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CraigBlog » Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature

Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature

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On a recommendation from Brad Wilson, I've switched from using WMP to iTunes. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it, but so far I like it. But one problem that was bugging me was how to get the “Now Playing” feature of MSN Messenger 7.0 working. I had it working for a little while, but then it stopped and I couldn't get it back.

Well, I've got it working now. After a little Googling, I found the answer here. Here's the important bit:

In MSN Messenger go to Tools / Options / General and check "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts."

This rates as one of the more bizarre fixes I've seen, but so far it's working perfectly.

In the spirit of this post, here are my five most recently played songs. Clearly, I've got my whole library on “shuffle“. :)

  1. The Separated Man: I'm in a Cage/I Am the Man/The Man's Gone [Reprise]/Some - Neal Morse - One
  2. Concerto Per Mandolino, Archi E Cembalo- In C Major RV - Antonio Vivaldi
  3. Piggy - Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
  4. Home - Dream Theater - Dream Theater Graspop Festival 2002
  5. Turn on Tune In - Threshold - Hypothetical
Posted Apr 27 2005, 08:57 AM by craig-andera

Comments

Pool wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-04-2005 9:28 AM
Nice, Dream Theater :D
Craig wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-04-2005 9:56 AM
DT is my favorite band.
ben wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-07-2005 2:01 AM
omg this does work, thanks for blogging this :p

/me loves google!
rgh wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-11-2005 9:30 AM
doesn't work...
Shannon Ahern wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-14-2005 9:51 AM
Thanks for posting this! I assumed, since they claimed to only work with MS products, that iTunes would not work, so I never even bothered trying.

Happy now. :-)
Tom wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-17-2005 7:22 PM
Thanks so much, that was really bugging me.
calle wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-18-2005 9:48 AM
Thanks alot !! =)
ELECTRIC DOC. wrote iTunesで再生中の曲をMSN Messenger 7.0に表示できない
on 05-19-2005 6:42 AM
MSN Messenger 7.0???Windows Media Player?iTunes?????????????????????????????????
James Crowley wrote MSN 7 -
on 05-20-2005 8:24 AM
tom wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-22-2005 11:58 PM
THANX! :-D
Yes, it is bizzarre! It's almost as if Microsoft wants to be in your face more in exchange for using itunes lol
The Bob wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-23-2005 1:28 PM
WOW! Thanx! I was gettin really p****d off by that not working. Cheers!
dt fan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-01-2005 2:45 AM
dream theater rocks man!
Craig wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-01-2005 4:35 AM
They do indeed. :)
Voice of Fox wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-09-2005 12:20 AM
Hey, I work for Microsoft and give me iTunes over Media Player any day!
N.I.N fan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-16-2005 5:19 AM
Geez you're brave admitting that where anyone's likely to see... I say spam him

It's still not working though, it would appear to be a problem with MSN. Who woulda thought??
Craig wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-16-2005 6:42 AM
Sorry - all I can tell you is that it's working for me, and that I'm using the latest version of MSN Messenger. There's also Windows Messenger - not sure if it works with that.
ME wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-21-2005 1:28 PM
eyyyy i tried that!!

not woorkiing :((((

so now what?

latest msn = yes

iTunes = yes

Craig wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-21-2005 1:40 PM
Sorry - no idea.
Phil wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-23-2005 6:29 AM
this worked for me ages ago but i dont want it to, i use media player more and after uninstalling itunes, the now listening doesnt work for media player. anyone know how to get it working again? i tried reinstalling msn and wmp10
aarrggh wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-08-2005 4:41 AM
still doesn't work :( i already had that boxed checked and it didn't work...now what?
me again wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-08-2005 4:43 AM
oh and phil, go to wmp > tools > plug ins > msn messenger
that should work
Dash wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 09-06-2005 1:11 PM
YAY! this works, awsome thanks.
purificacion del agua wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-04-2005 8:25 PM
thanks... it works!
bob wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-04-2005 4:13 PM
doesnt work with msn 7.5 ...
McoreD wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-16-2005 4:28 AM
Unfortunately this doesn't work with MSN Messenger 7.5 on Windows Server 2003 as a Limited User Account :(
Seccion Amarilla wrote Seccion Amarilla
on 11-17-2005 11:07 AM
thanks... it works!
neuralstatic wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-20-2005 9:58 PM
this is thedeal.. msn7.5 won't show itunes songs IF YOU HAVE WMP10 open. even it's it's playing a movie, or just paused. but kill wmp and all is fine again.
pedro responde wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-23-2005 2:25 PM
finally it works ty.
ARne wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-24-2005 12:08 PM
What about msn 7.5? it won't work! I have unchecked the plugin on windows media player, and turned it off, but it won't work! help me!
z4kir wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-29-2005 3:43 PM
Works fine with msn messenger v7.5.0322

Thanks!
Brett wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-02-2006 11:57 PM
Silly me, I had WMP open in the background. :p
Dong Bang Shin Gi wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-13-2006 3:51 AM
omg brett. i tried so hard figuring out how to make msn recognize my itunes... then i read ur simple comment.

