The best freeware alternatives for Winamp, shut down by AOL on December 2013
After over 15 years of whipping llamas, AOL shut down Winamp on 20th of December 2013, according to a post on their website:
"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."
While the latest version of Winamp for Windows, 5.66, will still be available for download on Download3k in both the Lite and the Full editions, this is a good time to look for alternatives, since support for Winamp will no longer be provided.
The Media Players category on Download3k is a good place to start since we reviewed there the most important contenders already. But from all that noise, let's have a look at our top 5 choices for an audio player to replace Winamp on your PC.
1. foobar2000
This is as good as it gets when coming to playing audio files. A quote from our review done 2 years ago still applies Today:
"Foobar2000 is a solid audio player that both novice and advanced users will appreciate. The ripping and conversion features are outstanding. Moreover, it supports almost any audio format you can think of." - from the foobar2000 review (5/5 Editor's rating)
2. AIMP
If you want to get as close as possible to the old Winamp feeling, this is what you should try next.
"AIMP is an excellent audio player that will satisfy even the most die-hard audio fanatics out there. It supports many popular formats, has a bunch of cool features and it performs ingeniously without a fault." - from the AIMP review (5/5 Editor's rating)
3. Clementine
With a rapidly rising community behind it already, Clementine looks like a viable media player with a bright future ahead.
"Clementine is a beautiful, modern, comprehensive cross-platform music player and library organizer for Windows, Mac OS and Linux; it boasts of a comprehensive support for numerous online radio stations, file formats, cloud storages and offers remote control application for Android." - from the Clementine review (5/5 Editor's rating)
4. MediaMonkey
"The outstanding features of MediaMonkey say it all. You get complete control over sound quality, great music management, comprehensive file converting and a great looking interface." - from the MediaMonkey review (4.5/5 Editor's rating)
5. iTunes? VLC? Other?
Well we just don't know. It's up to you to finish the list. Leave a comment below and tell us who deserves to be in the "Top 5 Best Audio Players" list to be used as Winamp alternatives. We might just edit the post to include your top suggestions.
Update On This Story:
Winamp will continue under new management. Read the full story: Winamp was acquired by Radionomy.
