Winamp’s is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated returns of recent years. After fifteen years of history, and for a long time becoming the reference application for listening to music on Windows, ten years ago its then managers decided to close it. Although it is true that at that time there were already much more complete and current alternatives, the threat of his departure was a setback both for those who still used it and for those who had done so in the past. There were even campaigns for it not to disappear. Finally, almost into stoppage time, Winamp passed hands and narrowly escaped closure.
Since then, cyclically, we have had news about the possible return of this applicationobviously adapted to its time, since the music market has evolved substantially since the times of those Mp3 that we got off Napster we ripped from our CDs. The first attempt occurred in 2015, a second attempt occurred in 2018 and, the most recent, at the end of 2021 we learned that they were at it again.
On all these occasions, many of us wonder how would it be combined the more than characteristic design of the classic Winamp with the way in which we access music today, mainly through streaming services. Not to mention, of course, that it would also make sense to bet on a somewhat less narrow interface, in which it does not seem that the square pixel is paid at the price of gold. Do you think I exaggerate? Try opening the classic app on a current PC, its use is only suitable for young and very precise eyes.
The good news is that this time the attempt has been consummated, winamp is back, as you can check on their website. At the moment, yes, only through its web interface, although the company affirms that they are already working on the desktop application. And this is a first point that clearly indicates that what today is called Winamp has nothing to do with what we knew at the time.
The first thing we see when accessing the web player is that concessions / nods to classic design are simply non-existent. It gives the impression that we are facing a redesign of Spotify, with the difference that Winamp does not offer, at least for now, a similar service. As we can read in its description, we can connect them to our streaming services, but after a while sticking with the configuration, I have not found any way to do it.
Its creators claim that they want to focus on the creators, in which they can obtain more money for their creations and so that they have a more direct contact route with their followers. This approach is not new either, we have been listening to it for more than a decade and, for the moment, it does not seem to have taken hold, so I do not have too many expectations in this case. However, perhaps those responsible for the service know how to make good use of its historical name to obtain better results than previous attempts.
Maybe it’s because it’s still unfinished, and in the coming days or weeks we’ll see everything that’s missing arrive, or because they haven’t included anything reminiscent of the classic player in some way, to feed the nostalgia that will move many people to try it, but in its current state, it seems difficult that this Winamp is going to be able to repeat the success of his well-remembered predecessor.
