MP3s and file sharing ruled the early 2000s. A lot of people used the new technology to download the latest music from their favorite artists. I was more concerned with obtaining every single song that I heard between 1986 and 1991.

As I’m sure you could guess, I had amassed a pretty impressive (or terrible, depending on your tastes – though if you’re reading this you probably have a similar collection) library of classic songs from my youth. But once the files were in my hands, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

I first used Windows Media Player. I don’t remember much about it, other than the fact that it played these trippy little designs while your music played. But I do remember thinking that there was a better way to play the songs.

Eventually, word spread of a sweet download that would change our lives forever. It was called Winamp, and it was revolutionizing the way music was heard in dorm rooms across the county.

In addition to storing all of your music and being able to sort it by title, it gave you the opportunity to customize the player with a wide array of custom skins. If iTunes is Facebook, Winamp was its wackier, younger, Myspace sibling.

Apple products didn’t really go mainstream until several years later, so in the meantime, Winamp was king.

The other day I heard someone talking about using Winamp, and I was floored. Why on earth would anyone still be using that? Come on dude – they made iTunes compatible with PCs! There’s no excuse!

And it’s true. iTunes buried Winamp for everyone, except for that one guy, apparently. I’ve stated before that I’m an Apple aficionado, and my days with Winamp were mostly spent on my college roommate’s computer. But there’s a reason iTunes blew up – because it’s great.

Using Winamp in 2012 is the equivalent of using a Zune, ever.

But I digress.

For its time, Winamp was a fun piece of programming, and while it may not mean a lot to many people, for me and other folks my age, it’s a little slice of history. It’s one of those things that becomes so representative of an unbelievably specific time in your life, just hearing the word brings you back to where you were when you were using it.

There’s a bunch of other things from that time period that have the same affect on me. I haven’t written articles about them, because they’re either too “new” to assume they’ll be eradicated in the next few years or they’re something that will be around forever. Things like “Peanut Butter Jelly Time”, Newgrounds.com, Mountain Dew Code Red, and the movie Saving Silverman.

Which is a totally underrated flick, by the way. You should go watch it right now.

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