Winamp is about to return, with support for streaming, podcasts and mobile apps

Winamp, the legendary customizable music player, could return in a new version, with a mobile app completely revised according to modern listening needs. The new ” Winamp 6 ” will be a hub for 360° music listening in the sense that, in addition to playing the music stored locally, will ensure listening to playlists, podcasts online, streaming internet radio stations, and so on. To bring it back to its origin was TechCrunch.

We recently talked about the availability of a last official beta release for the mediaplayer, but the software development that marked the end of the 1990 seemed to be completely stalled. Released in 1997, Winamp has been for years the most famous program for multimedia listening when the use of ” liquid music “, that saved digitally in files on the PC (and decidedly compressed), had really been beginning. He piloted a revolution.

After more than 20 years, everything has changed, just as listening methods have radically evolved. In the meantime, in 2002, it was acquired by AOL and then resold at Radionomy in 2014. The latest update dates back to 2013, but the news of the imminent arrival of a new, more modern version reigns over the hearts of fans, and little nervousness: will the new version not to disfigure compared to what is offered by the classic?

The task today seems very difficult, especially considering how the music listening has increasingly moved towards streaming services. According to the source, quoting Alexandre Saboundjian, CEO of Radionomy, ” there will be a completely new version [by Winamp] next year, with all the features of the classic application but with a more complete listening experience “. They will mainly increase the sources from which listening can be started.

” The user can listen to MP3s locally, but also access content saved in the cloud, podcasts, streaming radio stations “. The goal seems to be to update Winamp, both on desktop and on mobile, so as to offer a unique listening experience for all the audio that can be ” consumed ” today, coming from different sources. No information has been released on the supported services, and if among these, there are the more usual Apple Music and Spotify.

By the end of the week, it should get Winamp 5.8, which will bring only some bug fixes and compatibility issues, while Winamp 6, the revolutionary app, is expected to arrive in 2019.