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Winamp 5.8, the First Update In 4 Years, Is Released (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the long-overdue dept.

Winamp, the world's most famous media player, has released version 5.8 to make it compatible with today's modern operating systems such as Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Bleeping Computer notes that there hasn't been a new updates released since 2014, when Radionomy purchased Winamp from AOL. Some other new features include standalone audio player support, an auto-fullscreen option for videos, updates scrollbars and buttons, and bug fixes.

From the report: Radionomy has stated that they are not stopping here and have big plans for Winamp. In an interview with TechCrunch, Radionomy CEO Alexandre Saboundjian, revealed that a massive release is planned for 2019 that aims to add cloud support for streaming music, podcasts, and more. "There will be a completely new version next year, with the legacy of Winamp but a more complete listening experience," Saboundjian stated in the interview. "You can listen to the MP3s you may have at home, but also to the cloud, to podcasts, to streaming radio stations, to a playlist you perhaps have built."

78 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. But by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does it still whip the llama's ass?

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Does it still whip the llama's ass?

      It never stopped.

      Right now, I'm running the old version of WinAmp (5.66) on the latest version of Windows 10 and it works just fine. It's small, simple, it works and it plays any audio file I want.

      When I see "Big Update Planned" it just means "We're going to fuck things up".

    2. Re:But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Oh, yes it did. Winamp is long obsolete.

      foobar2000 is objectively the best audio player but a long, long way. It's so far ahead that nothing else is even close to catching up.

      XMPlay is a player with a simplistic, Winamp-like interface, but it plays many more file formats and is just a lot more finished and professional feeling than Winamp.

      1by1 is great if you want a basic player directory player without any extras.

    3. Re:But by ckatko · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I seriously still use Winamp to this day.

      https://i.imgur.com/ZjA2AcC.pn...

      It plays MP3s, FLAC, OGG, etc. It has modular plugin API for obscure things like NES music. It supports global hotkeys. Skins.

      And uses 16MB of RAM and 0% CPU to play an MP3. AS IT !@#$'ING SHOULD.

      I haven't tried the newest version yet. But every "winamp clone" I've tried (on Linux included) was actually far more CPU and RAM usage and missed actual useful features like global hotkeys.

      Although, in the last few years, I've really started to use YouTube (+Ublock) as a music player since it has literally everything ever.

    4. Re:But by Zumbs · · Score: 1

      On my computer, VLC uses 0-0.1 % CPU and 12.8 MB of RAM when playing a single mp3 file. Treating my entire music library as a playlist and rolling it out does increase the memory usage, but with more than 7000 music files taking up 29 GB, that is not surprising.

      --
      The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
    5. Re: But by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

      I switched to foobar2000 many years ago for my Windows audio player and never looked back.

      The cloud stuff is intriguing though. I haven't researched it recently but I am not aware of a plugin for FB2K that streams media directly from cloud storage. I use CloudPlayer on Android for that. That could be a killer feature for WA on mobile platforms....

      --
      My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    6. Re: But by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I've though so about earlier updates and you run the latest (before this leaked one) and are happy with that so I don't understand your worries.

    7. Re:But by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      And for a non-retarded question... does it come with an updated version of Milkdrop??

    8. Re: But by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      ooooorrrrrrrr......
      The population as a whole doesn't care about hording digital music files anymore and pays for a music service that has 99% of what they are looking for.

    9. Re:But by Antiocheian · · Score: 1

      I don't know about 1by1, but in cases I want a basic file/directory player I use Media Player Classic homecinema.

    10. Re:But by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately no. When AOL purchased them, they sold off all the llamas to a sweater company in Denver.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    11. Re: But by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Non-sequitur much? How does your comment relate in any way to what the guy above you said?

      I think you've got mental problems. You're imagining things and having fake arguments.

