End of Winamp Media Player: AOL to shut it down on 20 December

If you listened to music in the late 1990s on your computer, chances are you managed your playlists with Winamp. Well, you can’t do that any more. AOL officially announced Winamp’s shut down on Wednesday. The website and all of Winamp’s web services will shut down on December 20 and the desktop player will no longer be available for download. Winamp was launched in 1997 by developer Justin Frankel via his company, Nullsoft, and it quickly became one of the most popular media players for Windows. Two years later, AOL bought Nullsoft for a stock price of a little more than $80 million and the company has operated as an AOL subsidiary since then. [caption id=“attachment_1243565” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Will you miss Winamp Media player?[/caption] Though Winamp’s popularity waned over the years, it was at one point the essential media player for listening to local music, MP-3 audio files, or radio streams. AOL kept Winamp going – it released an Android version in 2010 and Winamp Sync for Mac, including a full player, launched in 2011.  A TechCrunch report notes, “it seems like AOL never quite knew what to do with it.” No reason has been given for Winamp’s shutdown after 15 years, but given its decline in popularity and more people using Windows Media Player, it isn’t that hard to guess why they’re closing shop. Apple’s iPod and iTunes may have been the final straw for Winamp. All those who want to relive the days of Winamp, there’s still some hope. Now is the time to download it and to import those MP3s you downloaded from Napster back in 1999 into it before it finally closes on 20 December.