ClassicPro

ClassicPro is a Winamp plugin designed to improve the appearance of the media player by dressing it into minimalistic skins that appeal to all types of users. The software relies on the classic Winamp look, but brings significant improvements by remodeling it in terms of compactness and usability.

The developers (SkinConsortium) of this skinning engine dedicated their efforts to creating modern skins for Winamp and even founded a community for this purpose. ClassicPro delivers these innovations to your media player by creating an environment which is able to accommodate all the skins issued by the community. In other words, ClassicPro relies on a single user interface (SUI) layout to host a number of skins that were developed by the SkinConsortium community.

Since the plugin is aimed as a Winamp enhancement, it’s needless to say that the media player is a compulsory requirement. ClassicPro’s deployment process requires you to press a few Next buttons and takes a very short while to complete. In order to start exploring its functionality, navigate to the Preferences area of Winamp, section Skins.

You should be able to notice two new skins inside of the collection; as soon as you click on one of them, a widget manage window pops up, displaying the skin’s developer and version number. This is, in fact, the engine that accommodates all of the skins created by the community.

On the upside, ClassicPro makes the player more compact, more comprehensive and easier to work with. Even though most of the skins are based on Bento (which is included by default in Winamp), the appearance that they create is that of fluidity and accessibility.

On the downside, the selection of skins included in the package is very poor, but there’s also the possibility to download more from the Internet (even on Winamp’s website).

To conclude, ClassicPro may have a major impact on how Winamp is seen by the day-to-day user. It seems like it can make the player much more likeable in terms of appearance, at least.