The Rise and Fall of Winamp: From MP3 Revolution to Open Source

In 1997, 19‑year‑old American student Justin Frankel created a music player that was shared software costing $10, but unlike typical shareware it remained fully functional for free, relying on voluntary donations similar to modern tipping.

At a time when electronic payments were rare, users mailed paper checks, and the software—Winamp—became wildly popular, with Frankel receiving $100,000 in paper checks each month.

Winamp, based on the earlier AMP (Audio Mpeg Player) created by Tomislav Uzelac, was ported to Windows as WinAMP 0.20a and quickly evolved, adding playlists, visualizations, and custom skins, distinguishing it from other players of the era.

By 1998, Frankel founded Nullsoft, and Winamp’s plugin architecture allowed extensive extensions, leading to massive download numbers—3 million in 1997, 15 million in 1999, and 60 million by 2001, making it the second‑most downloaded program after ICQ.

AOL acquired Winamp in June 1999 for $80 million, but internal politics and mismatched user culture hindered further innovation, and the rise of iPod and iTunes eventually eclipsed Winamp’s dominance.

Frankel left AOL in 2003, founded Cockos, and created REAPER; he famously said programming is his self‑expression and left due to corporate constraints.

Winamp’s official site shut down in 2013, was later bought by Radionomy, and after years of inactivity, the player was finally open‑sourced on GitHub on September 24 2024.

The author reflects on Winamp’s personal impact and commemorates the legendary player.