Winamp 3 Preview

By Anthony Sabastian aka PixelPusher - Guest Writer/Winamp Forums - 5/23/01

We would like to thank Anthony and also Colin Stoner over at Experience-Mp3.com for this early insight on the upcoming Winamp 3. Anthony is a regular on Winamp's discussion group and gives us the skinny on Alpha 6. --editor (5/23/01)

Winamp 3 beta has just been released. The link is below -- editor (10/10/01)

The Nomad Zen can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Most, if not, all people who have played an MP3 on their computer, have used a media player. If you haven’t and you’re hearing about the mp3 revolution for the first time, then sit back and let me fill you in on a few things shaping up in the media player world of today. This is basically a story about the next generation of "The ultimate fast high fidelity media player” as it is called by the Nullsoft team.

Before I start talking about Winamp 3 (which is currently at alpha 6), let me tell you a little about Winamp 2. Winamp 2 is currently at version 2.75 and continues to be improved over time. It has been downloaded by millions of people all over the world. Fast and free with a mass of loyal followers, it plays MP3s and other types of music media. Winamp 2 has reached the top of the heap among the likes of other media players, including Sonique, Real player and Windows media player. Just like different pizza shops, each player has it’s own special sauce; each uses a unique blend of spices that differentiate itself. With media players the “sauce” is functionality and speed. A glance at the version histories in the latest Winamp player will show you that the Nullsoft team is dedicated to creating and maintaining a great product. What also makes winamp a great piece of software to have on your desktop is a little feature called “skinability”. This is otherwise known as modifiable graphical user interface (GUI). I won’t go into the history of skins because it’s kind of a long, drawn out story. It is important, however, to remember those words “graphical user interface” when I start talking about the new Winamp 3.

What makes Winamp special? Is it the Mike the llama, the Nullsoft mascot? Is it the hip young developers with big ideas and a spark in their eyes? Better yet, what is Winamp? Is it just a media player, or is it a package of sorts? I say it is a package, or even a culture. I have never seen so much activity surrounding a piece of software on the Internet, with the exception of linux ;-). These are points to consider during my discussion about Winamp 3x.

When I thought about writing this story, it seemed a dauntless task. How could I possibly build a compelling story about a piece of software? Especially when I don’t know a “decoder” from a “codec”. What is the point of having a great media player on your desktop? You want one that gets the best sound out of your digital music files first. Well, I would have to say yes and no. I would prefer something that looked cool and functioned great, but that hasn’t always been the case with software. I would prefer a piece of software that has the ability to be added onto without too much hassle. Unfortunately, in my experience a lot of software doesn’t work well with plug-ins. Some software just gets stagnant and the developers give up on it because a better product is released on the market.

As a human, I get bored easily. I want something that’s exciting and fresh. The negatives in the previous “case scenarios” above have not been true of the winamp media player, and an important reason why they are not is the strong community that surrounds Winamp. Skin creators, visualization creators, dedicated bug finders, and a slew of people just making suggestions to improve the player. This is what Winamp is, past and present. People. Creators in their own right. Forging the future of your digital music experience.

“Wow,” you must be thinking to yourself, “I thought this was a Winamp 3x preview.” Well it is, but in order to get an understanding of what Winamp 3 is, you must first understand that Winamp is a community. As a member of the winamp.com forums, I observe a lot of interaction with the users. I regularly visit the Winamp3 discussion group, and it is a pleasure to see the creators of the program pass on information to the regular user. Although this communication has dwindled since the release of alpha 6, the groups are waiting patiently for the release of alpha 7.

So with the coming release of alpha 7, the hot topic in the Winamp 3 discussion forum is now the skinning capabilities of Wasabi and Mantis. Most users are concerned about their own connection to the product they use. Wa3x skinners and Mantis users alike are debating the merits of each skinning engine. And the general view is to wait and see what the skinning possibilities of Wasabi and Mantis will be.

Meanwhile, some Winamp 3 users, including this writer, are downloading the Mantis tech demo and looking at the related documentation. I don’t know why I downloaded the demo, maybe because I was looking for background information for this story. Perhaps I did because I wanted to start creating a Winamp 3x skin and was looking for a possible alternative. I guess skinning Winamp 3 seemed a little daunting to me. I’m also concerned that the average loyal Winamp 2 skinner will find it to hard to do. It is my fear that those loyal Winamp 2 skinners will be left out in the cold-- given away to an XML and scripting based second generation skinning engine.

If this is to be a true Winamp 3 preview, this must be included. With the coming of Winamp 3, you will see a lot more animated, scripted Wa3x skins. And along with that a lot less variety than with the bitmap pixel-pushing 2x skins. Gone will be the days of a 13 year old boy putting a picture of his girlfriend on a skin because he though it would be cool.

For some, switching from 2x to 3x means losing friends and memories of good times. The loss of cherished hours slaving at the monitor to create something unique. So what is the fate of our precious “skinning innocence”? Will the Wa3 development team truly make support for 2x skins in Wa3 as I have heard? If so then you may be seeing your old favorite skin sitting there. Except in gamma for your viewing pleasure.

A real preview of Winamp 3x remains to be seen, as well as the Mantis technology. The real previews and an oracle of these powerful engines are being written behind the scenes in the team camps and forums. Time will tell…

Conclusion

This, as it turns out, is a non-preview preview. Work is being done in both team camps.

Regular users are creating cool skins and things are starting to take off. It is said, that there were

Far less bugs to smash in Winamp 3 alpha 6. So the developers where able to start getting the player more stable, while adding more cool features to the skinning end of it. It is still an alpha and many are Truly excited about the next release. I think 7 is a magic number.

Winamp 3 Preview

Back to