Microsoft Tipped For Winamp And Shoutcast Acquisitions From AOL

Just when you think you have the rug pulled from under you, Microsoft seems to want to put it back again just as suddenly. That's what's appearing to happen this week when not one day after the music player app Winamp was announced as shuttering its doors, Microsoft has been tipped to buy it. While we must assume one has something to do with the other, it would appear that Microsoft may (possibly) be in the business of wanting to keep Winamp alive in this case.

A source speaking with TechCrunch has suggested that AOL is in talks with Microsoft for the selling of two software legs of theirs. One would be Winamp, the app which after well over a decade of playing tunes, has entered a phase in which they've decided to call it quits. The other is Shoutcast, a media streaming service developed by the same group that's in charge of Winamp.

It was all the way back in 1999 when AOL acquired Winamp for a cool $80 million USD. It's unclear what the brand is worth today. Meanwhile the Shoutcast universe has only been existence for a relatively short time compared to the classic media machine – you'll much more likely have used Winamp in your former years for playing your original MP3 collection on a PC.

Winamp currently exists as a media playing app for multiple platforms, both desktop and mobile – Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS included just for starters. They've announced that their version 5.66 software out in the wild today will be the cutting point for the lineup, and that they'll be shutting down by the end of the year. The target date for service end for Winamp is currently December 20th, 2013.