Editorial Review of Winamp
Note: This review addresses v5.572 of the
software.
Yes, this music playing software has been around from
approximately forever. There's a good reason for that: It's a great
piece of audio-playing software. Unlike some other jukebox
software, it doesn't take up too much hard disk space, and it's
simply designed, and easy and straightforward to use.
There are plenty of skins so you can customize how Winamp looks,
a podcast directory so it's easy to track and manage podcasts you
download, and it plays videos as well as music. Those who like to
be entertained while they listen to music can watch the
visualizations. And also very useful is the ability to listen to
AOL's Shoutcast radio stations.
Winamp Full is missing some features, however. You can't rip CDs
to MP3 files, for example, and you can only burn audio CDs eight
times with it. To get around these problems, you'll have to pay $20
for the Pro version.
Be aware that when you install this software, it will set Winamp
Search as your default search engine-- and will sign you up for a
free trial in the eMusic music service--so make sure to uncheck
boxes next to those options if you don't want them.
--Preston Gralla
Description of Winamp
The latest version of this long-standing and popular free media player can sync your music with your iPod, and its new companion Winamp Remote download allows you to listen to the non-DRM music on your PC from anywhere through a Web browser.
In addition to playing CDs and most other digital audio formats (.wav, MID, MOD), Winamp allows you to you browse SHOUTcast Radio and TV station. It also offers AOL video content and AOL Radio featuring XM. You get 50 free MP3s from eMusic, too.
Winamp has a spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope that jumps and dips with the rhythm of your song. What sets Winamp apart from the pack is the smooth, intuitive way it's designed--how it allows you to easily create and save playlists, for instance. Want to play at the best fidelity for jazz tunes as well as bass-heavy rock songs? Winamp lets you save equalizer settings for specific songs. The program also has a minibrowser that lets you view biographies and photos, and you can sign up for 3GB of free Internet music storage. Integrated internet TV & radio round out the functions.
You can burn to CD with Winamp. It burns at 2x--if you want to get the best speed out of your burner, consider buying the Pro version, which can support burning up t0 48x.
And of course, there are the skins: Winamp has an endless supply of classic and modern ones. You can dress up the player so that it shows the interior of a fancy car, photos from your favorite TV show, a cubist geometric design, or any of the more than 25,000 other looks created by fans. The program also lets you sub in thousands of plug-ins for everything from encoders to visualizations to games.
Reviewed by: KarenPowers37
Reviewed by: KevGu3
Reviewed by: CMarshall
Reviewed by: dragon69
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