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Winamp 1.0 for Android review: now with free MP3 downloads and streaming
Moments ago, Nullsoft released Winamp 1.0 on to the Android Market. It's free to download, and we can safely say that it's best music player for Android. It's so good that it might even whip the llama's ass. [Disclosure: Nullsoft and Download Squad are both owned by AOL]With the bump to version 1, Winamp for Android introduces a bunch of cool new features. Most notably is the ability to download and stream MP3s from Spinner, but there's also a new Featured SHOUTcast Stations area and extensive UI changes throughout.
The lock screen player has been redesigned, and you can now control audio playback with swipe gestures. Accessing vast amounts of artist information and news directly from the Now Playing screen is now really easy -- and finally, Wi-Fi sync of music from your desktop PC is now a lot more stable!
Read on for our hands-on experiences with each of Winamp 1.0's main features.
Free music downloads
Spinner, which provides free 'MP3 of the day' downloads, is now integrated with Winamp for Android. Simply hit the Free Music button from the Winamp home screen and you'll be transported to a long and pretty list of free MP3s. You can stream them instantly, or download to your SD card. The downloaded MP3s completely free of DRM, too!For some reason you can't queue these free songs up, though -- not unless you download them all first, anyway.
A beautiful UI
The Winamp for Android UI has been updated at least three times during the development process, and it's now at the stage where it embodies and extols both beauty and function.The player is easily accessed from anywhere in the app -- just tap the bar at the bottom of the screen -- and being able to search the Internet for artist info, photos, news and discography straight from the player is awesome. You can also set the currently-playing song as your ringtone, or add it to a playlist with your phone's menu/context button.
Gestures allow you to swipe left and right on the Now Playing screen to move back and forth through an album or playlist. Hopefully further gesture controls (and customization!) will appear in later versions of Winamp for Android -- it sure would be nice to have a way of pausing a song without having to push the little button at the bottom (is there a 'mash fist on screen' gesture?), or to skip multiple songs.As far as accessing Winamp from outside the app, there's a nice lock screen player which you can enable from the settings, and there's two widgets (with and without album art) that you can add to your Android home screen.
SHOUTcast streaming radio
One of Winamp's coolest features is its ability to stream from any SHOUTcast radio station. You can search by genre, or see Nullsoft's selection of Featured Stations. You can save any station to your favorites, making it very quick and easy to stream them in the future.If you're worried about hitting your bandwidth cap, you can sort by bitrate and choose a 24 or 40kbps stream.
Wi-Fi desktop sync
If you use Winamp on the desktop, the Android app can automatically sync your music library to your mobile device. It requires a little bit of setting up, but it definitely beats having to plug in the USB cable.To set up Wi-Fi desktop sync, follow the tutorial that first pops up when you open Winamp for Android -- or push the menu/context button > Settings > Winamp Help. You will need an up-to-date version of Winamp on your PC, too.
Internationally fluent
Finally, it's worth noting that Winamp for Android has been translated into a whole bunch of languages. French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish are all supported. Chinese is now the only major ommission.Learn more about Winamp for Android on the Nullsoft site
Download Winamp 1.0 from the Android Market
Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsMalafeXMar 10th 2011 4:16PM
Best music player for android :)
NickMar 10th 2011 5:27PM
Wait until Songbird has grown mature. ;)
RIFRAFMar 10th 2011 5:35PM
@Nick
Songbird has always been too slow in catching up.
Daily DOZOMar 10th 2011 8:07PM
Other than the streaming/sync, poweramp has winamp beat in every way.
It even has a built in equalizer and fully customizable interface.
phezMar 10th 2011 10:34PM
@Daily DOZO
well, winamp is free
Sebastian AnthonyMar 11th 2011 6:00AM
@Daily DOZO I've asked the Winamp guys about an equalizer. They'd like to include one, but it's somewhere down the line.
Let's not forget that equalizers are not really necessary on mobile devices, unless you're plugging them into proper speakers.
Hunt_IEMar 11th 2011 1:03AM
TIme to download and try this i see :D
bestadvocateMar 11th 2011 3:50AM
Anyone else noticing they took out shoutcast? Might want a correction on the article/and or an explanation on why so many users are reporting this with the update (me and look at android market comments)
Sebastian AnthonyMar 11th 2011 5:58AM
@bestadvocate 'Took out'? I've updated and still see SHOUTcast.
It might be a regional thing.
Peter LeonardMar 11th 2011 6:44AM
No sign of SHOUTcast here. That's a deal breaker. The music app that came on my phone has that. But, lock screen controls are nice.
rgz1757Mar 11th 2011 10:04AM
Just downloaded it! Thanks Sebastian!
SamMar 15th 2011 3:12PM
Tried it and it was confusing and deleted my playlists off my phone. Winamp kept putting duplicates on my phone didn't recognize some songs so it kept deleting them, only to readd them on a play list. I now use DoubleTwist and LOVE IT. It'll be hard to get me to even try Winamp again for my Droid.
bkj216Mar 16th 2011 7:16AM
@Sam: Yea the last time I used Winamp on my phone it messed up my music metadata and library info. I deleted off all of my music, then gave PowerAMP a try...and I've been using PowerAMP ever since.
david.mcclellan.sdMar 31st 2011 6:23AM
Agreed. This is the best player.
I am amazed how far Android apps have come. They now have their own browsers(http://www.softwarecrew.com/2011/03/internet-explorer-9-officially-launched/), partitioning, antivirus software, etc.
I originally wanted the new iPhone and am glad that I went with an Android(Samsung Epic) phone and am amazed at the quality of apps available.