Winamp survives to play for new owner
The popular music and video player has avoided an early retirement through a deal in which it changes hands from AOL to Radionomy.
Reports of Winamp's death were greatly exggerated.
Once scheduled to kick the bucket last month, the software has found new life with new parent Radionomy, an online radio station aggregator. On Tuesday, Radionomy announced that it purchased both Winamp and streaming music site Shoutcast from former owner AOL. Terms of the deal were not revealed, though a Belgian news site says that AOL bought a partial stake in Radionomy as part of a recent round of funding.
Will Winamp change under its new management? Yes, but for the better, according to Radionomy. The program will add access to more than 60,000 Internet radio stations; playback for 60 audio and video formats; 6,000 add-ons, including skins, plug-ins, online services, and visualizations; and tools to manage podcasts. The software will also be available in 16 different languages.
"Winamp is a top independent player that gives millions of people the best player functionality available," Radionomy CEO Alexandre Saboundjian said in a statement. "Its role is clear in the future evolution of online media -- we plan to make the player ubiquitous, developing new functionalities dedicated to desktop, mobile, car systems, connected devices, and all other platforms."
Winamp was scheduled to be retired on December 20. But the software made it through the holidays and is still available for download. Early reports suggested that AOL was shopping the program around to interested buyers, with Radionomy pegged as the new parent earlier this month.
(Via The Verge)