As you may know, Winamp has always prided itself on being a free service and because of that, it has a steady, loyal following. And version 5 is no different, so let's check it out!

Winamp version 5.541 looks good with a completely new interface and it comes with comprehensive file support. The audio support also includes CDA, MIDI, MP1/2/3/4, AAC, OGG, WAV, AIF, WMA and more. Support for video was added in version 5.52 and it continues on in version 5.541 with MPG, M2V, AVI and ASF formats.

The new version also packs a good deal into a fairly slim package, with the player incorporating everything you would expect and more, including loop, repeat, ID3 tag support, cross-fading between tracks, 2x CD burning/ripping, Internet TV, radio support and so much more.

Winamp 5 also comes with a media manager, 10-band graphic equalizer, visualizations and a playlist editor. You can even upgrade to the Pro edition to get full support for ripping/encoding audio into the MP3 format and integrated CD burning up to 48x speeds.

Winamp was born as a very basic media player and it has consistently improved for many years. Its main purpose is to be completely customizable and through the years, many people have contributed to a library that now consists of 20,000 skins and 461plug-ins.

When version 5 was released, Nullsoft redeemed themselves in the public eye after producing a much improved player to replace Winamp 3. They didn't need much encouragement, as they justified skipping version 4 by saying it was such a huge improvement, it deserved a higher number!

Luckily, they're justified in their opinion, because Winamp offers everything you could ever want in a media player. By using the skins, you can set it to look like the original or the current default, which looks great and puts you in control of all your media. I personally like the minimized player that consists of a small bar you can place on the edge of your screen. Of course, if neither of those agree with your tastes, you can download and try any of the thousand others available on the Winamp Web site.

So, you may ask, "What’s new in Winamp 5.541?" Well, allow me to tell you!

• Improved: [pmp_ipod] Better auto-detection of newer iPod models.

• Fixed: Filetype icons in Windows Explorer not updating when changed in Preferences.

• Fixed: ML and Vis appear under other overlapping modern skin windows.

• Fixed: No error message when trying to edit metadata for Read Only files.

• Fixed: Potential security vulnerability in NowPlaying.

• Fixed: best cialis [gen_ff] Keyboard shortcuts in modern skin playlist, windowshade mode.

• Fixed: [gen_ml] Scrolling to bottom of AlbumArt pane and other miscellaneous scroll bar issues.

• Fixed: [in_mp3] Broken "307 – Temporary Redirect" URLs.

• Fixed: [ml_local] AlbumArt icon selection glitch.

• Fixed: [ml_playlists] Play and Enqueue actions reversed if Enqueue is set as default.

• Fixed: [ml_rg] ReplayGain analysis of 20bit files.

• Misc: Double click Modern pledit songticker now toggles windowshade mode again.

• Misc: More miscellaneous general tweaks, improvements, fixes and optimizations.