I am using Winamp as my primary mp3 audio file player since 4years. I have used almost each and every version of Winamp from 1.02 to 3.0 but not 2.9 as it released just now, and before that Winamp 3 came and I am stick to it, and now I don’t want to go back to 2.
So let’s check out what’s new in Winamp3, what is its upside and what is its downside.
Download: Winamp 3 is freely available on https://winamp.com web site. Its size is 3.11 MB; it takes about 25-30 minutes to download on 56kbps.
Installing: Installation of Winamp 3 is very easy and same as its previous versions. But you get several options to choose from, like a new technology which got introduced in Winamp 3, from Nullsoft called, NSV (Nullsoft Streaming Video).
After Installation: Ok, Installation is done, now we are about to open a new Winamp player, eeeh crap, its very slow. Yes it is. Winamp 3 is very slow, I am having 512MB RAM and 1.5GHz P4 Processor, but then also it’s taking a time to load, reason behind it, is new type of skinning support introduced in Winamp 3. I will give you some tips and tricks on how to reduce the loading time, and also I will tell you why it is taking so, at the end of the review.
After opening Winamp 3, first screen which you can see is the splash screen, wow.. splash screen is so nice.. the way they written 3 by cutting grass is really cool. And then after about 5 seconds you can see your Winamp 3, which is loaded with lots of window, lets take a look at those window.
WINAMP Window: This window is 99% same as the old Winamp window, with all the functions to play, stop, next track, previous track, pause, shuffle, repeat. But now it has got 2 new buttons called, Media Library and Cross fading.
>>>> Media Library: It keeps the record of each and every file you play after the installation of the Winamp 3, till it die. And media library is really cool feature in Winamp 3, when you want to play songs, but don’t know which song you want to play, because you got lots of songs in your computer, then this media library will help you, just open it up, and it will give you the list of songs, which you have played since its first starting, and it list out songs artist vice, so you can choose song from that library, it helps me sometimes, but I access it very rarely.
>>>> Cross fading: I liked this feature, and I keep it turned on always, it works like this, suppose you got two songs, or only one song or more then two songs you play list, and first song is currently running, when current song reaches ends, before 5 seconds only, Cross fading feature starts playing next song, and its really cool, you try it out, it gives really nice effect.
THINGER Window: Well, this is one new window introduced in Winamp 3, which is having lots of shortcuts, like you can access preferences of Winamp 3 on one click, it also got access to Media Library, Winamp Browser, Playlist, Advanced Visualization Studio and Video Window.. Video Window?? Yes, now you can watch movies on Winamp too.
EQUALIZER Window: This window is 100% same as old one. But one thing which you get extra in it is, you get preloaded presets, like you now don’t need to remember or get presets for the classical equalizer from the inet, or you don’t need to call your friend to ask for the preset for the classical equalizer, now its preloaded in it, just click on the preset button, and then click on load to get the list of the equalizer Winamp 3 got, like old version you can also save your own equalizers also.
PLAYLIST EDITOR Window: This window is now much more enhanced then the previous version. Like in previous Winamp you were able to add playlist, similarly in this also, you can load playlist, but it has got really cool things, like you can load multiple playlists at the same time, and it adds them in the part window called playlists window, which is inside the PLAYLIST EDITOR Window, and it works like this, when first playlist ends it starts playing the second playlist.
WINAMP BROWSER Window: Now you can surf the web sites on your Winamp player, this feature is also available in the previous versions of Winamp, and this has got no any enhancements, and its very dull to use for browsing the web sites.
NSV (Nullsoft Streaming Video): yes, this is the new feature in Winamp 3, you might have played video files from internet on your Windows Media Player, it’s the same thing in Winamp now, but now it is having its own file type also called, Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV), which is faster, but quality is not so good.
Plugins or Visualization: Winamp 3 is no more supporting old version plugins, but new plugins are a lot more featurable and can give you a lot, and now its called as Components.
Skins: Winamp 3 supports XML Skinning support, which means you can now create your own skins very easily and you can also customize Winamp 3 very easily with the help of XML, you can change the position of the button in Winamp 3 using this XML Skinning technology. The best skin I found so far for Winamp 3 is MMD3, it is one of the best skin for Winamp 3 and if you use it once then no matter how much time its taking Winamp 3 to load, but you will keep Winamp 3 to play the mp3 files, because of that skin, then other skin I got is Nokia 3650, this is fancy skin and nice looking, but MMD3 skin is really cool. You can download MMD3 Skin from the following link:
https://ftpwa.newaol.com/customize/component/3/2002/10/7/S/MMD3.wal
Tips and Tricks on Loading Winamp 3 Fast: First lets understand how it works. Well, all the complete set of skin is stored in Skins directory of Winamp. It is having set of skins like Default and other skins which you install, if you look at the name of those skins, its like Default.wal or skinname.wal, this are nothing but the zip files, just rename Default.wal file to Default.zip file, and you will see the magic, all the files necessary for the skinning Winamp 3 is stored in the zip file, this is the main reason why it takes the time to load, Winamp 3, first extract that zip file or consider a skin file in a temporary folder, and then it loads the skin, so extracting process is taking a little time, and then other time is where it is taking is where, it is collecting the data, you cannot reduce this time, but you can reduce that extracting time. Just extract that .wal file or .zip file with the same name as the Skin name, suppose the skin file name is myskin.wal or myskin.zip, then extract it in folder named myskin, and then tell Winamp 3 to load skin from that folder, this will cut down the process of extracting the skin, so it will nearly cut down 5 seconds of loading, try it out.
PROS:
XML Skinning Support, Media Library, Cross Fadding, Playlist and lots of other things.
CONS:
BUGGY, LOADING TIME, RESOURCE EATER.
Conclusion:
Winamp 3 is loading very slowly, but then it works very well, and its resource eater, if you got nice amount of RAM like more then 128MB of RAM, then dont wait.. go and get your Winamp 3 today, but if less then 128MB or 128MB then just try it for once and if you like it then keep it.
Hope you liked my this review. Leave your valuable comments in the comment section and also rate my review.
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