When it comes to the media players mostly made for playing music, when someone asks you which one crosses your mind first, chances are that you are going to say Winamp. This software application written by Nullsoft is one of the most popular media players in the world. It is supporting many formats of the files, there are lots of plug-ins available on the market, and it looks great, and it is easy to use, for sure. There is a media library, which offers you unique feeling when you are listening to the music, and it is easy to organize your music library…
Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev are responsible for creating Winamp, and it has become even more popular after MP3 songs became popular… That kind of happened at the same time. But besides MP3, Winamp is supporting many other formats, such as MIDI, MPEG-1, MOD, WAV, WMA, etc… You can also import music from audio CDs, which is a great solution if you want to listen to the audio CD from your computer and you don’t want to convert the files.
When it comes to the Nullsoft streaming video, you can expect from Winamp to play it as well, and if you want to play some of the video files, this player is going to use Direct Show from Microsoft to play it for you. That goes for MPEG and Avi files. After you install, Winamp, it is going to scan your hard drive and make a media library, which means that all the supported files will be added to your library, and you don’t even have to do it on your own. There is a feature called Album Art, which means that you can select a song after selecting a CD, and after connecting to the internet, Winamp is going to download the album cover as well.
You can easily use Winamp for RSS feeds, so it can display various articles, or it can download or play the content like it is streaming media. At 
the same time, you can use Winamp as a remote, and that means that you can playback the media files via the internet. Also, Winamp is available for Android mobile phones, and that is the best choice when it comes to listening to the music on your phone since it is offering so much more than the standard media player.
The plug-in architecture in Winamp is amazing, and since it has been developed back in 1998, there is no doubt that it has been under severe changes. Now, you can simply download a plug-in and set Winamp to work the way you want it to work. If you choose the Input plug-ins, you will be able to decode file formats, with Visualisation, you can adjust the graphics, and with the DSP/Effect you can see the difference when it comes to the special effects. Also, you can adjust the cross fading as well.