Justin Frankel

Justin Frankel (born 1978) is an American computer programmer best known for his work on the Winamp media player application and for inventing the gnutella peer-to-peer network. Frankel is also the founder of Cockos Incorporated, which creates music production and development software such as the REAPER digital audio workstation, the NINJAM collaborative music tool and the Jesusonic expandable effects processor. In 2002, he was named in the MIT Technology Review TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.

Justin Frankel was born in 1978 and grew up in Sedona, Arizona. Frankel had an aptitude for computers at an early age. His skill eventually led him to running the student computer network of Verde Valley School, which he attended, as well as writing an email application for the students.

After graduating high school with a 3.9 GPA, he attended the University of Utah in 1996, where he took Computer Science, but dropped out after two quarters. While studying at the University of Utah, he attended classes with New York Times best selling author Maddox. A few months later, he released the first version of Winamp under his newly formed company's name Nullsoft. By 1998, more than fifteen million people had downloaded the program. Since many people had sent in the $10 donation suggested in return for using the program, Frankel earned tens of thousands of dollars a month.

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