      Also, I don't care what the population as a whole does because I can think for myself. Some of us aren't into mainstream pop music and I like having my music locally with me. It means I never have to worry about having a reliable internet connection (or a connection at all) or internet congestion or services removing stuff or perpetually having to pay for my music or DRM or any number of headaches. I just pop my micro SD filled with music into any device and away I go.

      One thing I do wonder about people like you though, how do you manage your music? I mean how do you create a playlist, for example? Since you can't use a media player of your choice to listen to your music service, aren't you beholden to the limitations that their web app has? That means you can't easily create playlists based on multiple specific criteria nor can you access EQs, continuators, crossfaders, convolvers, resamplers or anything of the sort. You also can't use visualisations. That might not be a problem with someone with your simple musical tastes, but it must be a really shitty experience for a music connoisseur.

    12. Re: But by mark_reh · · Score: 1

      The last I saw, ProjectM was pretty weak compared to MilkDrop.

    13. Re:But by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      XMPlay is a player with a simplistic, Winamp-like interface, but it plays many more file formats and is just a lot more finished and professional feeling than Winamp.

      Huge fan of XMPlay. It's kinda like what Winamp was, back in the day.. Works great.. No glaring bugs... Plays anything I throw at it and has some pretty decent visual plugins.. Actually, it has a ton of plugins, period.. Format plugins (.flac, etc) audio processing plugins, and visual plugins..

    14. Re: But by jpaine619 · · Score: 1
      Well said..

      I love how some of these asshats assume that everywhere someone goes, there will be internet.. But of course that's because they are city dwellers who'd shit themselves if they actually ended up more than a mile from a cell tower.. :)

    15. Re:But by UncleTogie · · Score: 1

      Right now, I'm running the old version of WinAmp (5.66) on the latest version of Windows 10 and it works just fine. It's small, simple, it works and it plays any audio file I want.

      I actually bought it back in the day, and it works just fine on Win10 for me as well, including visualizations.

      --
      Don't tell me to get a life. I'm a gamer; I have LOTS of lives!
    16. Re:But by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      So a few quick comparisons:

      Foobar2000: 15.6MB of RAM, 0% CPU playing an MP3. - Plugin ecosystem bigger than Winamp's
      VLC: 18.2MB of RAM, 0% CPU playing an MP3. - Haven't installed any customisations, plays everything I've ever thrown at it.

      Now to insult your requirements a bit:
      Windows Media Player: 19.5MB of RAM, 0% CPU playing an MP3. - Plays anything for which a DS filter exists, which is pretty much everything.

      But since we're measurbating:
      Media Player Classic - Home Cinema: 9MB of RAM, 0% CPU playing an MP3.

      I don't have iTunes installed, and I'm sure it would horribly lose, but the point is Winamp's success in your criteria is mediocre in the literal sense of the word. Compared to 4 other media players it is very middle of the rung.

      Also since I don't have a Pentium 100 anymore I can't really get excited about RAM usage of any of the media players on my computer.

    17. Re:But by LambertH · · Score: 1

      Well after installing 5.8 and running Malwarebytes just terminates the process at once. Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Protection Event Date: 10/22/18 Protection Event Time: 5:02 PM Log File: b9c8ba42-d63d-11e8-b9d0-54bef704d6f7.json -Software Information- Version: 3.6.1.2711 Components Version: 1.0.463 Update Package Version: 1.0.7473 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 10 (Build 17134.345) CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: System -Exploit Details- File: 0 (No malicious items detected) Exploit: 1 Malware.Exploit.Agent.Generic, , Blocked, [0], [392684],0.0.0 -Exploit Data- Affected Application: Winamp Player Protection Layer: Protection Against OS Security Bypass Protection Technique: Exploit ROP gadget attack blocked File Name: URL: (end) Back to MusicBee

  2. Too bad... by demon+driver · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... that in the meantime I've completely moved to Linux, where one thing is surely not missing: decent audio player options.

    1. Re:Too bad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The UIs/UXs for pretty much all Linux distros universally suck.

      Tried Mint+Cinnamon yet?

