Everyone I knew used WinAMP then (note:NOT WinAMP V3)

Winamp to this day (albeit along AIMP by now).

Definitely not Sonique with its weirdass interface and slow decoding.

I use WinAMP even now 2.95 for older Windowses and and version 5.8 in my main Windows 7 system. I have not find a better music player. WinAMP for music. Media Player Classic for Videos. Why upgrade a good working system. Winamp version 3.x is like Star Wars prequels.... 😁

I'm a happy Winamp 2.x user on legacy systems myself. There is an mp3PRO plugin for it as well (and many other plugins).

When I upgraded to Win7 about 10 years ago I moved to WMP and updated my library with album covers etc
It was that time WMP became the default player on XP rigs, in fact have my "XP Jukebox" playing right now as background music.

Before that point it was Winamp 2.x which is still what I use on the 9x machines.

I'd recommend Winamp 2.x, too. In my Ryzen computer I use audacious, with the Winamp look (maybe some version of audacious can run on Win 9x as well).

In my case it was Winamp for Windows98 and Foobar2000 for Windows XP.

I used Winamp back in the days and I've never changed.

What's the last version that works in 98?

Anyone know, thanks?

As far as I can see, even some 5.x versions work, but you probably want to follow the recommendations here and use 2.95.

foobar2000

Yes, there is an old Windows 98 compatible version . I use it for flac playback, but mp3s should work well too .

I agree with everybody else, use Winamp 2. Even some versions of 5 should work, but for a 98 machine you don't really need the extra bloat.

Avoid Winamp 3 like the plague, it truly was terrible!

dr_st wrote on 2020-10-15, 12:28:

As far as I can see, even some 5.x versions work, but you probably want to follow the recommendations here and use 2.95.

Thanks! That's just as I remember it and it works just fine.

Thanks ! S0 Winamp 2.95 for WIn9x and 5.8 for XP and Win7... and get the MP3pro plugin..

VLC media player works with many different OS.

There's really no reason not to use Winamp 5 instead of Winamp 2; reportedly they share much of the same code, and of course you would expect Winamp 5 to have fixed some of the bugs. You can just remove stuff like the Winamp Library and CD-ripping support during install (along with "modern skin support", if I'm not mistaken).

Eagerly awaiting https://getwacup.com/ to emerge from beta.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-10-15, 23:55:

VLC media player works with many different OS.

Hasn't worked on 9X for a long time and probably has regressed XP by now. It also has severe playback and UI issues.

Does Media Player Classic work on Win 9x era hardware and OS? Comes with K-Lite Codec Pack, so plays anything.

debs3759 wrote on 2020-10-16, 02:28:

Does Media Player Classic work on Win 9x era hardware and OS? Comes with K-Lite Codec Pack, so plays anything.

The K-Lite Codec Pack more specifically comes with MPC-HC, which according to the FAQ requires at least XP SP3.

There are almost certainly older versions that will run in Win9x, but it most certainly will not "play anything" without suitable codecs, and installing codecs under Win9x was not an elegant process. But it ought to use the standard media player codecs for MP3s, at least.