I got the latest version of MSN Messenger so I could play Q6 with some friends. I don't care about most of what MSN Messenger offers, I really just wanna chat.
Yesterday, I noticed the "personal message" has a function called "What I'm Listening To" (described here, click on the first radio button). The feature has a couple of notes, specifically:
- Only compatible with Media Player 9+
As it turns out, I have Media Player 9. That's not something I know off hand since, because of my iPod, I use iTunes exclusively.
So I gave it a try. Import all my songs in Media Player, hit play and whadayaknow my personal message shows the song playing. Neat.
I got tired of that about an hour later (I was working at the same time, paying it little attention). I like iTunes better, that little messenger feature is not enough to change that.
Later in the day I got back in the mood for some music and turned on iTunes. Lo and behold, as iTunes plays my songs my MSN Messenger personal message displays the title and artist!
I guess iTunes takes the "easy way out" to playing MP3 on Windows (and probably to playing everything else) and simply calls an OS component, updated with Media Player, so that MSN Messenger (and probably the OS) doesn't know what software is playing the song, just that it is playing.
That's my guess, anyway. I know very little of how Windows does these things.
So if you see me online, check for what I'm listening to! Now I just need a plugin to tell you I'm watching Space...
And on baseboards: we are almost done with the baseboards on the first floor! They are the last step to our renovations, so we are starting to see the light at the end of the physical labor tunnel. Pictures to come, that's for sure.
