Winamp to provide its source code

[Random Encounter]

https://about.winamp.com/press/article/winamp-open-source-code

I may be one of the dozen people left on this planet who still uses Winamp. I don't use it every day like I did when first found it in 1997, but it still gets used as part of my streaming setup. The program hasn't had an official new release in years, even though the company's kept up a skeleton crew around trying to maintain it. I guess this announcement means that's pretty much over with too.

The source code got leaked a few years ago, but I'm happy to see something more official becoming available. I wonder if it will be helpful to projects like WACUP that are keeping Winamp viable for future use.

[Selbaek]

Man, that is amazing. Open source is the best source!

[Random Encounter]

Here it is! Their software license is unfortunately really restrictive, however.

https://github.com/WinampDesktop/winamp

[The Grimace]

I used Winamp again recently as a simple MP3/FLAC player option when I don't have internet access. It's funny how barebones it is, and I appreciate its simplicity. Sometimes a guy just wants to listen to music offline without any run-around.

[Althena]

I got turned back on to dear old Winamp when I started streaming. It is very simple and practical software, and I'm glad to see them opening up the source code.

[Skunkworks]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/winamp-really-whips-open-source-coders-into-frenzy-with-its-source-release/

[Althena]

Yikes

[Random Encounter]

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024...ource-release/

Welp, that's unfortunate but also not surprising. I hope they can re-release it with the offending code tidied up, with a more sensible license. But I think don't think that kind of effort is going to be put into a nearly 30-year old piece of software.

I still use Winamp to this day as it is practically muscle memory at this point, but that it also plays well with my streaming setup. I have tried to move away from it over the years to alternatives, but none of them feel quite right.

[Random Encounter]

I forgot to include this in the last post, but there is a Winamp community project called WACUP that is aimed at updating the Winamp code with a more modern backend. It's been worked on long before the official source code came out, and support is pretty decent. If there is anybody here still using Winamp, you really should look into switching to this.

https://getwacup.com/