Justin Frankel, Winamp's primary developer, seems to concur in an interview he gave to BetaNews. “There's no reason that Winamp couldn’t be in the position that iTunes is in today if not for a few layers of mismanagement by AOL that started immediately upon acquisition,” Rob Lord, the first general manager of Winamp, and its first-ever hire, told Ars.įurther Reading “Oprah” for indie bands: Apple once loved unknown acts-what changed? It’s almost as if the Internet has forgotten about the upstart with the odd slogan that looked at one time like it would be the company to revolutionize digital music. Winamp's 15-year anniversary is now upon us, with little fanfare. AOL famously acquired the company in June 1999 for $80-$100 million-and Winamp almost immediately lost its innovative edge. But there was such a time-and even after 'MP3' entered the mainstream, organizing, ripping, and playing back one's music collection remained a clunky and frustrating experience.Įnter Winamp, the skin-able, customizable MP3 player that 'really whips the llama's ass.' In the late 1990s, every music geek had a copy llama-whipping had gone global, and the big-money acquisition offers quickly followed. MP3s are so natural to the Internet now that it’s almost hard to imagine a time before high-quality compressed music. This piece originally ran on J(and Winamp finally called it quits in November 2013).

Today, we resurface our look at the greatest MP3 player that was-Winamp.

But during the last 15 years or so, that wasn't always the case.

As many of us are busy crafting the perfect playlist for grilling outdoors, most likely such labor is happening on a modern streaming service or within iTunes.

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