Winamp is returning from the grave to grace our computers once again

UPDATE 8/3/2022 11:30 AM ET: Winamp is back….again. And with its new release comes new features. The original story follows below:

Anyone who grew up in the ’90s remembers fondly the year that Winamp first graced our computers. It didn’t just play our music but had advanced features like EQ, visualizations, and skins. It disappeared for a while, but it’s back baby, with a redesigned logo and a new website that’s heralding the re-release.

Winamp was very much a tool of its time, coming not long after the advent of CD burners and the start of MP3 sharing (legal or otherwise). I can remember burning all of my CDs as soon as I bought them, partly to archive them in case the disc got damaged, and partly so I never had to listen to the CD spin in my noisy computer’s drive.

Then came peer-to-peer sharing networks at the turn of the century, and the face of music was forever changed. Winamp was often the choice of player for those users who were using file-sharing platforms like Napster, Limewire, or Kazaa to build their MP3 collections.

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Perhaps without Winamp’s popularity, Apple might never have created iTunes, the iPod, or the current way of buying music over the internet. Now it seems what’s old is new again, and it’s time for Winamp to return to our computers.

Vosveteit first noticed that the Winamp website got overhauled earlier this week and that a beta is coming in the near future. Will that beta stick to the classic styling of yesteryear, or will it come with the minimalism that has taken hold in all of the current streaming media players? We can’t wait to find out.

If you want to relive your youth and use Winamp again once it’s ready, you can go sign up to be a beta tester on their new website. While you wait, download Version 5.8 and you can use the classic stylings with some modern codec support. It’s like the ’90s never ended.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.