Holy Llamas!: Winamp is being relaunched as an all-around music platform for creators and artists, but the old desktop player isn't disappearing anytime soon. The corporation owning the brand has now announced that the program's code will soon be offered through an open-source license.
Llama Group is opening Winamp's source code to programmers worldwide. According to the company, the legendary audio player for Windows PCs will start living its second life as a proper open-source project on September 24, 2024. Llama Group is looking for coders interested in joining the software's development, but it will retain full control over the "official" version of the player.
The upcoming open-source version of Winamp is seemingly known as "FreeLLama", and Llama Group is asking for interested parties to get in touch to "make themselves known." The company is looking for people willing to contribute and share their expertise, "ideas," and passion to help with the iconic software evolution.
Also read: What Ever Happened to Winamp?
Despite being part of an almost forgotten lineage of software products dating back to Windows 95, Winamp has unexpectedly survived to this day as a full-featured music player working with a wide number of audio formats. Winamp is now much more than a music player, Llama Group says, as the program embodies a unique digital culture, aesthetic, and well-known user experience.
According to Winamp CEO Alexandre Saboundjian, the FreeLLama initiative will delight millions of users still enjoying their listening experience through Winamp's tried and tested interface. The company is now mostly focused on developing its new player for mobile devices and other platforms, which will debut at the beginning of July.
The classic Winamp player for desktop system isn't the focus of the company anymore, Saboundjian confirms, and the "Winamp" brand will soon be exploited to sell NFT, merchandise and independently-developed music content through a new platform. Still, the Winamp corporation doesn't want to completely forget the "tens of millions" of Winamp PC users.
Winamp, the Llama-owned subsidiary company, will still own the Winamp brand after open sourcing its code, and will decide the innovations to adapt for the player's official version. The company is therefore suggesting that Winamp will soon split in two different entities: the FreeLLama open-source project, and the main, proprietary Winamp music player owned by Llama Group.