The Winamp Team Status Report has been updated (2002.05.16) with new information regarding the development of Winamp3. Click on Read More... for a link to read the status report.

Looks like the end is near for Napster. So many problems face them, chief executive Konrad Hilbers has headed for the exit, and its founder Shawn Fanning has stepped down. Read More for the full story.

Winamp is an audio player. It plays music, or any other recorded sound, on your computer. Winamp also has a number of popular plug-ins for visualization (cool effects that synchronize with the music), input, output, and other purposes. Nullsoft today has re-uploaded the files. The changelog does not reveal any new features, though.

Back in the old days of vinyl records, pop groups like The Beatles and Black Sabbath were accused of sneaking satanic messages into songs, which could only be heard when the music was played backward. Now it seems one of the world's most popular electronic musicians has discovered the modern digital equivalent.

Easy CD-DA Extractor is a powerful and easy digital audio extraction utility that makes digital copies from audio CDs and saves as audio files such as MP3, Windows Media Audio and Windows Wave. You may use built-in encoders, get plug-ins for other free encoders, or use any Windows audio compression codec. Features include: CDDB, ID3 and WMA tags, file converter with batch support, tons of files can be converted to a different format simultaneously, serves also as a MP3 and WAV decoder and sound normalizer.

Mp3Trim can clean up, trim, amplify and fade-in/out your MP3s. Cleaning is useful on most MP3s and reduces the file size. Trimming is useful on files that contain unwanted noises or sounds. Amplifying is useful on low volume MP3s. Note that mp3Trim works precisely on MPEG frame boundaries.

Savagenews.com an updated build of the second alpha of one of my favourite software MP3 players - Sonique2 has been released. Since it is much more functional than the first alpha I'm posting it.

Nullsoft has silently released Winamp 2.80. The list of updates is rather long this time so be sure to update!

Following the great history of GNU naming, LAME originally stood for LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder. LAME started life as a GPL'd patch against the dist10 ISO demonstration source, and thus was incapable of producing an mp3 stream or even being compiled by itself. But in May 2000, the last remnants of the ISO source code were replaced, and now LAME is the source code for a fully GPL'd MP3 encoder, with speed and quality to rival all commercial competitors. Click on Read More... for more information and to see what is new and download links.

I saw this @ SavageNews.
Napster is a completely new way of thinking about music online. Imagine... an application that takes the hassle out of searching for MP3s. No more broken links, no more slow downloads, and no more busy, disorganized FTP sites. With Napster, you can locate and download your favorite music in MP3 format from one convenient, easy-to-use interface. Click on Read More... to see what's new and a direct download link.

The KaZaa Media Desktop is a second-generation peer-to-peer file-sharing service with which you can search and download media files from other KaZaa users. You can also organize and play/view your media files through an integrated media jukebox, publish your own work, reach an audience, and communicate with other KaZaa users. KaZaa supports audio, video, software, games, images, and documents. Update: Add direct download link! Thnx Dreamer Click on Read More... to see what's new and direct link to download site.

QCD has a fully skinnable interface that covers a powerful plug-in architecture. QCD's flexibility allows it to be as simple or as feature rich as you like. Supported audio formats include: MP3, CD Audio, Ogg Vorbis, WAV, VQF, MP+, Windows Media and streaming audio including SHOUTcast and ICEcast.

Iblite.com have found a site called kazaalite.tk that will show you how to install Kazaa Lite without all the spyware that comes with Kazaa, that means no more.

No Adware
No Spyware
No banners
No bitratelimit for mp3 files
No irritating websites loaded into KaZaA
No crappy BDE Viewer
No f***ing Bonzi Buddy
Set up multiple users with the included PseudoTrack tool

Just Download Kazaa Lite v151 build 9 and follow the instructions.

Savagenews.com report on a new version of WinAmp. Please note that this is not an official beta but rather a development release so it may not have all the functinality you expect.

The third beta version of the most famous mp3 player WinAMP3 is now available. What's new since the last beta:

According to an article at BetaNews Nullsoft is considering to introduce a payware version of the next major release of WinAmp which will have extended features compared to the free version. That this has not already happenend may be the benefit of Nullsoft's parent company AOL Time Warner. A recently run poll on the WinAmp homepage is seen as a market evaluation of possible WinAmp buyers. Read the rest at BetaNews via the above link.

An updated build of the second alpha of one of my favourite software MP3 players - Sonique2 has been released and it is much more functional than the first alpha.

Easy CD-DA Extractor is a powerful and easy digital audio extraction utility that makes digital copies from audio CDs and saves as audio files such as MP3, Windows Media Audio and Windows Wave. You may use built-in encoders, get plug-ins for other free encoders, or use any Windows audio compression codec. Features include: CDDB, ID3 and WMA tags, file converter with batch support, tons of files can be converted to a different format simultaneously, serves also as a MP3 and WAV decoder and sound normalizer.

A new version of the famous MP3-encoder and mediaplayer has been released. To find out what s new in this version, read more.

As more and more copy protections even on music CD's are getting common these days record companies are looking into ways to satisfy customer needs. All CD's making use of the Sony' developed protection called Key2audio should ship with a 9 digit number which allows you to download the tracks from your specific CD from Esquare4u.com either in streaming Realplayer format or .wmv (WindowsMedia) to store locally. Customers can not play Key2audio CD's on their PC which was the reason to develop this internet service.
Read more...

The Winamp3 development log has been updated up to the date 03-19-2002. Click on Read More... to get more info.