Winamp is really the PC audio player. It has established a huge community over the 10+ years since its first release, making its biggest splash during the Napster era, when the world was discovering MP3s. Other excellent players have emerged since then, but with version 5.5, Winamp gained the lead again.
Other audio players gained popularity while Winamp suffered through its version 3 era, but Winamp got smart: instead of moving to version 4, they jumped ahead to version 5 - a cohesion of the best features of versions 2 and 3 (2+3=5, get it?). But Winamp has always struggled with appearances, and version 5 wasn't initially much better. Some users reverted to the "classic" version 2 skin, and many others began using (or kept using) 3rd-party skins to compensate. This resulted in a database of hundreds and hundreds of skins, most of which are even uglier than the default. Truthfully, the GUI really didn't get up to modern standards until recently, when the Bento skin was included with version 5.5.
Now, thanks to the free ClassicPro plugin, Winamp is more attractive and customizable than ever. ClassicPro, provided by the Skin Consortium, is an essential Winamp plugin which provides sleeker skins with color-variation support and additional features such as a cool album art view, and a new built-in browser with 'now playing' info shortcuts. A few of my favorite cPro skins are Insomnis v2, Das, and cMP12.
There are many good audio players on the freeware market, which may have a slight advantage in one specific way or another, but Winamp remains the most feature complete free player available. Whether you want to listen to your Winamp library remotely with Winamp Remote (aka re-branded Orb), mesmerize yourself by the top-notch visualizations (REALLY - check them out), or just listen to music the old fashioned way, Winamp is the way to go.
NOTE: Windows 7 users, Winamp hasn't yet taken advantage of jumplist or Aero peek support. Do yourself a big productive favor and download the win7shell Win7 Taskbar program for taskbar playback control and more.
Download latest version:
Winamp v5.572 build 2830
ClassicPro & win7shell Win7 Taskbar
| Homepage: | http://www.winamp.com/ |
| Supported OS: |  |
| Portable version: |  (Unofficial; or try AIMP instead) |
| 64-bit version: | |
| Active project: |  |
| No strings attached **: | eMusic promo, ads in 'Dashboard' |
** No spyware, ads, nags, registration reminders, etc.
Other Music Player freeware to keep an eye on:
Note: there is a Pro version of Winamp available for around $20 that enables MP3 ripping and faster ripping speeds - just use EAC and forget the fee.
