Electronics & Computers Deals here!
- Quick specs
- Price: Free; Paid upgrade available
- Operating system: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98
- Date added: March 02, 2006
- Total Downloads: 12,208,819
- Downloads last week: 21,804
- See full specifications
A newer version of Winamp is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1293 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Nullsoft has a lot of ground to make up after the Winamp 3.0 debacle, a dwindling user base, and stiff competition from Apple iTunes. Winamp 5.3 was a huge step in the right direction, with support for AAC encoding, CD burning, and a robust file-management system. Finally.
Winamp 5.3.1 makes some small but effective changes to its predecessor. In addition to playlist syncing for portables and a More Info feature that shows information about the currently playing track, we get a more stable, less-crash-prone environment for MP3s and podcasts and CD-text-reading support. We also love the Internet TV feature, which provides some great music videos and live concert footage, although the Singing Fish search is rife with mislabeled files. Ostensible rock-concert footage turns out to be, on more than one occasion, unlabeled pornography.
Another eye-catcher is the excellent collection of visualizations. The massive catalog of Winamp 2.x and 3.x skins works with this new version. The free version is feature-rich, but if you want MP3 encoding and full-speed CD burning, you have to shell out $14.95 for the Pro version. Winamp is one of our all-time favorite players, though, and version 5 renews its promise.
Publisher's description
From Nullsoft :New features in Winamp include support for classic Winamp skins and Winamp 3 (Modern) skins; a fancy new Modern skin; the same classic skin for people who want the Winamp 2 feel; a vastly more powerful media library; CD-ripping support (AAC@2x in the Free version, MP3 at unlimited speeds in the Pro version); CD-burning support (limited to 6x in the free version); advanced title-formatting logic for file types that support it; huge AVS updates; support for playback of AAC and VP6 in NSV files/streams; global hot-key support; a new Signal Processing Studio DSP plug-in; options for disabling plug-in exception-handling for developers; a new Winamp icon; and the addition of XP manifest.xml to winamp.exe.
Version 5.13 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.
More popular Music Management Software downloads
- 43,539 downloads 1. JetAudio Basic
- 33,642 downloads 2. Apple iTunes
- 15,606 downloads 3. Winamp
- 8,055 downloads 4. Super MP3 Download
- 6,806 downloads 5. MediaMonkey Standard
- See all Music Management Software downloads
User reviews of Winamp 5.21
- Average user rating: 3.9 stars out of 1293 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 5 of 47 user reviewsSee all 47 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
32 out of 36 people found this review helpful
Version: Winamp 5.21
Pros: Its free.
It supports both audio files and video files.
The community is huge and thus there are thousands of awesome plugins and codecs for WinAMP. You can play almost any media file in it, even Unreal Tournament UMX files (with the proper codec).
Comes with cd burning and cd ripping capabilities, as well as MP3->WAV capabilities.
Its small and lightweight.
Comes in Light and Full versions.
Under pressure from Windows Media Player 8 and iTunes, WinAMP 5 comes with a fully capable media library...and a good one at that.
With ml_iPod, you can use WinAMP with your iPod, if you have one.
Cons: CD burning is set to 1x or 2x (can't recall) unless you buy WinAMP pro. This isnt a big deal considering there are tons of freeware cd burners available, like Windows Media Player for example...or even Windows XP.
I prefer Windows Media Player for playing videos...I like WMP's interface better. I dont like WinAMP's video controls.
I dont seem to find much of a difference or a great benefit between one equalizer setting and the next. I would suggest the plugin Enhancer 0.17 instead.
.
.
.
Best media player to date. Get it now.
-
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Version: Winamp 5.21
Pros: I have been using Winamp off and on for a long time, way before AOL bought it. And I am quite happy to say that AOL hasn't ruined it yet. The sound quality is excellent, and the interface is very skinnable in case you like a change of pace. It organizes music nicely for those of us who have extensive collections taking up real estate on the hard drive.
Cons: The only real downshot to this program is you have to pay to use the higher burning speeds. In this age of free media players, Winamp has taken a back seat. Why pay $20 when I can get WMP to do it for nothing? I realize this was a move to turn a profit on this software, but it just feels cheaply done to me.
-
2 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Version: Winamp 5.21
"love it; one of the best media players out there"
Pros: excellent skins and user interface
-
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Winamp 5.21
"The only player I ever need."
Pros: Plays anything, great user interface, customizeable in the extreme and of course it's FREE.
Windows Media Player doesn't hold a candle to Winamp 5. It does everything I need it to and reliably streams free internet TV to boot.
Cons: My ideal Winamp would be able to play .mov, .rm, .ac3 and .xvid out of the box, but this isn't really possible, so nothing.
-
Version: Winamp 5.21
Pros: Plays all kinds of music/video files, eats up a lot less resources than Windows Media Player, good interface.
Cons: When you set files to play default in Winamp, the file icons look horrible (alright, not too bad of a con, but scrolling through a couple hundred songs, all with a mostly blank icon, but with the winamp logo in the bottom right corner can be a tad bit annoying).
- See all 47 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
Previous Versions:
