Winamp is going open source (Update: nope, they aren't)

[YamiYukiSenpai]

UPDATE

Turns out they're not actually going open source.  I felt played.

You have to sign up to view the code for "FreeLLama", and there's no license attached at all (that should've been a red flag).

 

I'll give Qmmp a shot.

 

Quotes

Quote

Winamp is not open-sourcing its code. As this misconception has been circulating, it's important to set the record straight. The current owner, Llama Group, has plans for the app that are not open-source compatible.

Instead, as Winamp CEO Alexandre Saboundjian said, "Winamp will remain the owner of the software and will decide on the innovations made in the official version." The sort-of open-source version is going by the name FreeLLama.

 

Sources

ZDNET - Winamp is not going open source. Here's what it is doing - and why

-----------------------------------------

Summary

Winamp is planning on going open source on September 24, 2024.

 

Quotes

Quote

 "This is a decision that will delight millions of users around the world. Our focus will be on new mobile players and other platforms. We will be releasing a new mobile player at the beginning of July. Still, we don't want to forget the tens of millions of users who use the software on Windows and will benefit from thousands of developers' experience and creativity. Winamp will remain the owner of the software and will decide on the innovations made in the official version," explains Alexandre Saboundjian, CEO of Winamp.

 

My thoughts

I'm really looking forward to seeing developers contribute and improve on it, though I have no plans on using Windows as a daily driver again.  I did use Winamp back in my last job when I was using Windows.

Sure would be nice to see this show up on Linux

From how it was phrased by the CEO, I don't think the mobile app will be open source.  Hope I'm wrong because I'd love to see this on F-Droid. 

I sure hope there won't be NFTs in the mobile app.

 

Sources

https://about.winamp.com/press/article/winamp-open-source-code

[tkitch]

It really whips the llama's ass

 

[Satisfoxy]

I don't know a single person who still uses WinAMP. Where are they getting this 'millions of users around the world' number from?

[jaslion]

2 minutes ago, Satisfoxy said:

I don't know a single person who still uses WinAMP. Where are they getting this 'millions of users around the world' number from?

Hey now!

 

I'm at least one of those millions!

 

Oh and business music players.

 

No joke that stuff is often found on store music systems funnily enough. Seen it around multiple times.

 

 

[Levent]

Still no word on licesing eh? I also find the the date kind of weird. Are they refactoring their codebase before releasing? Why announce that you are going to be open sourcing an obsolute 30 year old software 3 months from now?

[RejZoR]

8 hours ago, Levent said:

Still no word on licesing eh? I also find the the date kind of weird. Are they refactoring their codebase before releasing? Why announce that you are going to be open sourcing an obsolute 30 year old software 3 months from now?

It's really not that old. It is some 10 years tho Last regular update was around 2014 iirc, version 5.8. Version 5.9 came years later in 2022 and was basically just compatibility update for latest OS.

 

WinAMP (I like to write it stylized like this ) may be old, but it's super modular and versatile. I remember people releasing all kinds of crazy plugins for it. OpenAL, WASAPI, ASIO output, you name it, people made it all for it. You also had insane resamplers and surround plugins, DSP plugins. I've never seen any other player with such crazy rich community support of plugins. It was great.

 

And being open source soon, it's likely someone will port it to Linux which would be cool. Linux has a lot of media players, but they are all kinda crap. WinAMP with native PipeWire output would be cool.

[WereCat]

2 hours ago, RejZoR said:

WinAMP (I like to write it stylized like this ) may be old, but it's super modular and versatile. I remember people releasing all kinds of crazy plugins for it. OpenAL, WASAPI, ASIO output, you name it, people made it all for it. You also had insane resamplers and surround plugins, DSP plugins. I've never seen any other player with such crazy rich community support of plugins. It was great.

foobar2000

 

2 hours ago, RejZoR said:

And being open source soon, it's likely someone will port it to Linux which would be cool. Linux has a lot of media players, but they are all kinda crap. WinAMP with native PipeWire output would be cool.

can agree with that

[Doobeedoo]

Foobar2000 better.

