While today the majority of Spaniards (54.9% according to 2022 data from Stadista) listen to music via streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music or even YouTube, a few decades ago there was no There was only one program that was really worth it: Winamp.
It was one of the first programs that everyone installed when purchasing a new computer, a true must-have for listen to our library of MP3 files. Its apparent simplicity hid great potential, both with the integrated tools and with the add-ons and ‘skins’ that could be installed and which modified the appearance of the program to levels that today would seem like a parody.
This exercise in nostalgia that we have just done is due to the latest news of the project which, perhaps to the surprise of many, is still relevant today. The owners of Winamp announced this week that Winamp’s source code will be released openly, so the community can do what they want with it.
This is great news for many reasons. And, despite its age, Winamp was still a closed program that hadn’t been updated for many years; and this was visible with poor support in modern systems like Windows 11. This makes sense, since the original version of Winamp has been abandoned in favor of a new application created by its new owners.
The original creators of Winamp, Nullsoft, no longer have much to do with Winamp; The owner of the brand and program since 2014 is Radionomy, a streaming platform that renamed itself Llama Group and made Winamp a rival to Spotify, with subscriptions for every artist we follow and support for NFTs.
Obviously, the new Winamp failed to please fans of the original program; maybe that’s where the decision comes from publish classic Winamp codein an attempt by the company to bury the hatchet and put the name back on everyone’s lips.
When Winamp’s source code is released on September 24, anyone will be able to use it for their own programs; This will allow, for example create a new modernized version of Winamp suitable for modern systems, or even create a version for unsupported systems like Linux.
However, Llama Group clarified that There will only be one “official version of Winamp”, which will continue to be controlled by the company; Therefore, this free version will be called “FreeLlama” to distinguish them, and it is expected that developers will not be able to use the Winamp brand in applications based on its code. Despite these restrictions, Llama Group should have no problem finding people interested in contributing to and maintaining the project, something it has already publicly requested.
