Editing Justin Frankel

{{short description|Computer programmer known for Winamp and Gnutella|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{BLP sources|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Justin Frankel
| image              = Geeking out with Justin Frankel screenshot (cropped).jpg
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = Frankel in 2022
| birth_date         = {{Birth year and age|1978}}
| birth_place        = 
| death_date         = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) -->
| death_place        = 
| nationality        = 
| education          = [[University of Utah]]
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Programmer
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = 
| notable_works      = [[Winamp]], [[Gnutella]], [[SHOUTcast]], [[REAPER]]
| title              = Founder of [[Cockos]]
| website            = {{URL|https://www.1014.org/}}
}}

'''Justin Frankel''' (born 1978) is an American [[computer programming|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|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 [[TR100]] as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/?year=2002 |title=2002 Young Innovators Under 35 |magazine=[[Technology Review]] | year=2002 | access-date=August 16, 2011}}</ref>

== Early life ==

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.

== Winamp ==

After graduating high school with a 3.9 [[GPA]], he attended the [[University of Utah]] in 1996, where he majored in [[computer science]], but dropped out after two quarters. A few months later, he released the first version of [[Winamp|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 [[Donationware|donation]] suggested in return for using the program, Frankel earned tens of thousands of dollars a month.<ref name="Ars Technia Article">{{cite web | url=https://arstechnica.com/business/2012/06/winamp-how-greatest-mp3-player-undid-itself/ | title = Winamp's woes: how the greatest MP3 player undid itself | date=June 24, 2012 | website=[[Ars Technica]]}}</ref>

Frankel, along with [[Tom Pepper]] (who played a big part of the Winamp development and distribution), later completed [[SHOUTcast]], which allowed ordinary users with an Internet connection to broadcast, or "[[Streaming media|stream]]", audio over the [[Internet]]. He also created the [[Advanced Visualization Studio]], a plugin for Winamp which enabled users to create their own music visualizations in real-time, without any programming knowledge required.

== Sale of Nullsoft to AOL ==

In June 1999 [[AOL]] simultaneously acquired Nullsoft and [[Spinner.com]] in a combined purchase worth approximately $400 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-226540.html |title=AOL buys Spinner, Nullsoft for $400 million |author=Beth Lipton Krigel |date=June 1, 1999 |work=CNet News |access-date=2007-05-04 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120728144540/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-226540.html |archive-date=July 28, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a July 21, 1999 SEC filing by AOL, the transaction was recorded as a payment of 2,863,053 shares of AOL [[common stock]] to the 54 stockholders in the two companies being acquired. On July 20, 1999, the last reported  sale price for AOL common stock was $113.1875 per share. Frankel's stake of 522,661 shares in the acquisition was worth approximately $59 million.<ref name="SEC Filing">{{cite web | url=http://www.secinfo.com/dqv2b.61h.htm | title=America Online Inc S-3 filing | date=September 21, 1999 | publisher=[[Securities and Exchange Commission]] }}</ref>

== AOL ==

On March 14, 2000, Frankel and Nullsoft colleague [[Tom Pepper]] released ''[[Gnutella]]'', a public [[peer-to-peer]] [[File sharing|file-sharing]] application, using Nullsoft's corporate web servers, without AOL's knowledge. Gnutella was a new peer-to-peer file-sharing system like the original [[Napster]] system, which was used by users to share their [[MP3]] collections with everyone who ran a Napster client. Unlike Napster, however, Gnutella allowed users to share any type of file, not just MP3s. It also did not have the [[single point of failure]] that Napster had: centralized servers that indexed where all the shared content was stored.  Whereas Napster was shut off just by turning off the centralized index servers owned by Napster, gnutella did not rely on any centralized servers to find out what users had what content, so once a Gnutella network was created, it could not be shut off.

Since AOL was at the time merging with [[Time Warner]], Gnutella seemed like a conflict of interest to Nullsoft's parent company, which knew that Time Warner was one of the parties taking legal action against Napster at the time.  AOL ordered Gnutella to be taken off the Nullsoft corporate servers.  However, thousands of people had already downloaded the software before it was removed from Nullsoft's web site.  The source code was released later, supposedly under the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]. Gnutella continued to be developed without Frankel's assistance, and became one of the most popular peer-to-peer file sharing networks of its time; compatible clients that were developed included [[BearShare]], [[Morpheus (file-sharing software)|Morpheus]], [[Gnucleus]] and [[LimeWire]].

AOL watched Frankel very closely after that, taking down other projects that he tried to release to the public, such as an MP3 [[search engine]] and a [[Patch (computing)|patch]] for [[AOL Instant Messenger]] to block advertisements in the application. Frankel threatened to resign on June 2, 2003, after AOL removed his program ''[[WASTE]]'', a [[private P2P|private peer-to-peer]] file-sharing program, from the Nullsoft [[website]]. He stayed with AOL after that in order to complete Winamp version 5.0, a hybrid of the Winamp v2.x series and Winamp v3.

On December 9, 2003 AOL shut down Nullsoft's [[San Francisco]] offices and laid off 450 employees.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://news.cnet.com/AOL-lays-off-450-California-employees/2100-1038_3-5117897.html |title= AOL lays off 450 California employees|author=  Paul Festa |website=[[CNET]] |date =December 9, 2003}}</ref>

Frankel announced his resignation from AOL on January 22, 2004 on his [[blog]],  stating "Won't repeat it here (in two words: I've resigned). So begins chapter 3... or something cliché/poetic there. Or wait, does I've count as a single word? ha ha."

== Post-AOL ==

Some of Frankel's current projects in development are a programmable effects processor called [[Jesusonic]] and a piece of software named [[NINJAM]] which allows several musicians to make music together via the Internet.

Under his new company, [[Cockos]], he has been developing [[REAPER]], a [[digital audio workstation]] for [[Microsoft Windows]], [[MacOS]], and [[Linux]].

== References ==

{{refs}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.1014.org/ <nowiki>(c[a,o]s[a,o][s] de justin)</nowiki>], Justin Frankel's [[blog]]
* [https://archive.today/20120630204949/http://74.220.215.94/~davidkus/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82:the-worlds-most-dangerous-geek-&catid=35:articles&Itemid=54 The World's Most Dangerous Geek]; Interviewed by [[David Kushner (writer)|David Kushner]]; RollingStone.com; January 13, 2004.
* [http://www.betanews.com/article/Justin_Frankel_Reveals_Life_After_Winamp/1104776162 Justin Frankel Reveals Life After Winamp]; Interviewed by Nate Mook, BetaNews, January 3, 2005.
* [http://www.turnofftheinternet.com/ Turn Off The Internet]; A site made by Steve Gedikian and Justin, as a joke.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080513120053/http://digitaltools.node3000.com/interview/justin_frankel_on_winamp_and_the_reaper.php Interview with Justin Frankel on Winamp and the Reaper]; In depth interview on the design and the history of Winamp. Digital Tools, April 2008.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101126191152/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0,29239,2032304_2032746_2032903,00.html The Men Who Stole the World]; By Lev Grossman, Time, November 24, 2010
* [http://www.reaper.fm/sdk/js/js.php Jesusonic / EEL programming reference]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Justin}}
[[Category:1978 births]]
[[Category:American male bloggers]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:Computer programmers]]
[[Category:American computer businesspeople]]
[[Category:American Jews]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Sedona, Arizona]]
[[Category:University of Utah alumni]]
[[Category:AOL people]]
[[Category:American technology company founders]]