When comparing Winamp vs 1by1, the Slant community recommends Winamp for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for Windows?” Winamp is ranked 5th while 1by1 is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose Winamp is:
Modern features are essential for power listeners nowadays, proving that Winamp (while an old app) still offers features users look for in a modern player.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro RSS, Atom Podcasts, and Internet Radio streams (among other modern features) are available
Modern features are essential for power listeners nowadays, proving that Winamp (while an old app) still offers features users look for in a modern player.
Pro A huge selection of skins are available
Winamp allows skinning the interface and there are thousands of community created skins available.
Pro Functionality can be extended via plugins
A wide variety of DSP, input, and visualization plugins have been created by the community.
Pro Great search and Playlist functionality
Considerable functions to search and develop playlists.
Pro Good sound quality
The sound quality of Winamp is good, especially with DSP plugins like enhancer.
Pro HTTP streaming support
HTTP streaming is necessary for both live and on-demand content, which it can deliver without lengthy buffering or waiting periods. It is also less susceptible to network hiccups than other forms of streaming.
Pro A lot of features
Gapless play, transition overlapping, audio enhancer, cue sheet support, playlist support, favorites, theme presets, global hotkeys, and more.
Pro Small footprint
Very small size, low resource usage, and portable.
Pro Full resume play
Remembers last track and position.
Pro Cool audio equalizers
You can select presets or customize the whole listening experience.
Pro Fast and smooth play
Gapless play is supported. You can add transitions so that the last ten seconds melt into the first of the next song. There is an intro scan where you can fastly find a certain song. When you drag the wheel to the maximum, the loudness is better than with other players.
Pro Fully customizable design
You can adjust every single color. And adjust everything else.
Pro Many settings
You can change everything, including shortcuts that also work in other apps.
Cons
Con Relatively poor quality audio
Compared to other players, Winamp doesn't offer high quality audio.
Reason for Winamp's lesser audio quality compared to other modern audio players is that it uses deprecated audio output interfaces (APIs). In fact since Windows Vista onward, those APIs Winamp is using (such as DirectSound, WaveOut) are emulated in software mixer for compatibility purposes further distancing the audio path from the hardware.
Modern audio players support modern WASAPI audio output for direct access to the audio hardware (especially in WASAPI exclusive mode). For more info see Wikipedia's entry on DirectSound.
Con No Major updates
There are no major updates since version 5.
Con Heavy
At the beginning it was simple to download and install, now it has so many things it became very heavy to download.
Con Cluttered interface
With all controls, skins, and options it's hard to find the basic commands.
Con Basic installer
The installer sometimes does not create a start menu shortcut. To get full functionality additional steps are required.