Digital audio player Winamp – which was once a very popular service – will soon be shutting down after being available for 15 years online. The official website of Winamp mentioned in a short note that the once-popular media player will not be available for download after December 20, 2013.
The shutdown will include Winamp.com, as well as associated online services. Winamp was at the height of its popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s and was among the most widely used online media players for listening to music, as well as radio streams. However, the media player lost its popularity with the introduction of other internet applications, like iTunes and Windows Media Player.
Despite this, the good old media player will be remembered dearly by many of its users. Winamp was launched in 1997 and was developed by former University of Utah college students, Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev. The media player quickly reached popularity with the increase of the MP3 file sharing. In 1999, AOL acquired Winamp when it bought Frankel’s company Nullsoft for $80 million in stock.
When the company released its tenth anniversary edition in 2007, the majority of users already switched to more modern digital music services.
Photo Credits: Best Info Micro