    2. Re:Too bad... by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      KDE FTW!

    3. Re:Too bad... by luther349 · · Score: 1

      vlc

    4. Re:Too bad... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      where one thing is surely not missing: decent audio player options.

      Please give us some recommendations as well. I have personally found the media players in Linux to be lacking in various departments. Mind you I don't like Winamp's interface otherwise XMMS may be suitable but what do you actually use that you consider decent?

    5. Re:Too bad... by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      My personal preference would be Audacious.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    6. Re:Too bad... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Thanks I'll give it a go. I dismissed it early for looking quite ugly.

    7. Re:Too bad... by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      I used it with an xfce desktop. Everything was ugly.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    8. Re:Too bad... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      hahahah. *tips hat*

  3. How to install Winamp under Linux by najajomo · · Score: 1

    How to Install Winamp on Ubuntu/Linux Mint

    1. Re:How to install Winamp under Linux by SpzToid · · Score: 1

      Didn't the plethora of open-source, and linux players eclipse Winamp's functionality long-ago? Thought so, but I stopped paying attention.

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
    2. Re:How to install Winamp under Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Functionality? Yes.

      Usability? Nope.

      WinAmp works so well because it has a relatively narrow focus, which actually covers the majority of what folks use. It doesn't do 'album art' and only tangentially supports even the most basic of video playback, it's entire purpose for being is audio playback with optional visualizations and a straightforward EQ that has enough bands to be useful for headphone/cheap desktop speaker compensation.

      Most of the alternative players were made to scratch some itch for a section WinAmp didn't handle, or to mimic other commercial players like iTunes at some points.

      WinAmp doesn't cater to audiophiles, it doesn't try to support every new audio format invented for that use and weird esoteric playback rates and techniques. It handles the 80% majority of stuff you can download off the internet and is far more designed to be a secondary 'background' app you usually only interact with to jump over a song you hate, replay a song you love, or go pick a specific song you really want to hear right now.

      A lot of 'modern' players keep missing that part about being a background app with trivially easy playlist adjustment/re-ordering, and focus on nonsense like album art and overlaying lyrics on-screen thinking they'll be the focus while playing a bunch of songs, and worry so much about having 'auto curated' lists based on various metadata tagging that they actively fight you organizing things how you may want.

      - WolfWings, too lazy to login to /. for far more important conversations, let alone this toss-away comment. :)

    3. Re:How to install Winamp under Linux by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      It does do "Album art" Seeing as you obviously know fuckall about winamp.. You should probably rant about things you know more about. And yes I stopped reading there as you're a moron. Open the damn audio library.

    4. Re:How to install Winamp under Linux by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      "I found that one thing that you're sorta, kinda wrong on that is tangential to the whole you're saying and in no way key to it. Therefore you're wrong on everything".

      In reality, this is an admission that you concede the remainder of the points.

    5. Re:How to install Winamp under Linux by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      No I just didnt continue reading. I impulsively shit posted and carried on with my day.

  4. Modern Operating Systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Modern" operating systems are, literally, Linux and MacOS.
    Microsoft's Windows, any version, isn't one.
    Maybe what you wanted to say was "recent" Windows versions?

    1. Re:Modern Operating Systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The NT kernel is also modern and in active development. Troll harder.

    2. Re:Modern Operating Systems by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It is in active development?

      So there IS hope after all?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re: Modern Operating Systems by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Didn't that die when Apple was taken over by NeXT?

    4. Re:Modern Operating Systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yup. It even has a stable driver ABI. Maybe with Torvalds off trying to get "woke" Linux can start catching up!

    5. Re:Modern Operating Systems by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I remember the Slashdot of old where trolling drivel wouldn't be voted Insightful.

      If you're 12 maybe give it a Funny vote. But seriously, people here should grow up a bit. (not the ACs, but rather the moderators).

  5. Still running Winamp 2.95 from 2003 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a bit bloated at 2.36M, but it does an excellent job of playing my mp3 files.

