Zinf
Encyclopedia
Zinf is a free
audio player
released under the GNU General Public License
. It runs on Unix-like
operating systems and Windows
.
Zinf is a continuation of the FreeAmp project and uses the same source code.
, Vorbis
, and WAV
formats, among others. It supports skins
and is part of the MusicBrainz
network
. The player features an optimized version of the Xing MPEG decoder, a powerful music browser and playlist editor, and a built in download manager which supports downloading files from sites using the RMP (RealJukebox
) download process. Zinf was also notable for handling all audio files based on their metadata
(Author, Album, Song Title), and hiding more-technical details like actual locations and file names (but these features are now standard in many players).
that stands for "Zinf Is Not FreeAmp!" Use of the name FreeAmp had to be discontinued due to trademark
issues, as "AMP" is a trademark of PlayMedia Systems, Inc.
, who paid the salaries of 3 developers working on the player. Later, Relatable joined EMusic to help support continued development.
In January 2001, after 2 years of funding the project EMusic pulled their support, and subsequently fired the developers. The Zinf project was unable to find another sponsor, and development slowed greatly. The most recent release was made in early 2004. As of 2008, nearly all development of Zinf has ceased.
, Amarok, Exaile
, Banshee
and (more recently) Songbird
. This is largely because Zinf has not seen an official new release since early 2004, and many new features that are now standard in rival players have not been implemented; such as cover art and lyric support.
It is also worth noting that sometime in 2010 the zinf.com website was bought by a domain squatter for the purpose of capitalizing on the site's traffic for monetary gains. A new link called "QnA" and "Ads" are now visible on the zinf.com website that is nothing more than a redirect to the squatter's money generation site. The binaries for the player are now a likely source of spyware/adware although at the time of this writing that has not happened. But history has shown that these types of buyouts always end in the binary of an application being modified for the worse rather than the better. This was a part of the XMMS.org takeover which is described here: http://tobias.hieta.se/2010/04/28/what-ever-happened-to-xmms-org
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
audio player
Audio player (software)
An audio player is a kind of media player for playing back digital audio, including optical discs such as CDs, SACDs, DVD-Audio, HDCD, audio files and streaming audio....
released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
. It runs on Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
operating systems and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
.
Zinf is a continuation of the FreeAmp project and uses the same source code.
Technical features
Zinf can play sound files in MP3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, Vorbis
Vorbis
Vorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
, and WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
formats, among others. It supports skins
Skin (computing)
In computing, a skin is a custom graphical appearance achieved by the use of a graphical user interface that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users....
and is part of the MusicBrainz
MusicBrainz
MusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...
network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
. The player features an optimized version of the Xing MPEG decoder, a powerful music browser and playlist editor, and a built in download manager which supports downloading files from sites using the RMP (RealJukebox
RealJukebox
RealJukebox was a computer program released by RealNetworks that allowed users to organise their digital music. It was first released in May 1999. By late 2001 the functionality of the program had been integrated into the Real's core media player program, RealPlayer.-Versions:RealJukebox came in...
) download process. Zinf was also notable for handling all audio files based on their metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
(Author, Album, Song Title), and hiding more-technical details like actual locations and file names (but these features are now standard in many players).
Naming
Zinf is a recursive acronymRecursive acronym
A recursive acronym is an acronym or initialism that refers to itself in the expression for which it stands...
that stands for "Zinf Is Not FreeAmp!" Use of the name FreeAmp had to be discontinued due to trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
issues, as "AMP" is a trademark of PlayMedia Systems, Inc.
History/Funding
The FreeAmp project was originally funded by EMusicEMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....
, who paid the salaries of 3 developers working on the player. Later, Relatable joined EMusic to help support continued development.
In January 2001, after 2 years of funding the project EMusic pulled their support, and subsequently fired the developers. The Zinf project was unable to find another sponsor, and development slowed greatly. The most recent release was made in early 2004. As of 2008, nearly all development of Zinf has ceased.
Adoption
Once a popular open-source Linux audio player, it has now been largely surpassed by newcomers such as AudaciousAudacious Media Player
Audacious is a free software audio player with a focus on low resource usage, high audio quality, and support for a wide range of audio formats. It is designed primarily for use on POSIX-compatible systems such as Linux, with limited support for Microsoft Windows...
, Amarok, Exaile
Exaile
Exaile is a music player that was originally conceived to be similar in style and function to KDE's Amarok 1.4, but use the GTK+ widget toolkit rather than Qt...
, Banshee
Banshee (music player)
Banshee is an open-source media player, called Sonance until 2005. Built upon Mono and Gtk#, it uses the GStreamer multimedia platform for encoding and decoding various media formats, including Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and FLAC. Banshee can play and import audio CDs and supports many portable media players,...
and (more recently) Songbird
Songbird (software)
Songbird is a free and open source software audio player and web browser, with a stated mission "to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web."...
. This is largely because Zinf has not seen an official new release since early 2004, and many new features that are now standard in rival players have not been implemented; such as cover art and lyric support.
It is also worth noting that sometime in 2010 the zinf.com website was bought by a domain squatter for the purpose of capitalizing on the site's traffic for monetary gains. A new link called "QnA" and "Ads" are now visible on the zinf.com website that is nothing more than a redirect to the squatter's money generation site. The binaries for the player are now a likely source of spyware/adware although at the time of this writing that has not happened. But history has shown that these types of buyouts always end in the binary of an application being modified for the worse rather than the better. This was a part of the XMMS.org takeover which is described here: http://tobias.hieta.se/2010/04/28/what-ever-happened-to-xmms-org