<s>
WinPlay3	B-Application
was	O
the	O
first	O
real-time	B-General_Concept
MP3	B-Application
audio	I-Application
player	O
for	O
PCs	B-Device
running	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
both	O
16-bit	O
(	O
Windows	B-Application
3.1	O
)	O
and	O
32-bit	O
(	O
Windows	B-Application
95	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Prior	O
to	O
this	O
,	O
audio	O
compressed	O
with	O
MP3	B-Application
had	O
to	O
be	O
decompressed	O
prior	O
to	O
listening	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
released	O
by	O
Fraunhofer	O
IIS	O
(	O
"	O
Institute	O
for	O
Integrated	O
Circuits	O
"	O
)	O
,	O
creators	O
of	O
the	O
MP3	B-Application
format	O
,	O
on	O
September	O
9	O
,	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
then	O
,	O
the	O
Fraunhofer	O
Society	O
has	O
removed	O
any	O
trace	O
and	O
mention	O
of	O
WinPlay3	B-Application
from	O
their	O
web	O
sites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
became	O
popular	O
thanks	O
to	O
the	O
warez	B-Application
scene	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
warez	B-Application
group	O
to	O
bring	O
WinPlay3	B-Application
to	O
attention	O
of	O
a	O
wider	O
audience	O
was	O
Compress	O
Da	O
Audio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
released	O
MP3	B-Application
rips	O
of	O
CDs	B-Device
,	O
with	O
copies	O
of	O
WinPlay3	B-Application
included	O
,	O
on	O
several	O
FTP-based	O
warez	B-Application
sites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rabid	B-Application
Neurosis	I-Application
emerged	O
shortly	O
afterwards	O
,	O
after	O
which	O
the	O
scene	O
exploded	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Until	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Winamp	B-Application
in	O
1997	O
,	O
WinPlay3	B-Application
was	O
the	O
sole	O
option	O
for	O
playing	O
MP3-compressed	O
music	O
on	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
modern	O
audio	O
programs	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Winamp	B-Application
or	O
iTunes	B-Operating_System
,	O
it	O
lacked	O
advanced	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
equalizers	O
,	O
or	O
playlists	O
as	O
a	O
menu	O
option	O
,	O
and	O
concentrated	O
mostly	O
on	O
playback	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
playlist	O
can	O
be	O
created	O
by	O
hand	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
simple	O
text	B-General_Concept
file	I-General_Concept
listing	O
the	O
system	O
path	B-Application
to	O
each	O
MP3	B-Application
and	O
saving	O
the	O
file	O
with	O
an	O
M3U	O
extension	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clicking	O
a	O
link	O
on	O
a	O
webpage	O
launched	O
WinPlay3	B-Application
,	O
which	O
would	O
start	O
a	O
stream	O
of	O
the	O
mp3	B-Application
listed	O
in	O
the	O
m3u	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
limitations	O
were	O
most	O
likely	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
requirement	O
of	O
a	O
486DX	B-General_Concept
processor	O
running	O
at	O
66MHz	O
for	O
real-time	B-General_Concept
playback	O
,	O
which	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
was	O
fairly	O
high	O
.	O
</s>