[Brian McKee]

15 hours ago, Satisfoxy said:

I don't know a single person who still uses WinAMP. Where are they getting this 'millions of users around the world' number from?

You don't know many people then. Plenty of oldschool people in my circle still on Winamp. Old habits die hard.

[RejZoR]

1 hour ago, Doobeedoo said:

Foobar2000 better.

I really never particularly liked Foobar2000. It looks and feels more archaic than WinAMP and it's more straight to point minimalistic player. Ended up with MusicBee as it's auto updated via Microsoft Store (yeah, it's rare along with Paint.NET that actually work fine this way). I also like how it stores playlists in Documents so when I reinstall Windows I don't have to make everything again or keep backups. I use AIMP on my phone for car infotainment and while they have Windows version, I never really went with it on Windows. WinAMP was certainly cool and I'd use it again if someone updates its MP3 decoder to be of higher quality and add WASAPI Shared output. Exclusive WASAPI or ASIO is a bit annoying as it's, well, exclusive and shuts down all other sounds or effects. DirectSound works, but feels like it sounds worse.

[Doobeedoo]

4 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

I really never particularly liked Foobar2000. It looks and feels more archaic than WinAMP and it's more straight to point minimalistic player. Ended up with MusicBee as it's auto updated via Microsoft Store (yeah, it's rare along with Paint.NET that actually work fine this way). I also like how it stores playlists in Documents so when I reinstall Windows I don't have to make everything again or keep backups. I use AIMP on my phone for car infotainment and while they have Windows version, I never really went with it on Windows. WinAMP was certainly cool and I'd use it again if someone updates its MP3 decoder to be of higher quality and add WASAPI Shared output. Exclusive WASAPI or ASIO is a bit annoying as it's, well, exclusive and shuts down all other sounds or effects. DirectSound works, but feels like it sounds worse.

It's the most customizable and lightweight program, you can configure it any way you want, add anything, remove, support for whatever. 

[StDragon]

Milkdrop. One doesn't simply use Winamp without at least running the Milkdrop plugin.

[xAcid9]

Meh.. Nostalgia is the only thing that keeping this "alive".

 

12 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

It's the most customizable and lightweight program, you can configure it any way you want, add anything, remove, support for whatever. 

If only they build for Linux as well..

[Kisai]

On 5/18/2024 at 6:59 PM, xAcid9 said:

Meh.. Nostalgia is the only thing that keeping this "alive".

 

If only they build for Linux as well..

QMMP was built to look and function like WinAMP.

 

I even remember there was something way back in 1999 Linux's that looked exactly like WinAMP and I thought it was just called "AMP", but I can't find any references to it, since "three letter words" are basically unsearchable.

[Brian McKee]

On 5/18/2024 at 9:59 PM, xAcid9 said:

Meh.. Nostalgia is the only thing that keeping this "alive".

What a strange thing to say. Like human culture and society isn't built upon nostalgia and the past. If it works, it works, not like getting Winamp users to switch to whatever is relevant now will rock their world.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

On 5/20/2024 at 11:36 AM, Kisai said:

QMMP was built to look and function like WinAMP.

I'll give that a spin.  Does it "dock" like Winamp?

And I just found out recently they aren't actually.

[StDragon]

4 hours ago, YamiYukiSenpai said:

 

And I just found out recently they aren't actually.

The Llama needs more ass whipping.
 

[RejZoR]

What's the point of releasing code then? What the hell are these people smoking? It's a dead project with no future on its own. If it was open sourced, I'm sure a group of nostalgia enthusiasts would pick it up and maintain it to keep the compatibility and maybe improve things like adding native Shared WASAPI output.

 

Without open sourcing it, they might just as well not bother at all releasing anything.