Winamp was the opposite. It was tactile. It was heavy (in terms of CPU usage). It required you to build a library, to organize files, to find album art.
It was nonsensical. It was brash. It was perfect. winamp set the tone
You didn't just use Winamp; you skinned it. You could make it look like a retro wooden radio, a neon green matrix from The Matrix , or a brushed aluminum deck from a nightclub. In the late 90s, customizing your Winamp skin was a rite of passage. It was the first time your digital identity—your taste in music, your aesthetic—could be physically manifested on the screen. Winamp was the opposite
Into this chaos stepped Winamp.