Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player for macOS

Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by 2III7 on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:03PM (#48185591)

What's wrong with foobar2000? Used to be one of the best music players and you could infinitely customize it.

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by surganov on Monday May 18, 2026 @08:06PM (#48187607)

For me personally, the main reason to use foobar2000 back then was FLAC support, which Winamp didn’t have at the time. Out of nostalgia, I downloaded foobar again not too long ago, but I just couldn’t get into it – it doesn’t really jive with me anymore. I wouldn’t have tried to build a new audio player if I felt there were better alternatives already out there, but personally I couldn’t find one. Cheers.

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by Demiurge on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:32PM (#48185982)

I actually prefer VLC to foobar2000. However, I still prefer classic Winamp to to all other music players, and I wish I could get Apple Music work in the same interface. I like 100% of the classic Winamp player UI/UX.

- I like the separate player, playlist, EQ windows.

- I like that I can re-arrange the windows, and resize the playlist separately.

- I like that the main player has a little EQ built in.

- I like the layout of the main window. It's perfect.

- I like the layout of the playlist window, it's also perfect. I can add "directories", "albums", etc. and again, I can resize the window.

- I like the skins. I like the classic skin, but I also love the Sonicated skin. I still have it on my Windows laptop.

- Conversely, I really dislike the "native" UI elements.

- I like that lack of rounded corners on the classic Winamp windows, such that when windows stick together, they appear as whole, and I can drag them around as one.

Mostly, it's a bunch of seemingly small and aesthetic things, but if a player doesn't have those things, I might as well just use iTunes.

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by tomjakubowski on Monday May 18, 2026 @07:27PM (#48187297)

Apple has MusicKit now. In theory you can build whatever (Mac or iOS) app skin you want on your Apple Music subscription.

https://developer.apple.com/musickit/

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by Demiurge on Tuesday May 19, 2026 @10:07AM (#48193511)

Time to fire up the vibes, Xcode here we come!

No, but seriously, thanks for sharing.

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by bombcar on Monday May 18, 2026 @07:11PM (#48187143)

Winamp was synonymous with m3u playlists, how well does VLC handle those?

Ah, fond memories of cron jobs generating m3u playlists for me ...

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by krabizzwainch on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:43PM (#48186121)

My newest discovery with the iOS version of foobar2000 is that it can read the files for things I have bought on iTunes and downloaded through the Apple Music app without a subscription. I was trying to go back to an iPod but lack of Bluetooth killed me.

This seems like the best of both worlds for me.

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Re:Show HN: We missed Winamp, so we built an audio player fo... by the__alchemist on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:58PM (#48186318)

Foobar is what I use to play music. Example of quality, performant, timeless software.

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