Winamp Download Won’t be Available Anymore; AOL Shuts Service Down

Winamp Download Won’t be Available Anymore; AOL Shuts Service Down
Zachary Stieber
11/20/2013
Updated:
7/18/2015

Winamp won’t be available for download after December 20 because AOL is shutting down the service.

Winamp.com and associated web services won’t be available past that date, the company said on its website on Wednesday.

“Additionally, Winamp Media players will no longer be available for download,” it said.

“Thanks for supporting the Winamp community for over 15 years,” it added.

Winamp was bought by AOl in 1999 for over $80 million.

The company’s downfall appears to stem from mismanagement on AOL’s part, reported Ars Technica.

“There’s no reason that Winamp couldn’t be in the position that iTunes is in today if not for a few layers of mismanagement by AOL that started immediately upon acquisition,” Rob Lord, the first hire and first general manager of Winamp, told Ars in 2012. 

Justin Frankel, Winamp’s primary developer, added to BetaNews:

“I’m always hoping that they will come around and realize that they’re killing [Winamp] and find a better way, but AOL always seems too bogged down with all of their internal politics to get anything done.”