If you were a teenager in the year 2000, chances are you were using Winamp to listen to the MP3 tracks you find on Napster or copied from your CD. Today, you will most likely hear his tunes on Spotify or Apple Music. But Winamp wants a comeback — from a nostalgic favorite to your music player by 2024. One way it plans to achieve this is to open source the app to developers by September 24, 2024.
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Winamp is Are not open its source code. Since this misconception has spread, it is important to clarify the situation. Current owner, Llama groupthere are plans for applications that are not compatible with open source.
Instead, as Winamp CEO Alexandre Saboundjian said: “Winamp will remain the owner of the software and will determine the innovations made in the official version.” The open source version is called FreeLLama.
Although Winamp hasn’t said what license it will use for this upcoming version, it cannot be open source with that level of corporate control.
Why do they do that? The company wants “developers worldwide [to] contribute their expertise, ideas and passion to help this iconic software grow.” Good luck with that. If you want to contribute to Winamp, future developers can register here.
This new code will be for the Windows version only. The Mac, Android and iOS versions will continue to be completely exclusive.
In the meantime, Winamp is completing the final stages for a new version of its software. When the next version is released on July 1, it will incorporate a platform to allow artists or record labels to find new ways to make money from their music and clearer streaming mix.
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This is a long way from the show Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev founded it in 1997. WinAmp later became a hit thanks to its lightweight design and customization through themes and plugins. WinAmp achieved its peak popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
While it’s no longer available on every Windows PC on the planet – like it used to be – it’s still a favorite of many. If Winamp is successful in refreshing its software and business plan, it could regain its place on today’s computers.
