Winamp May Not Be Doomed After All
Unnamed sources have informed AOL-owned TechCrunch that the company is finalizing negotiations with an unnamed party that's interested in purchasing Winamp and Shoutcast. The news arrives after AOL announced last month that both services would close after December 20, which is today. As of this writing, both are still up and running.
Sources would not cough up the real identity of the buyer, but they are extremely "confident" that an agreement between the two will be reached. Sources also stated that the December 20 shutdown will not take place while negotiations are still on the table. However, the warning on the Winamp page still exists.
"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. See release notes for latest improvements to this last release. Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years," reads the warning.
Just a day after the warning went up, there was talk that Microsoft was interested in saving the services, and the two media giants were working on a price. For AOL, selling both reportedly "makes sense" given that the media company is shuttering and selling off other music assets. The move is part of a "bigger strategic shift to focus resources as a web publisher."
Currently, there's a petition over on Change.org, and nearly 47,000 out of 50,000 Winamp fans have already signed. A final notice to AOL is also posted on the petition site, revealing that AOL has not responded to previous attempts for more information.
"We feel that after so many years you owe it to your customers to give more information than just one short paragraph on your website," the letter reads. "In anticipation we are hoping that a more substantial message will be announced by AOL soon."
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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memadmax I hope it's a level-headed entrepreneur that is buying it in order to keep it "alive" but not change it into some monstrous "thing" that we have seen before.Reply
If it's MS, so be it, but I hope they don't change it into a pile of crap like they have been famous for lately *cough* win8 *cough*... -
Reynod I hope Winamp is going to be flushed as it was a mediocre program at best. I used it for some time in early iterations of the software and then ditched it.Reply
"Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass!" on startup was its only redeeming feature ... and the humour in that rapidly faded to annoyance.
The little detachable windows for the features were also just plain stupid ... the idiot who designed that should have been dressed in a Llama suit for pennance.
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rohitbaran At this point, anyone who is buying Winamp is most likely not someone with a media player of their own already, since there will be little point in 'killing' an already dead (no longer supported) software. I don't think it is MS.Reply -
Darkk Damn...I was really hoping they just release it as open source so it can be improved by the community. I sense dark times coming around.Reply -
p05esto But what's the point? I still run a version of WinAmp that's at least 5 years old and it works perfect, use it daily. You can't improve upon perfection so really what else does it need?Reply -
back_by_demand Reynod, you are a soulless troll (who I worship daily) ... back under the bridge with you!Reply