Winamp

Winamp icon

Before other media players supported the MP3 format, this was the only player worth getting.

Winamp is made by a cool company called Nullsoft that created a vibrant community around this product. Unfortunately Winamp was later bought out by AOL.

Winamp is a skinnable media player with a graphic equalizer and a playlist. Nullsoft added a mini brower in the new versions, but these components, similar to a stereo system, are the base of this program.

There are thousands of Winamp skins around the net to choose from and it is easy to create your own.

The team at nullsoft worked hard to get Winamp to play as many file formats as possible as smoothly as possible. Winamp is also essential for Shoutcast Internet Radio stations and Nullsoft is now moving onto video.

Needless to say, there are a number of plugins made for Winamp, so you will never be bored downloading them and trying them out. Recently, Winamp has supped up its playlist viewer with cover-art finders, making Winamp even more graphically pleasing.

If you are already familiar with Winamp and are looking for an alternative, try AIMP.