Winamp is not dead, a new official version is downloaded online

Winamp is one of the oldest multimedia players to have successfully passed the test of time. Despite its age and the change in the way of listening to music in recent years, within a certain niche of users, the multimedia player created by Nullsoft still goes very strong.

The software supports many types of audio files, such as MP3, MIDI, MOD, MPEG-1, M4A, AAC, OGG Vorbis, WMA and even uncompressed formats such as WAV and FLAC. It also supports uninterrupted playback between files and the ability to level the volume between tracks.

The release of the original version dates back to 1997 by Justin Frankel, with the company that was sold two years later to AOL for 80 million dollars. More recently, in 2014, the software becomes Radionomy, after an acquisition negotiation for a sum never publicly disclosed.

Four years after the last acquisition and without any official announcement by the company, a new alleged beta version of Winamp 5.8 (winamp58_3653_beta_full_en-us.exe) has appeared online with the build date that dates back to October 26th, 2016.

The application was leaked online through an account of an anonymous user within a large selection of file sharing sites. Nullsoft’s software appears to be hard to die, with its iconic user interface that represents an indisputable example of ease of use and functionality, offering the minimum necessary for the user to listen to quality.

The new leaked version brings with it some new features, including better compatibility with the latest Microsoft operating systems and the Pro version is removed. Winamp becomes a 100% freeware.

Here is the complete changelog :

• New: Windows Audio (WASAPI) Output plug-in (w.i.p.)
• Improved: Added an option to completely disable Winamp’s video support
• Improved: Added an auto-fullscreen option to video prefs
• Improved: Added /ENUMPLAYLISTS to the command-line support
• Improved: Windows 8.1 and 10 compatibility
• Improved: [in_mod] OpenMPT-based Module Player (replaces old MikMod player)
• Improved: [ml_playlists] Added browse path & edit title functions in Ctrl+E editor
• Improved: [Bento] Updated scrollbars and buttons and other tweaks (thanks Martin)
• Improved: [Bento & Modern skins] Added a Playlist Search feature (thanks Victor)
• Fixed: New URLs not being remembered after using Reset history in Open URL dialog
• Fixed: Various memory leaks
• Fixed: [gen_tray] Not showing correct current icon pack in preferences
• Fixed: [in_avi] Divide-by-zero crash with badly formed files (thanks ITDefensor)
• Fixed: [in_mp3] Crashing with some ID3v2 tags
• Fixed: [ml_wire] Slow loading issue
• Fixed: [ssdp] Crash on load if jnetlib was not correctly initialized
• Misc: Minimum required OS is now Win XP sp3 (Windows 7 or higher recommended)
• Misc: More general tweaks, improvements, fixes and optimizations
• Misc: Moved shared DLLs to Winamp\Shared folder
• Misc: MP3 Encoder must now be downloaded manually (to Shared folder)
• Removed: All former “Pro” licensed functions (Winamp is now 100% freeware again)
• Removed: gen_jumpex & UnicodeTaskbarFix (making way for native implementations)
• Removed: [in_wm] DRM support
• Replaced: CD playback and ripping now using native Windows API (instead of Sonic)
• Replaced: MP3 Decoder now mpg123 based (instead of Fraunhofer)
• Replaced: AAC Decoder now using Media Foundation (Vista and higher)
• Replaced: H.264 Decoder now using Media Foundation (Vista and higher)
• Replaced: MPEG-4 Pt.2 Decoder now using Media Foundation (Vista and higher)
• Updated: [in_vorbis] libogg 1.3.2 & libvorbis 1.3.5 (aoTuV b6.03)
• Updated: [libyajl] libyajl v2.1.0
• Updated: [OpenSSL] OpenSSL v1.0.1i
• Updated: [png] libpng v1.5.24

Recall that Winamp 5.8 is an official release, but it is a beta that could have problems of stability, reliability and security. It is not directly supported by Radionomy, so those who decide to install it do so at their own risk and aware of the fact that the user experience could be full of different problems.

For those who want to try to relive the thrill of Winamp in a simpler way we can only recommend this project that brought the media player on any web browser.