America Online on Tuesday released an upgrade for its free Winamp multimedia software, and a fee-based "pro" version that encodes songs into MP3s is expected to follow.
As previously reported, the Winamp 5.0 update highlights a return to simpler times for Nullsoft, the original developer of Winamp, which AOL acquired in 1999 to jump-start its online music strategy. The previous version, Winamp3, was an ambitious attempt by Nullsoft to create its own programming language, called "Wasabi," and to develop applications for the player. However, Winamp3 was dogged by criticism that it was bloated and slow. It was scrapped earlier this year for the slimmer 2.x version.
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