Okay, normally I’m opposed to skipping version numbers, but in the case of Winamp it seems like the right decision. I’ve used Winamp since the early days of MP3s (and for you n00bs that’s the 90s, not 2001 😉 ), but I was very disappointed with version 3. I went back to the previous rev since they were still supporting it, but I began to look for a new media player. Well, I have to say that my search ended right were I started it. There are just so many things they did right here I can’t even list them all. Bringing back the old Playlist Editor and making a far more sophisticated Media Library are major points. I’ve never been one to have my apps organize anything for me. I put my files where I want them to be, but this library is very simple to use, and I’ve actually started to use it.
Along with the libray, they’ve also really streamlined the whole Internet Radio/TV thing. I was more than pleasantly surprised to double-click on a link and find myself watching a stream of REM @ Sessions. Now I’m sitting at working listening to an 80’s station broadcast from God knows where. This morning I tried the ripping features and had a CD done in about 6 minutes. That’s good enough for me.
To put it another way, I’ve actually purchased the Pro version. I rarely pay for software, so that’s gotta say something. Now I just have to get around to buying a 200 GB hard drive for my server to rip my entire music collection 🙂 .
“Now I just have to get around to buying a 200 GB hard drive for my server to rip my entire music collection”
Oh, is that all you’ll need? 🙂
Yeah, I actually calculated it not too long ago. My current collection would take approximately 130GB. But with all I download that would quickly overtake a 160GB drive. I figure 200GB would be the best, but I might just go to 250GB depending on the deal I find.
Do you remember the good old days, when 40 Megs was all you’d ever need? That’s one ripped audio track today (WAV format, anyway.) It’s funny to think that one song today would be too much for a computer from a little over a decade ago.
I wonder if 10 years from now we’ll look at 250G and say “man, that’s nothing.”
Frighteningly we probably will. I did in fact purchase a 200GB drive yesterday (although I will be looking for a better deal today before installing it). I’m already wondering if it’s big enough and wishing that I got the 250GB deal the previous week. When all is said and done I will have over half of a terabyte in my server. That doesn’t really even phase me at this point. However I do still remember how fascinated I was the first time I had half of a gigabyte of storage in my system.
We’ve become somewhat apathetic to these quick upgrades and now look to them with a sense of expectation rather than excitement. It’s a shame, but that’s Moore’s Law I guess.