Few media players have had such success as Winamp, but the heyday is now over, especially due to the arrival of streaming services. However, now they are working on a comeback, the music software is being modernized.
Since the late 1990s, Winamp has been used for playing local music files. However, the new variant sounds more like a streaming service, or at least something where you can discover or buy new music.
‘Reinvented to connect you with the music and artists you love’, is the text that opens the accompanying website. But what the player will look like in the future has not yet been revealed.
More than mp3s
It is clear that the makers see Winamp as an all-encompassing audio service. That is why podcasts, radio stations and audiobooks will soon be offered, as stated on the AudioValley site. This Belgian company has been the owner of Winamp since 2014. They also want to compensate artists more fairly, where Spotify, for example, is often under fire because musicians are paid little there.
Many more users
Who is interested, can sign up as a beta tester. The classic version of Winamp is also still available for download. It concerns version 5.8, which was released in 2018. Since then, no more updates have been released for the program, which is said to still have 80 million users. It is not yet known when the new Winamp will be further unveiled or launched.
