This week, Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Assignments Editor Kristina Panos traded sweat for silence, recording from their respective attic-level offices in the August heat unaided by fans (too noisy). We decided there’s no real news this week that lacks a political bent, except maybe that Winamp is back with a new version that’s four years in the making. (Is Winamp divisive?) Does it still whip the llama’s ass? You be the judge.
After Elliot gives Kristina a brief math lesson in increasing area with regard to 3D printer nozzle sizes, we talk a bit about 3D pens, drool over a truly customizable macropad that uses a microcontroller for each keyswitch, and discuss dendrometers and tree health. Then it’s back to keyboards for one incredible modular build with an e-ink display and haptic feedback knob which is soon to go open source.
Finally, we talk tiny CRTs, a USB drive that must have the ultimate in security through obscurity, discuss the merits of retrograde clocks, and wonder aloud about the utility of jumping PCBs. Don’t bounce on us just yet — not until you hear about our first electronics wins and learn the one thing Kristina doesn’t do when she’s spending all day in the heat.
Direct download. And listen with Winamp!
Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Episode 180 Show Notes:
News:
- Elliot is going camping for real
- Kristina is going glamping in a nearby burg and staying in a cottage
- And Winamp gets a version update!
What’s that Sound?
- Almost everyone got it right, including Kristina! Only one person can win, however, and that person is [highflux7]!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
- Go Big Or Go Home: 0.6 mm Nozzles Are The Future
- A Customizable Macropad To Make Anyone’s Tail Wag
- OpenDendrometer Can Measure How Your Tree Feels
- Smart Modular Keyboard Sports An E-ink Display And A Haptic Feedback Knob
- Homemade SawStop Attachment Is Just About As Sketchy As It Sounds
- Tiny Arcade Uses Tiny CRT
Quick Hacks:
- Elliot’s Picks:
- Kristina’s Picks:
The point of Winamp is what it doesn’t have. No cloud integration, no social media integration, not connected to a streaming platform, no ads, no accounts or logins, is not a video player by design, isn’t trying to force you to add your music to a “database”, doesn’t try to take over your desktop with its entire being.
It has four great features: 1) a simple playlist that can handle thousands of files without choking on itself, 2) simple OS integration (enqueue folder/file), 3) simple and effective search and play queue, 4) plays most any format including videos if needed AND flash after flash died, and if not then you always have the plugins.
Foobar 2000 was kinda-sorta the same, but it was ugly and clunky. VLC player can work as an ersatz Winamp, likewise the Linux equivalents like XMMP or Audacious, but nothing really beats the real deal because Winamp just works really well.
Then you’re probably going to hate the direction the new Winamp is going. It seems like they are looking to integrate all the things you mentioned in the first paragraph, plus some NFTs for good measure.
I’d say the community could just fork the older version and keep it updated for newer machines but…well, you know.
If it matters, they will. If not, well you can still run 5.666 just fine.
Though actually Winamp did have a pretty good support for web radio broadcasts, and that’s basically the same as streaming services. One entry in your playlist would basically contain an URL and play like any song.
If they add a modernized version that would connect to something like Soundcloud or Spotify and pull songs to your playlist seamlessly, then I wouldn’t mind. The only trouble would be that they would then start inserting ads to your playlist, which is exactly the reason to use Winamp instead of Spotify or Soundcloud in the first place.