Does anyone remember Sonique? It had freeform skins years before Winamp 3, and I remember being fascinated by them. The player itself wasn't that great, and it always paled in popularity compared to Winamp, but those skins made it stand out like nothing else at the time (late 90s).

I do miss that era of computing, beyond just nostalgia. The web was still in its infancy, and the dot-com bubble was booming. There was a huge momentum of experimentation in tech, as trends haven't yet been strictly defined. We had all kinds of quirky software and hardware. MS Bob/BonziBuddy/Clippy, Tamagotchis, MP3 (CD) players, P2P software, PDAs, beepers, early cellphones, etc. When smartphones came along all of this got consolidated into a single device, for better or worse, and the experimentation happened digitally in the form of apps. That was fun for a few years, but the experience wasn't the same. Now there's a growing sentiment of dissatisfaction towards these devices, and we're finding that technology is only driving us further apart. Anyway, old man yells at cloud...

I used Sonique for a while because when I downloaded Winamp the demo said “it really whips the llama’s ass!” and I was afraid my parents would take away my internet access if they heard such a scandalous thing.

It did have cool skins.

Yes! I loved Sonique (and listening to Sonique[1] through it). It was my media player of choice. Personally, I liked its skins more than Winamp.

What a time! Technology felt exciting and so I was (and still am, honestly) an avid fan of Megaman Battle Network. Wild how that series predicted much of tech today.

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[1]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0CuO2ZpqkBM

Yes I was also team Sonique at that time, the skins were cooler and animated, with 3 sizes IIRC. I moved to winamp when it died I can't remember why, was bought maybe?