Winamp releases new version after four years in development

Winamp has released its first release candidate after four years in development, officially bringing the popular media player out of beta.

Before music streaming platforms rose to prominence, we needed to rip our music from CDs and play the resulting MP3 files on a media player.

One of the most beloved media players to play MP3s was Winamp, which included retro skins and animated visualizations that synced with your music.

Winamp ceased development after version 5.666 was released in 2013. That was until October 2018, when Winamp 5.8 was leaked online, and the developers decided to publish it themselves on the Winamp.com website.

Since then, the developers have promised an updated version with cloud streaming support and more modern features. Finally, in November 2021, the Winamp.com website received a facelift with a new logo and a beta signup form to be notified when new versions were released.

Winamp 5.9 RC1 Build 9999 was released, marking it as the first version released in 4 years and as the first release candidate of the revitalized media player.

While the Winamp release candidate does not contain too many changes, the main goal of this release was to upgrade the code base from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2019. Now that this has been completed, the team can add new features and capabilities to the media player.

A byproduct of these changes is that Winamp requires Windows 7 SP1 or later, dropping support for Windows XP and Vista, which have long been out of support.

"This is the culmination of 4 years' work since the 5.8 release.  Two dev teams, and a pandemic-induced hiatus period inbetween," reads the changelog for Winamp 5.9 RC1 Build 9999.

"To the end-user, it might not seem like there's a whole heap of changes, but the largest and hardest part was actually migrating the entire project from VS2008 to VS2019 and getting it all to build successfully.

"The groundwork has now been laid, and now we can concentrate more on features. Whether fixing/replacing old ones or adding new."

Azerion Closes Purchase Of Digital Audio Ad Company Targetspot

Amsterdam-based digital entertainment and media platform Azerion has closed on its purchase of digital audio advertising company Targetspot from Radionomy. The cash and stock deal worth $27.3 million was first announced in November. The official closing came on Dec. 23, following the approval of Targetspot’s shareholders at a Dec. 9 meeting. The Brussels-based Targetspot, which represented 92% of Radionomy’s business, generated revenue of €13.4 million in the first half of 2022. Under the deal, Targetspot’s programmatic ad sales technology will be folded into Azerion’s existing advertising offerings. "Our Targetspot division and Azerion complement each other perfectly,” Alexandre Saboundjian, President and founder of Targetspot said when the deal was announced. “We bring a proprietary digital audio technology that was missing from Azerion's current ad tech platform, while Targetspot will benefit from Azerion's commercial strength, present in 24 countries, and its close ties with over 575 publishers and 400,000 advertisers.” Targetspot says it has more than three billion monthly impressions in over 30 markets worldwide, including the U.S, and works with more than 15,000 audio channels worldwide. Targetspot sells digital audio advertising across streaming music, podcast, audio books, digital video, and online video games. It had $13.8 million in revenue during the first half of 2022, which was 12.4% higher than a year earlier. Azerion says the acquisition “further solidifies” its entry into the U.S. market. It will also give Azerion a more complete suite of advertising products. Under the terms of the deal, Radionomy shareholders will receive a cash payment in three separate tranches – at closing, another in April 2023, followed by a third in January 2024. They will also receive 2,782,644 Azerion shares. There will also be the potential for another $3 million worth of stock paid to Targetspot shareholders if certain earn-out conditions are met. Azerion’s stock is listed on Euronext Amsterdam exchange.

Mojow Trio

The Mojow trio creates magic with the soulful and hard hitting Rock, Soul and Funk tracks on their 3rd EP "Magic Soul Music".

Armed by a symphony of songs melding and marrying together seamlessly, eclectic musical trio Mojow is sending ripples in the Rock, Soul and Funk genres. Driven to rock out the world of listeners. With their characteristic use of the Baryton sax, Mojow includes the musical prowess of the band's lead vocalist and guitarist Nanex Crooner, complemented by Youl on drums en Benjamin Kurpisz on Baritone Saxophone, spinning magical rhythmic combinations. "Magic Soul Music" forms the band's third 5-track EP, characterized by all that the French trio is good at and more.

Mojow.co

Timeseven

William Hayden, under his band moniker Timeseven, has released a new single "Indiana Road". His songs have been played on radio stations all over the world, are available on all major streaming services and have over 1.5k followers on social media.

"Indiana Road" is an autobiographical country/pop song that inspires and takes the listener on a journey to a place and time long ago in Indiana. The verses are introspective and emotional and the choruses are inspirational. Fans of modern country, easy listening and pop will appreciate this feel-good upbeat song.

William Hayden wrote and produced the song and played guitars, mandolin and keyboard. He has been joined by world-class musicians including Daniel Sadownick on Drums (Steely Dan, Taylor Swift, Norah Jones), Alison Prestwood on Bass (Blake Shelton, Faith Hill), Noah Needleman on Banjo, Brad Williams on Vocal. Mix and mastering by 10x Grammy-winning Darrell Thorp (Paul McCartney).

Timesevenproductions.com

New releases on JAM 66 radio.

 Listen to only the new blues, bluesrock, rock on  http://jamradio.mex.tl. Open 24 hours a day. We only play the NEWEST!

From This week, MD, Gina Jones, Spudgun Assassins and many others.

Tune in and keep listening to the newest. Listen on the radio site or with the apps or your favorite player.

James Leeds

 

James Leeds about the track:

'"Thunderstruck" is one of my favorite songs from my new album "Whenever". A lot of piano and strings and the wonderful voice of JACOB combined with a strong drum and bass accompaniment makes it a power piano ballad.

I composed this song when I met someone and thought she would be my partner for life. In the end, it turned out that it was only our last date.'

Website: jamesleeds.com

Dirk Da Davo

Since the early eighties, TB Frank and Dirk Da Davo have been the creative forces that have made The Neon Judgement a household name in circles where musical narrow-mindedness is not considered a bonus.

Emerging vibrant and violent from the small town Leuven near Brussels, in the early eighties, they started to build up their own sound.

Their early work combined low-fi technology and emotional sincerity to create a sound both warm and alienating. Going from strength to strength, they released a string of haunting albums that displayed an adventurous variety of songs, where downright industrial drones stood side by side with twisted love songs and campfire ditties from hell.

Dirk Da Davo now introduces his latest solo single "King of Fools".

http://www.dancedelicd.com/releases/