    Winamp 2.95

    1. Re:Still running Winamp 2.95 from 2003 by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Use the "lite" version if all you want is mp3.

      --
      No sig today...
  6. Clueless troll much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    ffmpeg is the basis for a shitton of decent players.

    For videos, I recommend SMplayer in its classic theme (so it takes the look and feel of the OS, instead of a crutch for Windows).
    Or VLC, if you are that kind of person.

    For music, it's Clementine, if you want somebody to manage the libary for you.
    And DeadBEeeF, if you know how to use a file system and like foobar2000.

    And then there is mpd, music player daemon. Which works, regardleys whether you control it via a full GUI client, your phone, an internal web page, or a script. Aka: How things should be, if it wasn't for those clueless Wintards.

    1. Re:Clueless troll much? by anthk · · Score: 1

      XMMS had LADSPA support before you even got to High School. Kid. That's with XMMS, a lot of media player do that and more just fine.

    2. Re:Clueless troll much? by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

      Winamp afaik was one of the very first clients that allowed you to control it from other programs. DDE I believe it used on windows to begin with and then it also had command line options so you could call it from command line from any program and change song/playlist or a bunch of other options. Really was ahead of its time back in the 90's and early 2000's.

  7. Who's that? by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Ya! WinAmp is back! Is DonkeyMesh still around to download stuff?

  8. Re:Too little, too late. by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I downloaded it. XMPlay is pretty cool. THX

  9. Re:Best music player by Iwastheone · · Score: 1

    Foobar 2000 still fills my mp3 needs. It does what it's supposed to, it plays my mp3 collection. Unless I hear a good reason to switch to the new and improved WinAmp version I'll stick with what works.

  10. Re:Best music player by Iwastheone · · Score: 1

    I hope you get better, being sick sucks.

  11. You have to agree a License... by martiniturbide · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...that is a dead link: https://www.winamp.com/legal/e.... Also the privacy: https://www.winamp.com/legal/p... Let's hope it get fixed.

    1. Re:You have to agree a License... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You have to agree to a license which is a dead link? Awesome! That means you only have to agree that there was a 404. Document this fact for posterity.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:You have to agree a License... by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Well in any contract vagueness or mistakes favor the party that didn't write it, so broken EULA = no EULA.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  12. For anyone interested in a winamp replacement... by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

    ... foobar is a decent option if your needs are just music.

    http://www.foobar2000.org/

  13. Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by CptLoRes · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Quote shamelessly stolen from some webpage, but it says it all.

    What are the best music players for Windows?” foobar2000 is ranked 1st while Winamp is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose foobar2000 is:

    Foobar2000 has a clean, minimalistic UI, small filesize, and is light on resource usage.

    1. Re:Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

      I love how something is "dead" if continuous updates aren't being done. At some point you are finished. It works as intended. Quit adding shit for the sake of adding shit.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re:Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by xeoron · · Score: 1

      Runs on Windows, and even OSX and Linux with WINE :)

    3. Re:Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by transporter_ii · · Score: 1

      Hopefully Mozilla Foundation employees are in the neighborhood and reading your comments. I would mod you up if I had points at the moment.

      --
      Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
    4. Re:Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 1

      I love how something is "dead" if continuous updates aren't being done. At some point you are finished. It works as intended. Quit adding shit for the sake of adding shit.

      It works as intended, until the OS or a dependency or a standard or some combination of that gets changed and breaks it.

      However, I will agree that it'd be nice if there was a point where a program could announce that it's got all the features in and any future updates will be maintenance updates--and not be considered dead merely because there's not been any need for a while to release any of those because nobody's broken it & there's not been any need to release a bugfix update yet. (Presumably there's always a few bugs, but at some point they'll hopefully all be trivial enough you can't justify releasing a update until it patches several of them.)

    5. Re:Winamp vs Foorbar2000 by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I love how something is "dead" if continuous updates aren't being done. At some point you are finished. It works as intended. Quit adding shit for the sake of adding shit.

