Winamp for Windows 11

Last updated: February 07, 2022
File Size: 24.00 MB

Winamp, (Windows Advanced Multimedia Products) was first released on April 21, 1997, and created by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev under the Nullsoft banner, is a media player that supports a variety of audio formats, including MP3, AAC, FLAC, WAV, and WMA.

Early versions of the player – named WinAMP as a combination of “Windows” and “AMP” (an abbreviation for the Advanced Multimedia Products MP3 file playback engine it employed) – had basic controls, but by the time version 1.006 was released a few months later, its iconic graphical user interface had taken shape.

Winamp was an instant success with early adopters. By mid-1998, the programme, which began as freeware but later switched to a shareware model, had been downloaded over 3 million times. This piqued the interest of major media companies, including AOL, which purchased Nullsoft in June 1999 for $80 million in stock and continued to operate it as a subsidiary.

Soon after, mainstream success followed. Winamp had 25 million registered users by June 2000, and only a year later it had surpassed the 60 million user mark. It was obvious that MP3s would be the next big thing in music. And they were for a while.

Winamp made it simple to make a playlist: simply drag files into the playlist window and begin listening. This, in conjunction with early file-sharing networks, altered how people discovered and listened to music. Winamp grew to 90 million users, before fading away into obscurity when the likes of iTunes came onto the scene with its relatively decluttered look and seamless search function. However, it is now making a comeback.

From 1997 to 2013, the original Winamp media player was under development, with the final version being v5.666.3516. An unfinished build of v5.8 was leaked in October 2018, and Radionomy (the owner of Winamp, now known as Shoutcast) decided to make it public. More updates were promised, but they were never delivered.

A live video included the seemingly impromptu appearance of a new app called Media Player, as reported by Windows Latest and other blogs. This appears to be a modern replacement for Windows Media Player, which debuted in Windows Millennium Edition and hasn’t been updated in years.

The newest version of Winamp for Windows 11 functions as a music library, allowing users to browse and play music, as well as create and manage playlists. In addition, any music and playlists from Groove Music will be automatically transferred to the Media Player, which will take the place of the Groove Music app. There’s also a dedicated playback mode that shows album art in full screen and mini player mode.

The new Media Player app may eventually replace the legacy Windows Media Player app that is currently available on Windows 11. However, Microsoft has stated that the legacy music app will remain available in Windows Tools. Also, because video and music are now combined, the standalone Movies & TV app is no longer required.

The company officially released Winamp’s first update in years. The update added support for Windows 11. Simultaneously, Radionomy (the new owners of Winamp) announced that they are working on a new Winamp for Windows and other platforms.

The updated website of Winamp includes a new statement indicating that the media player is making a comeback. Sign up for Winamp’s newsletters to be notified when the redesigned player is available for Windows 11, and other platforms.

Radionomy has not specified when the Media Player app will be made available to general users, but it has stated that during testing with Insiders, some issues were encountered that prevented playback from network locations. There are also a few bugs with editing album metadata, sorting library content with accented characters, and UI elements that ignore the user’s app theme preference.

The new Winamp appears to be more of an audio streaming platform, akin to Spotify or Pandora, than an update to a music player application. AudioValley could simply be using the Winamp name to generate publicity for an audio platform that is not very— there is a distinct lack of media players that are not simple web apps right now.

In addition, Radionomy intends to “add new ways to browse your music and video collections and manage your play queue.” [1]

There are plenty of third-party, potentially better alternatives to Windows Media Player, but the latter retains a special place in the hearts of many Windows users who grew up watching and listening to content on the default media app. Microsoft pushed its own first-party alternatives, namely Groove Music and the Movies & TV apps that debuted on the platform with Windows, out of the spotlight in Windows 11 and buried WMP in the menus.

Below you could find the Winamp for Windows 11 (Windows media player) with contains additions, cumulative set of all hotfixes, and security updates.

