I keep hearing about all this bloatware being a problem but no one can seem to explain exactly what issue or issues it creates or if in fact it is even bloatware. Someone said their songs open slow which I think is not true at all. Second you do not need to load plugins, visualizations or extras such as EQ, playlist, lyrics list and so on. That is what the check boxes are for. If boatware is the only issue winamp has I will be happy to take the bloatware any day.

I don't even see the extras as bloatware but simply addons that give the player more flexibility and function. That stuff serves a purpose. If you cannot figure it out or simply want some basic player then by all means stick with xion (nothing against it)

I've used Winamp for some time now...as well as other players...and never noticed any bloatware...it's always worked great for me. Bummer to see it go.

Ask Jafo about Winamp bloatware. He will have all the info.

winamkp medialibrary fucked me and my huge mp3 collection and terrorized me for years... so i wil not waste a tear and the time to write this short lines : IN your face damn audiobitch ... i wasted years on u, fuck off and dieallone... using russian aimp now... belongs to the skin and to keep my files  in a library overlooking all without wondering that things have changed since list time you were runnnig .. wtf ... i paid money... someone can give a tip to really rely on ... medialibrary ... secure... maybe also doing some automated tagging i can overlook and take back if someone on  discogs or musicbrainz fucks me and my mp3 ar4tists with dead folk singersn stuff ? trying to have control over 120000 mp3 files ... constantly getting more have to move with me to club in parts and some files disappear, reappear getting digitaly damagged ... wrong bits sound so nic eclub pa ... some others lost overnight in my master filen register ... so i dont remember and they get out of sight  ... the library should work and dont causesystem latency while I play records or play my techno live performnaces on  my notebook ... keeps me in pissed of mood constantly.... i like music  , simply not a purist and i can tell you title and artist of  one of 2 electronic music tracks u try to sing m out of th past 30 yearse ... my library schould be able to respect me and my knowledge^^ so ... somebody having THE answer to me for this time  ? begging for solution ... shame on me

For anyone interested this thread more clearly spells out what "the end" of WinAmp really means.  It also looks like it might be a good thread to follow as there seems to be some site migration happening.

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=373778

Thanks for the News certainly I updated to the last version and I will keep the installer !

well I spent many time using the PC with the speakers off just to save on the energy bill ! only few months ago I decided to resurrect my old DJ spirit and trying a lot of Media Players I also created my "Icons Gold Pack",

well well on restarting Winamp I noticed a very low cpu consuming and in the end I recovered the Winamp skins collection from an old BACKUP

btw if you are interested the CornerAmp was just updated > http://www.deviantart.com/art/CornerAMP-2-0-FINAL-379847032

Sad news indeed.

WinAmp has been my default music player since '98, and is still the best player out there, imo.
I know a lot will disagree, but fuck'em. I dont care.

WinAmp was also my starting point to skinning. I have enjoyed many, many hours of skinning with WinAmp.
MMD3, the most downloaded skin overall ever, is my fave skin. eIndia closely follows.

Never the less, WinAmp might be dead, but it will still be my preferred player.

I get the impression that "it ain't dead yet".    A separation from AOL may indeed be a new beginning.  I'm hoping Microsoft doesn't get its hands on it.

 "I'm hoping Microsoft doesn't get its hands on it."

I second that. They will find a way to screw it up if they do get their hands on it.

Ya you probably wouldn't be able to skin it.  And have to get a quad-core to run it.  And shave its butt and make it walk backwards to look at it.  But the ads would be "splendid".

I've used WinAMP ever since it began... but it was V3 when things began to go wrong....so have stuck with 2.9x ever since... for 2 reasons...

I skinned for it...and did transparency codings for others who did....

...and because I was referred to as a 'clusterfuck' by its CEO.

Up yours, LLAMA ...if you go belly up it's your own stupidity.

Truth of the matter was/is that a bloke called 'fli7e' almost single handedly invented skinning [of an OS/program] when he reverse engineered WA and 'skun' it.

Thanks to him....and beyond....we were spared the absolute ugly-crap that was the default WA experience....;p

It started getting 'silly' around v3 ...and they had the creator/coder for kJofol [another media player] come over to save it all...as I recall it was 4 that was worse than bad...and v5 was better-ish.

I stuck with 2....it did enough to be useful...and skinning it was 'old school'...;)

there never was a Winamp 4. there was 3, then there was 2.9 and finally 5 (2+3)

and everybody should make a backup of the breed collective skins. http://www.breedart.org/hive/skins_content_view.php 

It was stillborn.  I believe '5' was the chosen version number just to distance itself from 3 .... cos 3 was a dog....;p

I'm wondering how many here still use winamp. I usually have my smx's set up to use Xion but I can do both or if there's a preference.

Uvah I still use winamp but I also use xion and aimp. I think you will find winamp still has a lot of supporters even though a few naysayers will come along. For me a player that plays my crappy mp3's there are plenty of but I keep going back to winamp  coupled with DFX as my main player. 

Link for DFX?

http://www.fxsound.com/dfx/

Winamp is all I've ever consistently used. I've tried, of course, nearly every other media player on the planet - that I've heard of anyhow, but consistently go back to Winamp. It's usually the first thing, after the OS itself, that I install on any machine.

I'd switch, actually, if I knew of another media player, other than WMP, to handle the 'iZotope Ozone' plugin I use with Winamp. It takes music and kicks it up a notch or twenty. The prospect of listening to music without said plugin makes me sad, indeed.

(Any ideas? ^_^)

Ditto.

My reason to do so is it's a reminder of a significant origin in GUI skinning- graphic glitches and all...;)

One excellent plugin.  Last time I checked the iZotope site the pay version of plugin had been abandoned, I think that was a year or so ago.  That's a good plugin (the free version) to grab from the WinAmp site before the site goes down, if the plugin is still even there.

Reminds me that now is a good time for people to be sure they're covered for a re-install of all their skins and plug-ins if need be.

The guys over at winamp spoke of another site, 1001 skins.com, that will be hosting skins for the player. There was also a mention of saving plugins to another site but nothing definitive. Thinking of checking out 1001 skins because at one time I had a ton of skins for winamp.

Edit: 1001 skins will also host plugins but it will be awhile.

Dave are you talking about this site? http://www.izotope.com/

I have the paid version. How can anyone not like this? ozone with one of my favorite winamp skins.