A definite winner... again!!. Review on Winamp 5.05

Well, I lost track of winamp after something like v2.75. The reason was that after that came winamp 3.00 and it sucked! It just didn?t gimme the winamp feel and look that I liked. So while my friends kept upgrading, I stuck to the old version... even installing it on my new laptop!

Then along came winamp 5.xx

I bumped into it in my friend's room - he'd skinned it etc etc and I felt my fingers and eardrums itching to get it. I resisted the temptation.. till one day I surfed into the winamp website and hit the download button.

I was hooked.

I first checked to make sure that the original look and feel could be accessed - yes! You can choose between the classic and a 'modern' feel. So now I felt at home.

Then started my experimenting.

So here's my review.

1. Downloading and Installing

I used a dialup and had no probs downloading. Installing was a breeze and didn't gimme errors (I use Windows XP home edition). There are some comps which apparently hang or mini-crash - but no probs for me!

2. Configuring and setting it up

No probs - very simple as usual - jus' like winamp!

3. Starting up

One thing I noticed was that winamp 5.xx takes more time to load than 2.xx Maybe it's a little heavier on resources - but nothing to crib about. It's probably because I've loaded some skins and stuff. The bare winamp 5.xx probably takes very little time.... ask somebody else!

4. Da Music!!

The main thing. As usual loading a playlist, directory, file etc etc is a breeze. I couldn't find a search function which would automatically scour my hard disk, but I probably didn't look too hard as all my MP3s are in one directory.

The music quality is standard winamp stuff and very good and very configurable. The equalizer, etc are good The only problem is a couple of seconds delay before the equalizer actually changed the sound quality. It bugs me occasionally, but I guess I'm used to it by now!

I like some functions like the cross-fade etc which make song transition smooth.

The CDDB function is useful too to get CD info. Sometimes it keeps popping up unnecessarily, but you can change the configs for that.

5. Da skinz!

Exciting. While I love the winamp classic look, I was bowled over by some of the modern skinz available. Man - they rocked. Some new stuff like the stick mode and mini mode put winamp on a corner yet fully accessible. You can check it out!

And by keeping it semi-transparent and always on top, I don't need to switch windows to access it.

In particular I'd recommend the MMD3 skin. It is amazing in the mini mode and has so many color themes!! Amazed and absolutely in love with it.

6. Da plugins

I'll leave this one - I didn't try any and can't review any! I tried a few visuals and they seemed OK. There are plugins for sound, recording, converting etc etc at the main site - check 'em out!

7. Does it crash/hang

So far it hasn't crashed or hung.. I even tried it on while playing some heavy games and it didn't do any harm!

8. On the downside -

I've already mentioned the startup time

If you use a lot of skin options and anims it does take some system resources and a slower comp will whirr and scream...

The CDDB option popping up sometimes nags you

I wish the equalizer changes were real-time and without delay.

My verdict?

Try this - you'll love the old winamp options and the new winamp look. I stopped using v2.xx after this.

Addenda (0n Dec 14, 2004)