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Winamp source code leak

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Re: Winamp source code leak

#151
post #141
post #120

I just can’t understand the point of the DMCA takedown here. This software is very dead and abandoned at this point, and the only thing bearing its name is vaporware that appears to be so distant from the original as to effectively not even compete with it. Of course, the copyright holders have every legal right to do so. But doesn’t it seem pointless? This codebase probably has more historical interest than commerci…

Not a lawyer but I guess it relates to a possibility of a loss of a trademark by failure to police.

DMCA is a copyright claim, not trademark. Also, the idea that a single instance of failing to enforce a mark would constitute trademark abandonment is disputed[1]. It certainly seems far-fetched given the general bias laws have towards the rights of corporations, not to mention extremely convenient for legal teams.

[1]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not...

Re: Winamp source code leak

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My memory is fuzzy on this but didn’t most consider Winamp 2.x the best. Winamp 3.x was considered bloated. So to help rectify the problems of 3.x, Winamp release version 5.x (the best of 2 + 3). Though I recall many still used version 2.x even after the 5.x release. Question: so when you say folks are trying to keep the "last version" alive, which version are you referring too since later versions weren’t loved.

I'm actually not too familiar with it, I was too young to use the original Winamp back when it was released, and can only remember playing around with the skins, along with RealPlayer on Win98 I'm guessing they went with version 5, since it looks like versions after that might have been a full rewrite?

If you want a fun read that wastes a few hours, poke around the interwebs for the story of Justin Frankel and WinAmp. There's been some recent posts on HN about how "the Internet is played out". Not sure if I agree, but this guy definitely belongs in the mythos of web 1.0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel

Re: Winamp source code leak

#153
post #140
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is another thread going on about bringing back web 1, but here is something I have been advocating for a while, make 2 different new web profiles, along the lines of: 1.) A subset of modern HTML / CSS, custom Javascript. Remove anything that isn't needed and especially anything that affects rendering negatively for no good reason. 1.1.) Possibly: Provide versioned, vendor neutral versions of js to allow for aut…

What about actual apps or games where you want to push the limits?

For that we already have html5 and Firefox :-) (and Chrome and what not)

Re: Winamp source code leak

#154
post #55

Honest question, as someone who actually used Winamp back in ~2004: why would you want to use it now? I have some nostalgia for it, sure, but what exactly does it actually offer you that something like VLC doesn't? It seems like it plays my music and videos competently enough, and I don't know anyone who actually uses Shoutcast anymore. This isn't a passive aggressive dig or anything, I would actually like to know.

It works great.

It looks great.

What else do you need? :)

Re: Winamp source code leak

#155
post #55

Honest question, as someone who actually used Winamp back in ~2004: why would you want to use it now? I have some nostalgia for it, sure, but what exactly does it actually offer you that something like VLC doesn't? It seems like it plays my music and videos competently enough, and I don't know anyone who actually uses Shoutcast anymore. This isn't a passive aggressive dig or anything, I would actually like to know.

I can force mono with Winamp. That's the sole player I know that has that option.

Re: Winamp source code leak

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something special about how limited media availability was back then. Made every track you could manage to get your hands on really special!

I guess we are replicating this today with vinyl.

Def. It's interesting because now we have to willingly limit ourselves to get the same effect.

I actually wish we tried this a bit more with news, social media, etc.

Re: Winamp source code leak

#158
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weirdly, mocp always led to memory leaks for me on Lubuntu. These days I mostly listen to soma.fm (you can use mplayer for their feeds[0]) or youtube in browser [0] A small gist I am super proud of as I don't write much bash: https://gist.github.com/tomrod/0b5caceec1a10acfb134aefb5fd85...

There is simple and pretty wrapper around mplayer, I like it https://github.com/uschek/somafm#readme

Thanks!

Re: Winamp source code leak

#159
post #55

Honest question, as someone who actually used Winamp back in ~2004: why would you want to use it now? I have some nostalgia for it, sure, but what exactly does it actually offer you that something like VLC doesn't? It seems like it plays my music and videos competently enough, and I don't know anyone who actually uses Shoutcast anymore. This isn't a passive aggressive dig or anything, I would actually like to know.

I can force mono with Winamp. That's the sole player I know that has that option.

For Linux there are various command-line players, e.g. mpg123, with this option and with any other imaginable options.

Re: Winamp source code leak

#160

I listened to my first MP3 ever (Creed's "Higher") in 1999 on Winamp. It really whipped the South American camelid's posterior. Dang. I'm old.

The first scene releases of mp3's were in 1996[0]. It was 1997 when things got rolling, just as Winamp was released.

I recall then that even new PC's couldn't decode at full CD quality and you had to downscale. We also picked which songs to download locally based on their size

Spiderbait's song "Calypso" was probably the most popular mp3 download in '97 since it was only 2.5MB and a lot of people just wanted to try this new mp3 thing everybody was talking about.

The decoder Winamp used was actually amp - developed by Tomislav Uzelac[1]. I can't remember how he dodged patent issues, but he had his name and an ask for donations in the about box of v1 iirc.

Winamp owe a lot to amp - the first version was essentially a skin + port of his library to Windows. I'm pretty certain Winamp v2 also used amp, just as it was blowing up to become the most downloaded program online.

Nullsoft and Justin were absolute legends. He wrote an AOL ad removal / blocking tool and WASTE while at AOL. I can't think of any similar startup or subsidiary today that has even close to the attitude / courage they had.

[0] https://www.mp3scene.info/releases/year/1996/

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomislav_Uzelac

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