Winamp – sweet Music Player with Wireless Sync to PC & Mac!
by Paul Wilks
Mar 27, 2012 10:51 AM –
Install
Winamp is an alternative music player for your Android device. It includes myriads of useful features, solid functionality and can even sync with the Winamp Media Player for Windows and Mac. You can listen to radio, get free music downloads and even import from iTunes. A veritable beast of a media player then, with quite a price tag too for the full version.
Price: Free, $4.99 for the Pro version
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Free MP3 download!
- Easy to use interface!
- Music sync with PC or Mac!
- iTunes import!
- Graphic equalizer (with Pro version)!
Cons
- Loves battery.
- Expensive.
- Dated looks.
Features:
Winamp Media Player has been around for some time now and it’s essentially a customisable media player for your PC or Mac. The Android app compliments this really well by allowing for wireless syncing, much like Google Music. Therefore you can listen to your music library on the go quite easily.
There are so many features in Winamp that is it difficult to go into in any depth with all of them, so I thought I might mention the ones which stood out to me. Firstly the syncing, not many music players do this and it’s great to have that kind of access to your stored music collection. You can also import your iTunes library, pretty good if you’ve used that service of a while and have built up a good collection through the service. Therefore, it could be said one of the main features of Winamp is to make your music readily accessible, and it does this usually quite well. Syncing of course can occasionally be a little hit and miss and there are plenty of factors which can hamper the process, but it’s relatively stable here. Further access is given to music via the integration of SHOUTcast radio streaming and Last.fm scrobbling. The app also features the ability to download free MP3 tracks and there’s lots to choose from- great for finding new music for free.
The interface is very simple to use, and navigating around the app is easy. After trying out quite a few music players now, most recently N7player, I did think Winamp looked a little dated. The Windows and Mac client allows you to skin your player, and there is quite a number of community based creations for people to customise the look of the interface. This isn’t the case with the Android app, which is a shame. With the Pro version there are some small customisations you can make with your app homescreen, but it’s not the same. Subsequently, while I thought the app was incredibly functional and stable, it felt a bit dated as far as looks were concerned. Perhaps one way of expressing what I mean would be to suggest that it’s a little bit FroYo: it’s fine, works great, better than some music apps, but compared to newer and slicker music apps it looks a little old fashioned.
This aside, you get some pretty good-looking widgets which ironically look far better than those you get with some other music apps. With the Pro version of the app you have a 10 band graphic equalizer to play with, and a host of functions to alter the sound to your own preferences. Obviously you have to pay for the additional features you get with the Pro version and, if I’m being honest, I’m not 100% sure it’s worth it unless the sound quality really is that important to you. Most features work across both free and paid versions so I’m unsure there is enough extra features in the Pro to warrant paying around $5 for it. However, I think if you use the Winamp player on your computer and value great sound and such levels of control, it’s clearly a worthwhile investment.
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Winamp – Main menu
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Winamp – In-play view 1
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Winamp – In-play view 2
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Winamp – In-play song options
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Winamp – Artists view
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Winamp – Artist header, included albums
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Winamp – Artist news via AOL
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Winamp – Artist options
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Winamp – Album song list
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Winamp – In-track view with info
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Winamp – Free music
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Winamp – Free music, in-play view
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Winamp – SHOUTcast
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Winamp – Genres
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Winamp – Equalizer
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Winamp – Widgets
Usefulness:
For playing music, finding new tracks, downloading free MP3′s and exploring various artists and genre’s, Winamp is, without doubt, comprehensive and useful. I think the sheer volume of features and functionality available here is pretty staggering, quite possibly too much for the average user. However, for the purist, there is a great deal of tweaking and sound customisation to be had.
Ease of Use:
Winamp is supremely easy to use and very intuitive. Navigation is a breeze and very user-friendly.
Frequently Used:
There are people who listen to music all day long so it’s very much down to the user. I did find that Winamp was a bit battery-hungry so perhaps not something ideal for using for long periods away from a charger.
Interface:
The interface is perfectly functional and easy to use. With the Pro version of the app you can customise your homescreen, but I still felt the overall look and feel of the app was a little dated. If you slipped into Winamp while using Ice Cream Sandwich it’s going to look quite clunky by comparison. That’s not to say it isn’t a great music player, but looks wise… I felt it was slightly behind the times with its grey tones and motifs.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
Android Music Player,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Google Music,
iTunes,
MP3 Music Player,
Music,
N7player,
Streaming,
Streaming Music Player,
Winamp,
Winamp Pro
Categorised in: Music
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