IT WORKED. i just closed my wmp even though im not playing it. and it worked. wth.
ed wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-14-2006 6:30 AM
if anyone is having any trouble getting itunes working with msn7.5 like i was, seems you HAVE to have windows media player 9 or later to make itunes work with it. so download windows media player 10, turn on what i'm listening to, play a song in windows media player, then close media player and it should display what you are listening to in itunes. worked for me.
savant wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-18-2006 3:43 PM
na ed this didnt work for me either.. seriously considerin throwing my computer at the wall!! i was thinkin that mayb coz i hv quicktime open it may affect it?? ne1 else think that may be a problem?.. ive got 7.5.. i had plus.. unistalled it thort that mite b tha problem.. didnt wrk eitha.. ne1 else got ne suggestions! thanks
RYan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-25-2006 8:41 AM
I really am getting annoyed with this now!!! It aint workin for 7.0 for me. I tried what you said Ed and that dont work, cant find the way to make it work, I might even resort to using WIndows Media Player even though it sucks
Brandon wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-07-2006 7:59 PM
Any chance of getting a Mac version of this?
Kálmán Tarnay wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-19-2006 7:26 AM
It works for me with the new msn8.
I had to restart my msn 8 after I had installed iTunes.
bk wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-27-2006 6:24 PM
this hasnt worked for me, none of this. I've tried everything!!! this is really getting annoying.
dan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-30-2006 12:20 PM
how do u restart msn?
derranged wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-31-2006 3:03 PM
it use to work but now it doesn't, i am runnig msn messenger 8.0
JP wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-11-2006 2:35 AM
Doesn't work for me. I'm using Msn 7.5 with the latest iTunes. May be because I'm a limited account user :/
yk wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-19-2006 5:41 AM
Thankss !!!! works 4 me ! but really weird, i mean what does ''Open msn when windows starts'' have to do with iTunes :P ? anyways i dont care since it works!
Mark wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-27-2006 1:26 PM
DJLan as the same feature, you may want to check out.
Matracas wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-16-2006 11:55 AM
I've used itunes for a while now and ever since day 1 I was able to see "now playing" in MSN Messenger. For the last two weeks I am listening to radio thru itunes but in messenger it only shows the station I'm listening to without the song title & artist (eventiugh I see this in the itunes window). I know it's a matter of the config but ¿Where can I modify this?

Thanks,
Ruben wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-17-2006 1:33 PM
It wasn't working for me either, I have an account with limited rights on XP, and for some reason I had to change it temporarily to an administrator account...
I discovered by accident that the "now playing" feature in MSN works fine with Itunes now.
So check your XP account, you'll possibly need an administrator setting.
Baker wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-30-2006 10:19 PM
Ive got MSN 7.5 and iTunes 6 and I cant get the freaking thing to work.. It worked on my computer before but i reinstalled XP and everything and its not working. Ive got administrative rights and its still not working.. Ive done everything but Ive yet to hear anyone say they have iTunes 6 so im wondering if what you guys have is different and thats y mine isnt working.
emily wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-07-2006 11:33 AM
i did what it says at the top of this page it still wont work!! help its driving me crazy trying to fix it!
blarg wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-17-2006 9:18 AM
ive read every comment, done everything. it used to work until i installed the latest itunes. so i then installed the latest msn and wmp but to no avail. i also have administrative rights. aaaaaah
blarg wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-03-2006 7:35 AM
just downloaded the new version of itunes.
IT WORKS!!!
Espen wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-08-2006 2:40 PM
ty it was really annoying. it works for windows messenger too
alana wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-10-2006 11:16 AM
hi. it ses that i have to download Windows media player 9 or higher, but i dont even want to use media player, i use itunes!! i need help before i blow fxking up.
Annonymous wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-14-2006 6:05 PM
For iTunes to work with MSN messenger 7.5 and below,I think Craig's trick will help out with out any problem.
I'm using Messenger v8.0 and I don't seem any problem.My iTunes and WMP works fine with it.

As for WMP,you'll need to set up the "Now Playing" features in:
Tools>>Options>>Plug-Ins>>
and at the right panel,there's a plug-ins named "background",click on that and check the box for anything with the name MSN or messenger.
Done.
Linda wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-19-2006 6:18 AM
Mine has been checked, and it hasn't been working.
Jacko wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-30-2006 3:07 AM
oh, and of course, USIN MSN MESSENGER 7.5!
Pieter wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-15-2006 6:05 AM
Msn Live Messenger 8 + Itunes 6.0.5.20

and it worked, thanks alot
i got it to work wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 09-13-2006 5:01 PM
first uninstall itunes. Then download the new ituens 7, before you install it make sure msn messenger is off. Install itunes, once itunes is running open windwos live messenger. Hope this helps.
Aidan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 09-18-2006 7:15 AM
I have the admin account. Latest Version of Windows Live Messenger And Latest Version Of Itunes. Ever since i updated my version of iTunes it hasnt show what i'm listening to.


Help?
anonomus wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-20-2006 2:44 PM
not working and i have all of the above so yea what now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
heh wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-26-2006 5:07 AM
very late but I came across the very same problem .

if WMP has the plug-in enabled then Windows Media Player won't work with iTunes. Open up WMP, disable the plugin, and poof! It should work now.
Emily wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-26-2006 10:37 AM
Thanks! It works great! I've been trying so hard to make it work! I wouldn't have figured that out. Thank you.
KAren wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-19-2006 9:11 AM
wot about windows messenger live...i cant get it working...i don't know what 2 do x
ybt47 wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-29-2006 10:43 AM
do you have to have the latest version of windows media player to make it work??
envy me wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-22-2007 9:41 AM
yaay !!

i found a new way

go to windows live media

tools > options > background > check windows live messenger ..

envy me wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-22-2007 9:42 AM
tools >options >plugins > background > check windows live messenger ***
Robert's personal blog wrote Making iTunes work with MSN7
on 01-25-2007 2:02 PM
After encountering several issues with Winamp I decided to give iTunes another try, as I'm using it for my iPod anyhow.The only thing I couldn't get to work though was the "Now playing" feature.After some Googling I found there answer here.&quot
Miguel wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-13-2007 11:52 AM
OMG!! it worked for me too with msn messenger live.
Walcott wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-26-2007 8:37 AM
just drag the msn icon off the desktop in the plug-in folder on iTunes (my documents/my music/iTunes/plug-ins). The turn on the what i'm listening to feature on msn, and it shud work! If you cant open msn, then just go to the plug-in folder again right click the msn icon and click send to, then choose desktop.
Thats that!
echidnaz wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-08-2007 2:15 AM
why is the "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts." option in light grey and i can't click it?
sola wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-17-2007 12:45 AM
cause u htave to check the "automatically run .." above that first
Mac Daddy wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-02-2007 5:54 AM
Another thing, if you have WMP open at the same time as iTunes, Messenger wont show your iTunes tracks. This is because it reads WMP over iTunes
Alex wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-25-2007 8:19 AM
Have tried this, still can't make it work. I have the latest version of live messenger (8.1) and version 7 of itunes, anyone have any ideas? The odd thing is, i know people with the same versions that can make it work!!
Krystal wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-29-2007 4:27 AM
!!!!FOR EVERYONE THAT LISTENS TO MUSIC ON itunes!!!

If you cant get MSN to show what your listening to, it means MSN or itunes or both are missing files.

So all you have to do is go to MSN and download messenger again... you dont need to uninstall first MSN will ask you if you want to remove or repair messenger, click repair. After the repair is complete it will ask you to restart your computer click restart later.

Then go to apple.com and install the latest version of itunes...once again you will not need to uninstall before doing this, apple will ask you if you want to repair or remove itunes, click repair.

after you have repaired itunes restart you computer. Once restarted open MSN and itunes and play a song it should work then.

if not then you can follow the regular steps.
which are:

For MSN:

Go to Tools, then click on Options... in the drop down menu, then check the "show song information from Windows Media Player in Personal message"

Then...

For itunes:

Go to Edit, the click on Perfrences, then go to the advanced TAB then make sure that minimize itunes to system tray is UNCHECKED, then hit ok.

You should then right click on your taskbar (if you dont know what that is.... it is the bar at the buttom of you screen with the time and all your open windows). When you right click on the taskbar a pop-up window will show, move the cursor over Toolbars and make sure that itunes is CHECKED (this will thereby enable itunes).