Download Winamp for Windows 11

References

[1] Microsoft: Here’s our new media player for Windows 11 to replace the Groove Music app, Liam Tung, Nov 2021, https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-heres-our-new-media-player-for-windows-11-to-replace-the-groove-music-app/

Winamp for Windows 10

Last updated: November 30, 2021
File Size: 22.00 MB

Winamp has remained a firm favourite for many tech geeks and music lovers alike. It had appeared to lose its way for a while, as it was slow in coming forward with newer versions, which could be supported by more modern software. This all looks set to change and could be the revival that Winamp truly deserves. The new update, BETA version 5.8, seems to have found its way onto the internet, hinting that this could be a step towards this fan favourite being supported by Windows 10. Although its Belgian owners, Radionomy, are yet to make a formal release statement.

Support for Windows Audio seems to be one of the key developments and this change allows for complete compatibility with Windows 10. No doubt, it will have the usual teething problems, but as has been shown before, it’s the fans and enthusiasts who have helped to push the software in the right direction when it comes to tweaks and apps. Winamp has launched their own forum for just this purpose and it’s great to see fans new and old being able to discuss both their excitement and, as to be expected at this early stage, some of their frustrations.

The goal of this new set of developers has been clearly defined as, the intention to make Winamp the player of today and provide an up to date and complete listening experience. One of the best things they’ve done so far is to remove any old pro licences, making Winamp 100% free to use again. There are also some other current fixes which have been included in the new version, these fixes include, resolved – slow loading issue, improved – updated scroll bar and buttons, fixed – various memory leaks. There are tons more additions and you can see the complete list of updates, fixes and resolutions within the new BETA version.

The go-to functions of customisable skins, visualisation, plugins and the ability to design and make your media player unique to you, are all still high on the agenda and remain some of the software’s key features. The fact that it can now be supported by Windows 10 has also opened up other new avenues. There are more advanced video plugins which can now be supported whereas previously there were some issues with this. There is no multinational version available with Lang packs as yet, but they’re working on the language packs, with Spanish and Polish currently available on the BETA version.

For more avid users of Winamp, they’ll be pleased to know the CD playback and ripping functions now use native Windows API instead of Sonic. The AAC decoder now uses Media foundation, Vista and higher and the H.264 decoder is now also using Media foundation, Vista and higher. These technical changes demonstrate that Winamp is taking itself seriously and has finally understood there is still a huge legion of fans who will willingly support and promote this unequalled media player. There is still nothing as flexible, yet as technically delightful as Winamp when it comes to creating and building your own individual home for music.

Back in October 2018, Radionomy’s CEO, Alexandre Saboundjan hinted that we could expect to see a version 6 available in 2019. 5 months into the year there have been no further corporate updates, including whether or not it will be able to support newer services or how it might integrate with the big players such as Apple Music and Spotify. However, the fact that the owners of Winamp are starting to understand the true potential behind this awesome media player can surely be nothing but good a sign for hardcore Winamp enthusiasts.

The beauty of Winamp is that you experience all of your music in a single place and this makes it a singular experience. There’s no need to go switching between platforms and getting lost in remembering where dedicated playlists are saved. The visualization aspect of Winamp and its spectrum analyser has always allowed people to bring their music to life. To see and feel it. It’s fantastic to see the BETA version available, and the input this is allowing fans and users alike to generate.

We’ve touched on some of the updates but there are a few others that deserve a mention. You can slow down the pop-up buttons, so they don’t overtake the screen and they’ve also improved the browse path and edit title functions in Editor. The OpenMPT-base module player has also been improved and they’ve replaced the MikMod player. The added functionality which can now be supported by Windows 10 is set to continue and we can expect to see more and advances over the coming months.

With only the BETA version being released so far, it’s safe to say, this is a work in progress, but I for one look forward to being a part of the continuing journey to restoring Winamp to its former and well-deserved glory.

Here you can find the Winamp for Windows 10 (Windows media player) with contain required update patches. Windows 10 had backward compatibility with Winamp skins and popular plugins. Compatibility Winamp updates for security support are have already installed. Winamp works perfectly well with Windows 10.

Download Winamp for Windows 10

Winamp Essentials Pack 5.6 & 5.7 Download page