      It works until you have a high DPI display and/or use display scaling, and things go horribly wrong from there. "2x mode" works to make it from impossible to use to barely able to use, but it only scales the main player window by 2x - option windows, equalizer, playlist and other sub windows are still ultra tiny.

  14. New version?? by jrq · · Score: 2
    I'm still running version 2.79 (nullsoft)
    • Stable
    • Easily skinned
    • Takes up 3MB of RAM
    • Plays everything
    • Even streams
    --
    My UID is prime!
    1. Re:New version?? by jargonburn · · Score: 1

      I'd forgotten about skinning....I wonder if I still have my Armitage III and/or Gunnm skins somewhere. Heh.

  15. Streaming radio stations by mrbester · · Score: 2

    I can do that now? Wow, thanks for that incredible addition. I must have been doing something else for at least the last 15 years...

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  16. Ass-whooping. by Ostracus · · Score: 1

    Be glad they didn't switch to a donkey.

    --
    Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
  17. Most famous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    the world's most famous media player

    So... Windows Media Player is less famous? VLC? Kodi?

    I don't have a preference really (I use mpv normally), but I'd think "the famous media player" would have been sufficient.

  18. Audio distortion by hackertourist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Does it still distort the audio if you get close to 100% volume?
    (That was the reason I moved from Winamp to VLC a long time ago)

    1. Re:Audio distortion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sounds like you had a hardware problem.

    2. Re:Audio distortion by Nkwe · · Score: 1

      Does it still distort the audio if you get close to 100% volume? (That was the reason I moved from Winamp to VLC a long time ago)

      So with VLC you can get to 110%?

    3. Re:Audio distortion by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      VLC allows you to set the volume to more than 100%, yes. The control goes up to 200%.
      This is useful for very quiet tracks. Distortion doesn't set in until the audio starts clipping because the signal doesn't fit in 16 bits any more.

    4. Re:Audio distortion by Brett+Buck · · Score: 1

      Why not just make it louder, but still 100%?

    5. Re:Audio distortion by Nkwe · · Score: 2

      Why not just make it louder, but still 100%?

      These go to 110%

    6. Re:Audio distortion by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      At 100%, there is no attenuation or amplification of the signal in the audio file: the signal gets sent to the OS' audio system unmodified.

    7. Re:Audio distortion by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      In Windows, that's living on the edge. It takes considerable fiddling before you can safely do that: you have to reduce the volume of every sound-capable application to safe levels, otherwise your music will be nice and quiet, but a notification, Windows system sound or (the worst offender of all) an incoming VOIP call will sound like a bomb going off.
      I got so sick and tired of applications doing that, that I bought an external DAC for my headphones, and only VLC gets routed to that DAC. All other sounds go out the default audio path (laptop internal speakers).

  19. Still using 5.666 by DogDude · · Score: 1

    I'm still happily using their last version 5.666 (right now, in fact). Works fine. No Internet connection needed. I'm not aware of any bugs. It's light and easy to use.

    --
    I don't respond to AC's.
  20. AIMP by Nieriko · · Score: 1

    Try it.

    I use it in windows and android. Nice design. Easy to use. Light.

  21. Re:winamp vs open source by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    Simplicity and focus on what user needs at expense of everything else.

  22. So, someone review it... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...and let me know why I'd possibly replace the nice little old winamp that I STILL USE?

    --
    -Styopa
  23. MediaMonkey! by execthis · · Score: 1

    I think MediaMonkey is the best music player by far.

  24. Winamp should be open sourced by execthis · · Score: 1

    I think Radionomy should have open sourced Winamp after acquiring it. I really have no interest in it or them anymore.

  25. It's a leaked beta that was made official. by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

    It's now officially sanctioned, but it's still a beta. I have previously been shouted down for proposing stories of beta releases -- "we aren't interested in unstable releases", I was told. Why is this one different?

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.