MP3s changed the way we listen to music, and for a whole lot of us, growing up with MP3s meant growing up with Winamp, one of the most popular players around. Winamp fell off the radar as our software tastes shifted over the years, but this past April, its current owners shared word that it was relaunching with new looks and functionality. That includes access to the new Fanzone streaming service in addition to support for local tracks, mixing the new age of music consumption with the old — and now it's finally available to try with the release of the Winamp beta.

While this isn't the first incarnation of Winamp on Android, the old app was quietly taken off the Play Store a decade ago. In the age of modern music and podcast streaming, the need for software that did what Winamp offered — playing and organizing all your local audio — was dwindling. Spotify, YouTube Music, and Apple Music, among others, rose to fill that gap. Winamp's been working on a reboot behind the scenes and announced its return to smartphones on July 5 with a limited-seat closed beta (via Caschy's Blog).

Maybe the biggest new feature is the Fanzone, envisioned as a way for indie artists to not only interact and sell merchandise directly to their fans, but also house their library of songs for the new streaming service. Fans can pay $1 per month to each artist individually to stream their music.

In addition to being able to play local music and listen to Fanzone artists, users can create playlists that mix their local tracks with their subscribed artists’ music. Fanzone artists are also able to post to their creator page, similar to social media platforms.

Radionomy's Llama Group is currently in charge of Winamp development, and original creator Nullsoft was acquired by AOL back around the turn of the century. Ambitions for this reboot sound quite lofty, with a stated target of growing Winamp's user base to 250 million. It remains to be seen whether the classic program’s return and its owner’s goals will make a dent on the music industry, on both desktop and mobile alike.