Winamp, the go-to media player which entertained masses for over 15 years, will breathe its last on December 20.
A message posted on its official website notes “Winamp.com and associated web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date.”
Winamp was acquired by AOL in June 1999 from its creators Nullsoft through a deal that involved $80m in stock. Once one of the most famous players out there, Winamp did lose some popularity during early 2000s; however, its development continued with the latest feature being support for Windows 8 and capability of importing an iTunes Library.
The primary reason behind the decrease in Winamp’s popularity can be attributed to over the top adoption of iPod and its companion iTunes software; increased popularity of media streaming services like Spotify; and launch of a multitude of mobile apps for music and video playback. The team did try to broaden Winamp’s footprint by launching an Android app, but it seems that this didn’t help a lot.