YOUR ALL DONE. I did all of this and it worked, so if this doesnt work for you then you are in my prayers cuz i know you must be frustrated :(
Kirsty wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-10-2007 2:14 AM
have tried everything above and makes no difference. have msn 8.1 and itunes 7.2
any ideas?
III51394 wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-22-2007 10:09 AM
It does work~~!! Thank you~~!!
However, when I open the option>general tab, the "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts." was checked already. Then, I un-ticked it, then ticked again, exited msn, then sign in again....it worked since~~51304
Porroe wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-03-2007 9:40 AM
The Check/Uncheck, then sign out/sign in woked for me too
Derek wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-10-2007 12:56 PM
doesn't work for me...no matter what i do it says this feature needs windows media player 9 or later
bit cross wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-26-2007 6:18 AM
it works find for windows media player but not itunes at alll
i don't get it!

xxxx
Ted wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-08-2007 11:02 PM
I tried all those things and it didn't work for me, and I found for me the problem was that the Window Media Player process was still running even though I "thought" I closed it. Because of this MSN took WMP over itunes for this feature. So try opening task manager and looking under "description" for Windows media player and close process tree. Play a song in itunes and it should work. Good luck hope this helps.
Ted wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-08-2007 11:04 PM
I forgot to mention, if your browsing the web and get a popup or something that uses WMP or anything, you may have to continually make sure the WMP process is closed before expecting this feature to work with msn.
T Steuart wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-24-2007 8:44 AM
Here it is in msn messenger 8.1 and iTunes FIXED

If its not working for you try this
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
In MSN Messenger go to Tools / Options / General and uncheck "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts."

WORKED FOR ME!!!!!!!

Thanks for the idea CraigBlog
mandy wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-01-2007 2:37 AM
wow dat really works......thank you sooo much
Birdd wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-04-2007 2:32 AM
Wow that works, thanks a lot :)
I wonder why it does that, haha.
tomjoy wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-16-2007 2:17 PM
yup it worked for me as well
eh wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-18-2007 1:48 PM
None of this works for me. I got it working on one of my accounts but on the limited users it won't work. I've tried checking and unchecking "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts"
Will wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-29-2007 12:46 AM
While the above fix(es) might work because of the restarts, no amount of clicking options on or off will solve the problem. If you want to know how to fix iTunes/MSN Messenger, read on....

First - open task manager and go to the process list. Next, find and "End Process" on the following applications: MSN messenger (msnmsgr.exe), iTunes (iTunes.exe) & windows media player (can't remember what it's called but it is specified similarly). Now start up iTunes & MSN messenger in any order you like - I don't know what these people are talking about order of start up for, there are no dependancies between the 2 applications so this makes no sense.

In fact I think that simply closing the mediaplayer process completely should achieve the same effect, the problem seems to be with the plugin being written by a moron as opposed to an issue with either iTunes or MSN messenger, if the mediaplayer process is in the list but you don't have media player open then you have found the bug with the plugin.

Enjoy... and to the cowboy tech guys; if you don't know, don't make it up.
Lisa wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-14-2007 8:57 PM
ive got the msn 8.1 and it dont seem to work,
the show music thing. its a bit weird now cause the previous msn i used, everything was well.

anyhelp?
Arnaud wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-10-2008 9:09 AM
I FINALLY FOUND A WAY
It's quite easy. First, you set all your music types to be listened to with iTunes. I think that it can work even if you don't do that.
Then, you do control + alt + Del to get your task manager. Then you look for wmplayer, windows media player, however your computer shows it as, and you end it's task. Works like a charm with me~
Danny wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-14-2008 11:19 AM
Sometimes, media player wont show up in the applications tab after clicking ctrl+alt+del however the process will still be running (This seems more of a problem for vista users?!) click the 'processes' tab in your task manager and then find wmplayer in the list, select it with a single left click and it should be highlighted. Then simply click end process and it will close wimp. Problem solved!
Danny wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-14-2008 11:21 AM
Apologies to will, just saw your post after I spent 5 mins repeating it!
Kelsey wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-14-2008 5:04 PM
So I found something very simple that I feel like a dumb-butt for. Go to ur msn. Then under your personal statement. Click the down arrow to 'show what im playing'. I didnt realize that it had an option. Anyways i Hope that helps.
Roberto R. wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-16-2008 9:50 AM
Hey! thanks a lot... It works!
I dunno how, but it's one of the strangest fixes I've ever seen...

Cheers!
matt wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-19-2008 7:19 PM
it doesnt work

it only works with WMP

does itunes have a plug in?


