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AOL Finalizing Talks To Sell Winamp And Shoutcast, No Shutdown Expected On Dec. 20


Reefa

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AOL is finalizing negotiations to sell off Winamp and Shoutcast in a deal that would allow both products to live on, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

winamp1-006.png?w=276

The company (which owns TechCrunch) announced last month that as of December 20, Winamp web services would shut down and that the desktop version of the video and music player would no longer be available for download.

Shortly afterward, TechCrunch’s Ingrid Lunden reported that Microsoft was in talks to buy both Winamp and Shoutcast, another media streaming service that AOL owns through its acquisition of Nullsoft way back in 1999.

My source did not identify the potential buyer, but they said the deal was close enough that they’re “confident” that an agreement will be reached. Also, they said they don’t believe the previously announced shutdown would happen on Dec. 20 — while these negotiations are progressing, I’m guessing it’s in the interest of both parties to keep the services up and running.

An AOL spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

As we noted in our previous coverage, the products haven’t entirely languished under AOL — for example, Winamp Sync for Mac launched two years ago — but it hasn’t exactly seemed like a big priority. Nonetheless, Winamp in particular has a certain nostalgic appeal for people of the right age (i.e., me) and someone (Microsoft?) thinks there’s still some value here.

Source:http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/19/winamp-will-never-die/

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When the first news about the possible shutdown came I've tried to install some alternative player but I just couldn't get the hang of them. Now I'm back to my new and old love. ^_^

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If it's not MS I wonder who the new owner will be. Anyway if the news about the site and forum is true (that they won't be taken down after all) that's really good to hear.

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I used to use Winamp a looong time ago. I stopped using it when from about Winamp 3 onwards when they bloated it by adding features that made it a mess. I still tried to use 2.x for a while after they did that then just moved on to other players and never looked back since.

Foobar although horrendous to get they way you want it offers so much more if you just want a music player. I used to also use dbpoweramp to batch convert my music, but then I found out Foobar did that much easier as well so that was a done deal for me.

Anyone who buys Winamp will pretty much be throwing their money away, but whatever. People want stuff for free with no adverts and that already exists.

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Never encountered an audio player better than Winamp. Only stopped using it when I stopped actively listening to music.

All i have 2 say is.......................

foobar2000

;)

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When the first news about the possible shutdown came I've tried to install some alternative player but I just couldn't get the hang of them. Now I'm back to my new and old love. ^_^

Never encountered an audio player better than Winamp. Only stopped using it when I stopped actively listening to music.

So true. Well said guys.

"...Winamp is eternal.

Although it physically manifested in 1997, its conceptual spiritual roots transcend the boundaries of time and space." via forums.winamp.com

Edited by Purple Trail
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I thought it sucked when AOL bought it - but if M$ gets it - ???

... they will hopefully improve it. Can't get any worse anyway. However, if the buyer (whoever it is) is only interested in ShoutCast and AOL is forcing them to purchase the player too as part of a package deal, or they're buying the player only to gain access to some IP they want to use in their own player, then there's every reason to believe that Winamp will be abandoned. In that case the situation is no worse than what AOL announced for Dec. 20 (and might be better if the buyer open sources it). If you like it just keep using the final version till it stops working.

Edited by janedoe
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If you like it just keep using the final version till it stops working.

Yep - Hopefully it won't end up like Napster (a ghost of its original self).


Edited by Whoopenstein
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