Skip to main content

AOL reportedly wants to sell Winamp to Microsoft

AOL reportedly wants to sell Winamp to Microsoft

Share this story

microsoft logo granite stock 1020
microsoft logo granite stock 1020

Winamp could live to see another day: according to TechCrunch, AOL is currently in talks to sell its famous media player to Microsoft. Rumor of the potential deal comes just a day after Winamp announced that it would be shutting down a month from now, over fifteen years after the wildly customizable and once quite-popular media player was first released. The deal isn't yet final — and TechCrunch warns that it could just be "wishful thinking" on the part of AOL — but it says that the two companies are working out a price.

The deal would also include Shoutcast, an internet radio service that was also built by Winamp's creator, Nullsoft. Though Shoutcast remains operational today, TechCrunch reports that its closure will be announced next week. With Winamp's drastic decline in popularity and utility, it's not clear exactly why Microsoft would be interested in buying. At the least, the Winamp name still seems to bring back fond memories, and perhaps Microsoft too wants to see it stick around.