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Throwing You Back To When Winamp Was Cool #TBT

90s kids will bid goodbye to their first digital music player ever as media giant AOL pulls the plug on Winamp after 16 years of production.

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They're Killing Winamp And It Will Be No More As Of 20 December 2013

While the company has declined to release official figures, former employees who worked on Winamp estimate its current revenue at around $6 million annually. And Winamp still has an estimated user base of millions worldwide.

engadget.com

what-do?

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"Winamp.com and associated Web services will no longer be available past December 20, 2013. Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download. Please download the latest version before that date. See release notes for latest improvements to this last release. Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years."

winamp.com

Winamp Used To Be One Of The First Programs You'd Open Upon Start Up

A photo illustration of the media player program, Winamp.

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Some Of Us Spent A Lot Of Time Getting Our Song Titles In Order

A photo illustration of the media player program, Winamp.

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While The Rest Of Us Scouted For The Coolest Skins

Photo illustration of a Winamp skin.

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Oh, We Were Cool Alright...

Photo illustration of a Winamp skin.

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When Windows Media Player Was Reinvented, Some Of Us Refused To Use It - Winamp Was Too Cool

Windows Media Player.

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Some Of Us Even Refused To Upgrade Winamp Because We Loved The Classic Look Too Much

Winamp Classic.

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Winamp Was First Released In 1997 And Was Acquired By AOL In June 1999 For Over $80 Million

The Dulles-based Winamp team, as of 2012.

Image via arstechnica.net

Though Winamp eventually lost popularity, in the late '90s and early 2000s it was one of the go-to media players for listening to local music or radio streams. In 2002, Winamp's maker, Nullsoft, was acquired by AOL for over $80 million in stock, where it's remained in development until now.

theverge.com

No Reason Is Given For Winamp's Shutdown

Its founder Justin Frankel was dubbed the World's Most Dangerous Geek by NYTimes and IEEE writer, David Kushner. Critics viewed AOL's acqusition of the Winamp as the turning point in its development.

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The pioneer of digital players, back when MP3s were still new, has adapted to non-Windows operatings systems but failed to build on its fanbase

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Winamp released its last available version v5.6.6 on Nov 20, 2013. Music fans eventually gravitated to more adaptable, ubiquitous plug-ins such as iTunes, and more presently mobile music streaming services.

theverge.com

[BONUS] Remember The Winamp Demo That Came With Installation?

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Other Throwbacks For You: Remember How You Used To Connect To The Internet? And These Disney Parodies Will Blow Your Mind

Internet in the 90's meme.

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Disney never fails to amuse me when I'm all grown up!

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