A Developer Has Just Taken the Concept of ‘Retro’ to a New Level by Creating a Physical Winamp Player

Retro devices, like old game consoles and CD players, bring joy to people who are nostalgic. They allow them to revisit the past in today’s ever-changing tech world. Now, someone has combined the old and now to create Linamp.

Linamp is a physical media player inspired by Winamp, a Windows media player first released in 1997. The new device features a 7.9-inch touch screen that displays the interface of the legendary program, along with many other interesting features.

Linamp, the Physical Media Player Inspired by Winamp

Linamp is powered by a Raspberry Pi 4B with a 32 GB SD card. This microcomputer board has made it possible to include a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, a USB-A port, and an Ethernet port. The body of the device is made of aluminum and seeks to mimic the style of audio devices from the 1990s.

The front part has been 3D printed. Instead of “Winamp,” it says Linamp, but it adopts the exterior appearance of the program’s classic skin. To play an audio file, you need to to connect an SD card or use an external disc player.

When users insert a CD, Linamp automatically detects the disc, extracts the track information, and is ready to play your selection. To start listening to music, all you need to do is press the Play button on the touch screen. In the future, the creator plans to add support for Bluetooth and Spotify.

Linamp is a project by Rodrigo Méndez. According to his Hackaday profile, he’s a Mexico-based “computer engineer by training, software engineer by trade, geek by birth” who “also enjoys embedded systems and electronics.” You can find additional details about his latest creation in a video posted on YouTube.

Image | Rodrigo Méndez

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