Winamp returns to the media player market

The legendary Winamp returns to the market after years of “vacation”. Despite the lack of support from the developer, the audience did not abandon their favorite player - and waited for an official restart. Representatives of the company Radionomy told about the release date of the updated version and shared their plans for the development of a popular media player.

The company Radionomy, which owns the rights to the popular media player, announced its official restart for the first time since 2013, when the application was completed. The first official update to version 5.8, which resolves compatibility issues with new operating systems, will be released on October 18th. A full license release 6.0 will be released a little later, in 2019.

A significant difference from the previous version will be the focus on mobile devices. According to the CEO of Radionomy, the updated Winamp will be restarted as a single platform for various streaming services, podcasts and other subscriptions.

“It will be a completely new version. By keeping the legacy of Winamp, it will provide a richer listening experience. You can listen to not only the MP3 files that you have at home, but also cloud services, podcasts, streaming radio stations and playlists created by you, ”said Alexander Sabunjyan, CEO of Radionomy.

However, the usual desktop client of the media player will not disappear. According to the publication Techcrunch, Winamp audience today is about 100 million people. And its support will continue, despite a large number of competitors, including iTunes and many

“Winamp users are everywhere. We have a really strong and important community. But everyone "knows" that Winamp is dead, and that we are no longer working on it. But this is not entirely true, ”said Sabundzhyan.

Currently, the company does not disclose the list of services with which the new Winamp will interact. According to Sabundjian, the main difficulty is not even copyright and licensing agreement for content. However, in an interview with Techcrunch, he only noted that "discussions are underway now."

Winamp media player was created in 1997, and acquired by Aol holding two years later for $ 80 million. By 2000, its audience already numbered 25 million users, and he himself acquired the status of a legendary player. In 2013, the latest official version of the desktop application was released. At the same time, it was announced the termination of support for the media player.