Winamp Media Player Goes Open Source
Llama Group has announced that it will be open-sourcing the popular media player, Winamp, and transitioning to a collaborative development model. This move is set to take place on September 24, 2024, and is a result of the company's reorganization due to financial difficulties.
Linuxiac:
-
Winamp Becomes Open Source under the FreeLLama Name
We’ve shared plenty of news here daily, but some stories stir a sweet sense of nostalgia, taking us back to cherished memories. Winamp is one such tale. Once a favorite lost to time, it has resurfaced, reminding us of its charm. Now, it’s making a comeback, rebranded and reborn as an open-source project, ready to make waves once again.
Older readers might remember this, but for the younger ones, let me explain. In the late 90s and early 2000s, before the era of music streaming services, Winamp was to music playing what Google is to search the internet today. In other words, it was the top choice and set the standard for everyone.
Hackaday:
-
Winamp Source Code Will Be Opened Up, Company Says
Recently the company currently in charge of the Winamp media player – formerly Radionomy, now Llama Group – announced that it will be making the source code of the player ‘available to developers’. Although the peanut gallery immediately seemed to have jumped to the conclusion that this meant that the source would be made available to all on the announced 24 September 2024 date, reading between the lines of the press release gives a different impression.
First there is the sign-up form for ‘FreeLlama’ where interested developers can sign up, with a strong suggestion that only vetted developers will be able to look at the code, which may or may not be accompanied by any non-disclosure agreements. It would seem appropriate to be skeptical considering Winamp’s rocky history since AOL divested of it in 2013 with version 5.666 and its new owner Radionomy not doing much development on the software except for adding NFT and crypto/blockchain features in 2022. The subsequent Winamp online service doubled down on this.
Adafruit:
-
Winamp is going open source
Winamp was one of the most popular music players for Windows PCs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But things went downhill after AOL acquired the company and wound up largely abandoning it for years.