10 ms·
My memory is fuzzy on this but didn’t most consider Winamp 2.x the best. Winamp 3.x was considered bloated. So to help rectify the problems of 3.x, Winamp relea
by tiffanyh 5y ago
My memory is fuzzy on this but didn’t most consider Winamp 2.x the best. Winamp 3.x was considered bloated. So to help rectify the problems of 3.x, Winamp release version 5.x (the best of 2 + 3). Though I recall many still used version 2.x even after the 5.x release.
Question: so when you say folks are trying to keep the "last version" alive, which version are you referring too since later versions weren’t loved.
- dreamlayers 5y agoWinamp is highly modular. Most functionality is in plugins, and you could only install the plugins you want. For example you could exclude the media library, modern skins, and video playback. So, 5.x doesn't have to be bloated.
- caddywompus 5y agoI'm actually not too familiar with it, I was too young to use the original Winamp back when it was released, and can only remember playing around with the skins, along with RealPlayer on Win98 I'm guessing they went with version 5, since it looks like versions after that might have been a full rewrite?
- skeeter2020 5y agoIf you want a fun read that wastes a few hours, poke around the interwebs for the story of Justin Frankel and WinAmp. There's been some recent posts on HN about how "the Internet is played out". Not sure if I agree, but this guy definitely belongs in the mythos of web 1.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel
- 0des 5y agoWinamp 2 was generally preferred. If I recall correctly, it skipped version 4 not because v2 + v3 = v5 but because nobody would want to download a Winamp 4 skin. Not kidding.
- lelandfe 5y agoYou're both right! https://web.archive.org/web/20131219003849/http://www.winamp.com/help/FAQ#General https://web.archive.org/web/20131219003849/http://www.winamp... > What happened to Winamp 4? You're not imagining things. Yes, we skipped a version number for the following reasons: a) Winamp 5 combines the best aspects of Winamp 2 and Winamp 3 into one player. Hence Winamp 2 + Winamp 3 = Winamp 5! b) Who the hell wants to see a Winamp 4 Skin :P c) We think that a Fibonacci sequence for versioning might be pretty damn cool. d)We improved so much in Winamp 5 that we figured it warranted skipping a version. ;)
- ConceptJunkie 5y agoSo I can't imagine that the clowns that made that awful new Winamp site would be cool enough to call the new one Winamp 8. Or release a version that anyone actually wants, for that matter.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- thedoctor_o 5y agoSupposedly they're still going to call it Winamp v6 assuming it happens. They've lied a number of times over the past 8yrs so don't hold your breathe but the new site is somewhat indicative of their disregard about why those still using Winamp (or clones of it) do so. -dro
- gonesilent 5y agohow can i msg you a invite to the new landoleet discord?
- 0des 5y ago>the clowns that made that awful new Winamp You don't have to be like that.
- lnx01 5y ago5.666
- meepmorp 5y agoWinAmp 2 was the last "real" version, before the AOL buyout of Nullsoft took its toll.
- krater23 5y agoI currently use 2.95 and see no reason to update. But I listen rarely mp3's in the last years.
- lproven 5y agoFoodbar 2000 FTW. https://www.foobar2000.org/ https://www.foobar2000.org/ Tiny, fast, simple, does the job. There's an Android version too, which is my go-to audio player, because of its simplicity. Both FOSS.
- thedoctor_o 5y agoFairly certain that fb2k has never been FOSS or can you point to where that's not the case as that'd be far more interesting than the point of this thread. -dro
- lproven 5y agoOh! My bad. I mistook the SDK and projectM source download links for the app itself. I apologise for the misleading comment.
- thedoctor_o 5y agoIs all good. -dro
- skeeter2020 5y agoHaven't tried Foodbar :) I use Foobar on my PC daily but didn't even know it was available on Android, so thanks! Musicolet is also a great Android player without all the BS (ex: can run mp3 files copied to the device with no internet connnection)
- lproven 5y agoBlast. Didn't even notice. Sorry!
- 5y ago
- orbital-decay 5y agoIIRC, Winamp 3 introduced the new skin engine which supported transparency and was slow as molasses on contemporary machines. Moreover, 2.x switched to the new MP3 decoder at some point, and many people didn't like it, either ripping the old decoder from the old versions or stopping upgrading past a certain 2.x version. (None of this is important today, I guess)
- warning26 5y agoWinamp 3 was a complete rewrite from the ground up, built around the new skinning engine and the "Wasabi" scripting language. But as you say, it wasn't very performant, and it was also super buggy. I believe there was some drama which resulted in the lead dev for 3 getting fired, and then the skinning engine (which was the most popular part of 3) was grafted onto the 2.x base for version "5".
- res0nat0r 5y agoI've been using my minimal Winamp install and the noerror skin for like 15+ years now. Still the best mp3 player on Windows IMO. https://skins.webamp.org/skin/8a466a39534e4be0dc6ca5cc0d6f5a80/noerroramp.wsz/ https://skins.webamp.org/skin/8a466a39534e4be0dc6ca5cc0d6f5a...
- taf2 5y agoYes I loved Winamp 2.x - the transition from tapes to mp3 was great for me. My car had a tape player and not a CD player and it was more fun to make tapes that’s cds imo
- yk 5y agoIf memory serves, the update from 2.x to 3.x was the one were suddenly skins no longer worked and they decided to base the program around a db instead of the file system. Which is not that bad (though still strictly inferior to file based) in modern cell phones, but at a time when computers were a lot slower and everybody had organized their music library around files instead of metadata it was a bloody disaster.
- toyg 5y agoThat reminds me of this classic JWZ : https://www.jwz.org/doc/mailsum.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/mailsum.html (Note: you want to copypaste that link, not click it)
- goldenkey 5y agoI clicked it and it is NSFW. :-/ Why does JWZ hate HN?
- raffraffraff 5y agoI dunno... Libraries were a revolution for me. If I remember correctly, that was around the time I briefly switched to iTunes for its library features. The ability to start typing and instantly see a list of song matches was great. The problem with the WinAMP library was that it wasn't that good. If course iTunes turned into a bloated mess too, and I ended up on foobar2000 for years.
- lproven 5y agoI have long felt that, given the problems of the Python 2→3 migration, the Python devs should have done the same. :-)
- habeebtc 5y agoI have been running Winamp 2.95 for coming up on 20 years now. So you would be correct on that count. Despite how powerful modern computers are, I still notice how much lighter 2.x is than 3.x.
- samplatt 5y agoI just installed 2.95 last night after uninstalling 5.x. 5.x doesn't have [Q] to enqueue within a playlist. I have no idea why anyone would remove such a basic feature... maybe the advent of the "media library" management (at the time a new concept) made them decide to remove it. I had to install milkdrop separately to WinAmp, but honestly, after reinstalling Windows 98 every 72 hours back in the bad old days, it kinda felt natural. Nostalgic.