app with a new design.
The original Winamp media player was in development from 1997 to 2013, and the final version was v5.666.3516. In October 2018, an unfinished version of v5.8 appeared, and Radionomy (the owner of Winamp, now known as Shoutcast) decided to make it publicly available.
More updates were promised after that, but they never materialized. Now the Winamp website has been redesigned again, and promises “an innovative refresh of the most famous audio player in the world”.
What are new features in Winamp
There isn’t much information at the moment, but the new project doesn’t sound like a standard music player. One section on the site suggests that there will be a “unique space for creators” that will “connect closely with fans and provide a better income”.
AudioValley, a company owned by Shoutcast and Winamp, points out that the new Winamp “will become a platform that brings together audio enthusiasts, connects creators and consumers of music, podcasts, radio stations, audiobooks, and any other external content.”
Based on this description, the new Winamp acts more like a new platform for streaming audio content, such as Spotify or Pandora.
Those who are interested in seeing what the new version of the service will look like can sign up for Winamp beta testing.
New Winamp compatibility
New Winamp should be compatible with Windows 10, 64 bit and 32 bit and Windows 11.
New Winamp release date
Since New Winamp is in beta testing, we can expect a release date by the end of the year 2021 or the beginning of the year 2022.
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