Digital Music Reaches Another Milestone as AOL's Winamp Celebrates 25 Million Registrations; 100,000 Music Lovers Choose Winamp Everyday Making It the #1 Digital Audio Player

Business Wire, June 21, 2000

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

AOL's Winamp, the leading audio player for downloading and listening to digital music, today announced that its worldwide community has surpassed 25 million unique registrations. The engaging and powerful Winamp software is the product of choice for Web-savvy music fans to experience music online.

Winamp also announced today that more than 100,000 new music lovers are choosing Winamp everyday, maintaining its explosive growth. The number of installations of the popular software has grown from five million to 25 million since AOL acquired the product one year ago.

Donn Davis, Chief Operating Officer of AOL's Interactive Properties Group, commented, "We're pleased to be celebrating this milestone with Winamp. AOL and its family of brands continue to be an integral part of people's daily lives and Winamp is increasingly playing an instrumental role by enabling consumers to enjoy their favorite music online. Through Winamp, music lovers can play and even broadcast high quality audio from the computer for free, adding an entirely new dimension to their interactive experience."

Josh Felser, General Manager of Nullsoft and Spinner, added, "In the short time that Winamp has been on the scene, the digital audio player has grown from a 'techie tool' to a 'must have' for anybody who spends time at their computer. Winamp's tremendous growth reflects the fact that it's a fundamental tool offering the high sound quality and rich functionality that listeners want."

Embraced by a vast community of users, Winamp offers a host of options to expand and enrich the digital music experience. Hundreds of plug-ins, created by third-party developers, are available that enable amazing audio and visual effects as well as support the playback of nearly all audio and video formats. As one of the first audio players to offer custom appearances called "skins," Winamp launched the rise of a new form of digital art that is now spreading rapidly with more than 10,000 Winamp skins available today.

"Winamp was created from my desire to play music on the computer in a way that would not only duplicate the feel and functionality of a home stereo system, but surpass it in ways not previously possible," said Justin Frankel, Vice President and Technology Director of Nullsoft Winamp. "The exciting part about computer-based digital music is that players like Winamp continue to expand their offerings to create totally new experiences and in the process build significant communities with a shared passion for music."

About Winamp:

Winamp, launched in January 1998 by Nullsoft and acquired by AOL in June 1999, is the leading audio player for downloading and listening to digital music. Winamp supports all popular digital audio formats, offering the flexibility to support hundreds of plug-ins (audio and visual effects) and "skins" (customized visual formats) to make the listening experience truly unique. Nullsoft/Winamp and Spinner are headquartered in San Francisco's Audio Alley and are managed by AOL's Interactive Properties Group. New listeners can download a free player and search for plug-ins and skins at www.winamp.com.