Sonique (media player)
Sonique's default skin
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| Developer(s) | Lycos |
|---|---|
| Last release |
1.96 / March 2002
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| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Audio player |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | www |
Sonique is an audio player application released as freeware for Microsoft Windows, capable of handling MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Microsoft Windows Media, audio CDs, and more.
Sonique was under development until 2002. It was one of the most popular desktop audio players, second only to Nullsoft's Winamp audio player. The major features of Sonique included support for irregular skins, the audioEnlightenment MP3 decoding engine by Tony Million, innovative audio visualizations, and a 20 band graphic equalizer.
Sonique had roots in the lesser known Vibe MP3 player created by Andrew McCann, Ian Lyman and Paul Peavyhouse, students at Montana State University working together under the name Night55, a reference to the speed limit signs used in Montana.
In 1997, Night55 sold the rights to Vibe to SGS Thompson to use in COMDEX '98 to showcase some DVD features. After selling the rights to Vibe, Andrew McCann and Ian Lyman began work on a more comprehensive MP3 player which they named Sonique. Sonique debuted in January 1998 at the first annual MP3 Summit to enormous excitement, receiving several acquisition offers the same day. Shortly after the MP3 Summit, Lyman and McCann returned to their hometown of Bozeman, Montana and formed Mediascience, Inc., leasing office space in a former coffee shop and bringing on additional staff to help with management, development, and support of the burgeoning user base. These early hires included Al-Riaz Adatia, Nicholas Vinen, Pol Llovet and Tony Million. In 1999, after talks with both Yahoo and Lycos, Mediascience (now named Internet Music Distribution, Inc.) was sold to Lycos for US$38.8 million. Shortly after the Lycos acquisition, the Sonique team began work on Sonique 2, a totally new version of the player application intended to become a platform for listening to, organizing and purchasing digital music.
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Wikipedia