Hacker News Reader

Comment by thought_alarm | Hacker News Reader

Back in the day I used WinAMP (and X11amp) as a simple front end to my web-based Linux jukebox server that I had ripped all of my CDs on to. Those were the days of AudioGalaxy and Red Hat 6 and WindowMaker. It was a marvelous time, for a couple of years anyway.

Then WinAMP 3.0 happened, and it was buggy garbage.

Then I discovered what iTunes could do for me as far as organizing my music. It put WinAMP 3.0 in a new light, and I decided to give it another shot. Nope, still garbage. Then I tried the newly-released WMP 9. That was garbage too.

So I retired my Linux Jukebox and migrated to iTunes. Then I got an iPod. Then I got a PowerBook. Later I threw out my beige boxes, learned Cocoa and iOS development, and now that's what I do for a living.

So if WinAMP 3.0 wasn't such a mess then I might still be a Windows developer. Thanks, WinAMP, for inadvertently putting me on a new path.

View on HN

You're not the only one.

I moved to iTunes from WinAmp when I got tired of meticulously organizing my mp3s into folders. That was the feature that sold me on Windows iTunes.

Then came iPods, MacBook Pros, iPhones, iPads and now maybe $10k+ later I'm hook line and sinker into the Mac Eco system.

pure nostalgia. i think many of us share that very same history

Unfortunately, WinAmp so indoctrinated me into manually managing my mp3 folders that even after I switched to iTunes, it was still years until I finally let it manage the library structure for me.

You're not the only one.

I finally gave in and let iTunes start managing my files for me about 2 years ago - it's one of the best computing decisions I've ever made.

If you're still manually managing your music files' folder structure, I strongly encourage you to let iTunes start doing it. What you lose in fine-grained control (I never liked 'Artist/Album/songs' subfolders, I preferred a big list of 'Artist - Album/songs' folders) you make up in a much better listening experience.

This follows my rough transition, too. I was a die-hard Windows user. Winamp3 was terrible. Constantly cleaning up and organizing my MP3s was stupid and wasteful. iTunes, although "bloated", took care of all of that.

I then got an iPod. Then another one. Then an iMac/MacBook. Now I'm all iOS (iPhones, iPads, MacBook Pro/Airs, etc). Haven't used Windows since, oh, 2003 or 2004?

Really an interesting example of the halo effect at work. I bet a lot of folks scoffed at Steve Jobs when he described that very same process.

The developers defended Winamp 3.0 for a while, but eventually they realized that it sucked. The next version to come out was Winamp 5, which was supposed to be a combination of Winamp 2 and Winamp 3: http://web.archive.org/web/20041204223306/http://www.winamp....

Now that brings back memories!

I just stuck with winamp 2. I still have my crapfest directory of mp3s with no organisation. I right click the folder, hit play in winamp and sorted.

However, I don't use any portable mp3 players any more and still use CDs when I actually want more than background music.

For years I would download Winamp 2.8 from oldversion.com :)

Classic. It is strange how us geeks travel down these paths, making us who we are...

Winamp: it really whips the llama's ass!

maehhhh!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com