AOL will be shutting down
Winamp on December 20, after operating for 16 years. AOL, which acquired Winamp parent company Nullsoft in 1999 for $80 million, will be closing the Winamp.com website and associated web services, something which will affect existing Winamp installations, and will stop offering the media player for download.
The Winamp download
page currently shows a warning about the shutdown,
reports The Next Web. Aside from advising to download the latest version of Winamp before the closure date, the message states "Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years," but did not reveal why it was being shuttered.
Winamp originally debuted and gained popularity in 1997, thanks to its small download size and flexibility. At the time of its sale to AOL in 1999, the company claimed over 25 million users. The player endured intense competition from
Apple's iTunes in 2003, and later from streaming services like
Spotify, and though it released a version
for Android in recent years, even this doesn't appear to be enough for AOL to keep the project running.
Reports have emerged that AOL is in talks with Microsoft over the Winamp and Shoutcast technologies. How this might affect streaming radio service Shoutcast.com is not yet clear, but the service is currently operating as normal.
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