Winamp3: A Confusing Release

Are you a Winamp user but you don’t really keep up with the news about Nullsoft? Have you considered upgrading to Winamp3 or already have done so?

Today I was bored and tired of studying so I opened up Winamp to play a song. I use Winamp 2.81 because I don’t like the current Winamp3 too much. I find that it is plagued by the quick introduction of too many features. There is so much stuff in the new release that it disorients people. The “Thinger” is cool but for the average user, they won’t know what’s going on! That got me thinking, I wonder if anybody has written a good review of the latest release of Winamp3 except on the Winamp forums. I mean, obviously they have a thorough review of the player there, but not everybody reads their forums regularly. A lot of the people on the Winamp forums love anything Nullsoft puts out, so the positive comments outweigh the negative ones.

Granted, even fewer people read my site but I figured I’ve give it a shot since Google tends to outrank weblogs over forums. I ran a Google search for “winamp3 review” and “winamp 3 review” but only a few articles came up and none of them directly link to the posts that Nullsoft reads!

I’m a huge fan of Winamp and I really want them to push a good product so that they can keep up with Microsoft. Windows Media Player is great at playing video but right now it just can’t touch Winamp in terms of speed, ease of use, and robustness.

I’m not saying Winamp3 is totally sucky. It’s just that the current version that they released as a stable release is really flawed. The ideas of Winamp3 are great. The Wasabi skinning interface is cool because it allows people to turn Winamp into exactly the player they want. The new version also includes a media library and a built-in crossfader. It even has a built in Lyrics3 extended tag editor.

Lyrics3 is a tag format that allows for longer file names inside an MP3 tag but they don’t compromise system speed like ID3v2. Lyrics3 is really cool because when you retag a file it doesn’t save the information at the beginning of the file but at the end. ID3v2 stores them at the beginning of the file and this should be a big no no. When people edit these tags, the entire file gets rewritten, which is a big risk to your hard drive. If you retag a lot of files you will kill your drive faster than if you use Lyrics3.

The media library is messy in the current downloadable version but Nullsoft will fix that.

Nullsoft’s problem is that AOL owns them. AOL is converting Winamp into an AOL product and therefore will accidentially make it sucky. Just look at the latest version of AIM. Could you be any more plagued by featuritis? I don’t think so. AOL Expressions: don’t make me laugh. If you want a good chat client use the older version of AIM or be daring and get Trillian.

Winamp3 spams your computer with AOL shortcuts when you install it. It could also install annoying AOL features such as a “custom Internet toolbar!” but they haven’t resorted to that yet. What I find funny is that the new version has a video player. What they need to realize is that Microsoft and Quicktime have pretty much cornered the video market already. Winamp owns the MP3 scene but only if it keeps its player small and usable. Microsoft’s Windows Media Player is a bulky behemoth that loads way slower. I did my own little test of Winamp3 and depending on the skin you use, Winamp3 can either be pretty fast or really, annoyingly slow. I think people will inadvertantly install bulky skins and then wonder why their player has crapped out on them.

Honestly, most people use Winamp just for listening to MP3s and they do so because it loads faster than Microsoft’s. I love Winamp 2.81 because it just works and it has everything I need. You can tweak the DirectSound input in the player to have it fade in on tracks how you want or you can even get the SqrSoft crossfader which is just a great plug-in.

Winamp3 will eventually be a sleek, killer application but as of now it is not. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever download Winamp3, just not right now. I have no idea how long Nullsoft will take to really fix Winamp3 so that it is actually better than Winamp 2.81, but at their current rate of progress there are a lot of bugs to deal with. I look forward to seeing the finished project and I will totally switch to it then.

I think some people like the flashiness of skinning but if it sacrifices performance then they will eventually ditch it. People aren’t stupid. Usability is the key issue and Winamp 2 was very usuable. That’s why I continue to use it. The audiophiles choose Winamp because it is the fastest player with the best features out there and I think it Winamp3 is evolving into something better than Winamp2. However, Nullsoft really should warn people more before they put out a player that is this buggy.

They’re already gotten a pretty good backlash on the release and I’m not going to flame them for it. I just wanted to warn common Winamp users that if you download the initial release of Winamp3 you might experience a lot of problems.

I believe that winamp is better than ever.Most people don’t need to use the thinger, nor do i! I just want to press 2 buttons and listen to my music.What made winamp TOP is it’s user interface and mostly ,the ability to add files and create palylists in a nutshell! What i didn’t like in winamp 3 is that,unlike ver 2.81, it crashes sometimes.Also ,the video support and interface sucks!(in all winamp versions) On the other hand,windows media player is good in only 2 things:1)cool base skin ,and amazing video mpeg e.t.c. support.It really rocks when i play my divx movies there! I believe that windows media player in not better than winamp 3,however it is only one step behind:fast playlist creation!when microsoft guys wake up and realise what people want, windows media player will surpass winamp!…until then,fairwell!