Remember Winamp? I'm sure you do! Despite the years, it remains one of the simplest and most efficient MP3 players for Windows, and it carries such a reputation that some fans have taken the trouble to create an online version. After AOL announced its sale, Winamp ended up in the hands of Radionomy, and the player's development progress was almost nil. I say 'almost' because a build belonging to the beta 5.8 has just leaked on the web, dated October 2016. So what's 'new' about this Winamp build?
Some readers might wonder if we're back to 1998. I personally wouldn't mind, as I was half the age I am now, Pearl Jam released Do the Evolution, and Britney was breaking everything with Baby One More Time. However, Winamp has returned to the news, at least for a while. History tells us that AOL bought Nullsoft for $80 million (in stock) in mid-1999, and it functioned as a subsidiary until the end of 2013, when the Winamp brand and all internal resources came under Radionomy's control. Big things were expected, but beyond a clean installer of build 5.666.3516 (December 12, 2013), nothing was seen. If you study the official forum messages, you'll find that not many people were devoted to the project anyway, but there is a leaked beta belonging to Winamp 5.8.
Download Winamp 5.8 beta
What we're seeing is just the Bento skin, which lives up to its name by placing all the main player elements in a single window, using internal divisions. While you can disable the playlist and media library, you can get a more modular look by activating the Modern skin (which includes several color themes), or by going back to Classic. On a technical level, we only have the original changelog, dated October 26, 2016. The most important change is a general replacement of proprietary codecs with open-source versions, thus enabling freeware and legal distribution of Winamp without paying licensing fees. It also includes WASAPI support, the playback and ripping of optical discs now relies on the Windows API, all Pro features disappeared, DRM support and the MP3 encoder were removed, and the minimum compatible version of Windows is XP SP3 (if you use an older Windows, go to OldVersion.com and download the lite 2.91 installer or similar).
In short, there are no huge reasons to abandon the latest stable version of Winamp and jump to the beta 5.8, but that doesn't stop us from recognizing that the developers' work has been interesting. The codec change was a smart decision, and besides avoiding copyright conflicts, it opens the door for additional optimizations. The installer shows no alerts on VirusTotal, and the folks at Majorgeeks have already set up a mirror, so you won't have to visit strange portals to download it.
