Winamp may not be killed by AOL today, after all

Will they, won’t they? Even as AOL had announced that it will be shutting down media player Winamp on December 20, reports are suggesting that the company may be looking at selling the property off and may not shut it down today after all.

TechCrunch has reported that AOL is currently finalising negotiations to see off both Winamp and Shoutcast, potentially allowing the products to live on. It must be noted that the publication too is owned by AOL. While this report does not really point at a specific buyer who is supposed to be in talks with AOL, earlier reports have suggested that it could well be Microsoft.

Llama asks you to keep Winamp alive

Sources have asserted that the deal is in final stages of talks and that they were “confident” that an agreement will be reached. On the back of this, it seems possible that AOL will not shut down Winamp today, especially now since talks of purchasing the service are under way. It would clearly be in the interests of both AOL and the potential buyer to let Winamp live on till the talk stage is cleared.

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Late in November, AOL had announced that it would be shutting much-loved media player, Winamp, in December but did not offer any explanations as to why. It was assumed that the falling popularity of the product was the reason behind the shutting down. Users, in a wave of nostalgia, urged AOL to release the source code for the music player so it could live on in a way. However, no response from AOL was received.

It makes sense, though. If AOL is in talks with a company to sell Winamp and Shoucast off, it wouldn’t be releasing source codes any time soon. Fans of the player will have their fingers crossed, hoping that Winamp doesn’t die.