improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . november 2013 this article may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with wikipedia s quality standards . you can help . the discussion page may contain suggestions . november 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message nullsoft former type private industry computer software founded 1997 defunct 2013 key people justin frankel tom pepper products winamp nsis and others owner radionomy group website www.nullsoft.net nullsoft inc. is a software house founded in sedona arizona in 1997 by justin frankel . its products included the winamp media player and the shoutcast mp3 streaming media server . in later years their open source installer system the nullsoft scriptable install system nsis became an alternative to commercial products like installshield . the company s name is a parody of microsoft . 1 mike the llama is the company s mascot ; this is frequently referred to in promotional material especially for winamp citing llamas . frankel introduced the llama in winamp s startup sound clip inspired by the lyrics of wesley willis winamp it really whips the llama s ass 1 nullsoft was sold to aol formerly known as america online on june 1 1999 and thereafter existed as a subsidiary of america online . after the acquisition nullsoft headquarters were moved to san francisco california . their later developments included the nullsoft streaming video nsv format which was intended to stream media that used any audio or video codec . in 2002 the press reported a technology called ultravox being developed by nullsoft . 2 nullsoft created gnutella and waste . 1 although aol tried to limit the distribution of gnutella and waste the ultravox technology was reportedly used for some aol radio services in 2003 . 3 a service called nullsoft television was announced in 2003 using nsv . 4 nullsoft released several new versions of the winamp player and grew its monthly unique subscriber base from 33 million users to over 52 million users by 2005 . nullsoft s san francisco offices were closed in december 2003 with a near concurrent departure of frankel and the original winamp development team . 1 5 nullsoft then became a division of aol music . in 2013 some aol music sites were shut down and others sold to townsquare media . 6 7 8 in november 2013 an unofficial report surfaced that microsoft was in talks with aol to acquire nullsoft . 9 on january 14 2014 it was officially announced that belgian online radio aggregator radionomy had bought the nullsoft brand which includes winamp and shoutcast . no financial details were publicly announced . 10 11 references edit a b c d kushner david january 13 2004 . the world s most dangerous geek . rolling stone . archived from the original on march 21 2007 . retrieved june 7 2013 . hu jim june 26 2002 . aol aims to supercharge streaming . cnet news . retrieved june 7 2013 . aol pulls nullsoft file sharing software . flexbeta . may 30 2003 . archived from the original on september 8 2004 . retrieved june 7 2013 . nullsoft tv worldwide public access . nullsoft.com . archived from the original on february 19 2003 . retrieved june 7 2013 . mook nate november 10 2004 . death knell sounds for nullsoft winamp . betanews . retrieved june 7 2013 . constine josh june 2 2013 . townsquare media acquires some doomed aol music sites and comics alliance . techcrunch . retrieved june 7 2013 . cooper charles april 26 2013 . aol shuts down music related services . cnet news . retrieved june 7 2013 . solsman joan e. june 3 2013 . radio chain picks up pared down aol music sites . cnet news . retrieved june 7 2013 . aol reportedly wants to sell winamp to microsoft . the verge . retrieved november 21 2013 . lunden ingrid 1 january 2014 . aol sells winamp and shoutcast music services to online radio aggregator radionomy . techcrunch . aol . winamp lives on after acquisition by radionomy . the verge . retrieved 14 january 2014 . external links edit official website v t e aol digital media aol.com autoblog cambio engadget go90 makers moviefone on style me pretty techcrunch the huffington post advertising advertising platforms advertising.com be on convertro millennial media one by aol verizon digital media services communication alto mail mail reader search dmoz mapquest search software pc aim desktop shield browser mobile alpha pip sage vivv kanvas discontinued or sold explorer fanhouse gamedaily hometown joystiq openride patch media propeller seed spinner corporate verizon communications acquisitions criticism history retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title nullsoft & oldid 737018492 categories aolformer time warner subsidiariesdefunct software companiescompanies established in 1997hidden categories wikipedia articles in need of updating from november 2013all wikipedia articles in need of updatingwikipedia articles needing rewrite from november 2013official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages catal deutschespa olfran ais bahasa indonesiaitaliano polskiportugu s suomisvenska edit links this page was last modified on 31 august 2016 at 07 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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