The ordeal appears to be finally over. What initially began as a death watch for Winamp, a beloved media player that’s been around since 1997, ended with its sale by AOL, along with Shoutcast, to Radionomy, a service that aggregates Internet-based radio stations. Winamp will allegedly live on as a standalone media player as well, so fans and users of the player needn’t fear of any radical changes to the long-lived program.
The terms of the agreement reportedly include an exchange of both cash and shares, allegedly worth somewhere between $5 million and $10 million. As part of the deal, AOL will receive a 12 percent stake in Radionomy.
Once the shutdown of Winamp was publicly announced in November, public outcry came in multiple forms, including a Change.org petition and a website by the name of www.savewinamp.com. These gestures by fans of Winamp clearly signaled that many still cared deeply about the media player. It’s possible that this outpouring led AOL to sell the service off, instead of doing away with it entirely.
Rumors back in November pointed to a possible acquisition of Winamp by Microsoft,but that never materialized. If Microsoft acquired Winamp, there was no telling whether Redmond would have left it unchanged or tinkered with it somehow, either by turning it into a Windows 8 app, or something else.
What do you think of Winamp’s sale by AOL to Radionomy? Sound off in the comments below.