Laura wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-20-2008 10:49 PM
didnt work for me but i found an odd solution. i opened both itunes and windows media player. played one song on WMP and after that, itunes worked with msn as well. weird.
Siobhan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-08-2008 11:58 AM
Hey, i was having trouble with this all, and i have messenger 7.0, the only thing you have to do is, go on the start menu,then click programs access and defaults, and once your on there go on custom, and then simply set which ever music system you want as your default. If the programs access and defaults does not let you go on there, this is because you are not an administrator. You can either change your account which is easier, or do it on the service administrators account and set it up. :)
IZZIE wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-30-2008 8:53 AM
yay!! thank u so much :) xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dave Reid wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-24-2008 9:54 AM
The reason it isnt working is because Windows Media Player is still working in the background and its tryin to read that, just go on to you task manager, find windows media player and end the process. It should now work. You might have to go into the control panel and stop WMP from starting up everytime, you just need to disable it from starting up again.

I say hope it works, but it should.
ss wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 04-29-2008 10:26 AM
I swear I've tried everything to make them work, but it just won't! It's so frustrating and annoying I think I'm gonna give up lol

I've ended the WMP processes, my default for music etc is iTunes, I've done everything above, but it just won't work... and yet it worked like... last month T___T;;
Kaitlyn wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-11-2008 5:42 PM
YAY! SIOBHAN, YOU ARE A GOD! Your Karma is improving with all the greatful thoughts I am feeling towards you.
That was the most simple thing I could ever have done. Meanwhile, I've been trying to figure it out, off-and-on, for MONTHS! Glad, that's over.
gemgemgem. wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-28-2008 9:34 PM
i couldn't cause i'm using msn v. 8.5.
i tried your way but i couldn't do this.
like shoot.
telemez wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-02-2008 12:04 PM
guys I've got something

If there is still a problem on listening to, open the task manager and end the process of wmplayer.exe... sometimes it remained opened so there is a conflict between two. just end it and continue... worked well with me
JzAero wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-22-2008 12:12 PM
telemez
Ur the bomb =P
It works!!!
Thanks ^^
Foggy wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-05-2008 7:08 PM

Awesome thanks for that!

Neil wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-15-2008 8:54 AM

Works for me, thanks!

Nicklas Pingel wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-19-2008 4:40 AM

The only thing you have to do, to make it work. Is that you need to start itunes before you start windows live messenger.

megs wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-25-2008 2:18 AM

if it doesnt work for the first time (like what happened to me)

u can just sign out and tick or untick a few boxes before you click sign in, i.e., "remember me"

then it should work

Teumes wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-27-2008 8:36 AM

ah telemez THANKS:D

i tried everything from the top of this page downwards,

but almost the last solves my problem :P

Rebecca wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-30-2008 1:58 PM

I have the new MSN Plus. & it works on there too.

All you need to do is set Itunes to your defalut player

instead of Windows Media Player.

It automatically pops up as soon as i open itunes. But you can set it by going to- Edit-Preferences-advanced-

Then check the box that says - Use itunes as the default players for audio files:. This is all down in iTunes.

You will need administartive permission though so get the computers administrator to do this if you do not have permission on your computer account to do this.

vistauser777 wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 08-31-2008 3:32 PM

yes this feature does work cuz i've been using itunes for a while now and i've realised the feature started workin when everytime i play music through itunes it shows on msn messenger what i'm listening too but recently it just stopped workin so i dont know what the problem is now

Julie wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 09-19-2008 12:27 PM

It previously worked, but now, after installing the newest version of itunes, it doesn't work anymore x_x

halp? :3

sarahh wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 09-19-2008 12:29 PM

i tried this but it still didn't work so what i did was copy all my music to windows media player (it didnt delete it from itunes) and then clicked tools,plug ins then 'Windowns Live Messenger Music Plug In' and it worked.

Andrewww wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-01-2008 12:44 AM

It does work~~!! Thank you~~!!

However, when I open the option>general tab, the "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts." was checked already. Then, I un-ticked it, then ticked again, exited msn, then sign in again....it worked since~~51304

^^^^^^ i pretty much did the same thing, except i unchecked "Open Messenger main window when Messenger starts.", exited msn, re-opened checked, exited msn yet again reopened it and voila it worked :D

Marco wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-07-2008 8:55 AM

Damn boy! it did work.... too bad i still have to stick to this horrible itunes.... just for the sake of my ipod....

Syler wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 10-08-2008 3:40 PM

It doesn't work with the new iTunes. Any ideas?

andre wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 11-29-2008 11:12 AM

yes it works with the new itunes and wlm2009

Ellie wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-08-2008 9:51 AM

thanks a lot. seriously. it helped me a lot. xo xo

Miss Murder wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-13-2008 7:49 PM

Alright. I have Windows Live Messenger (the latest version), iTunes v8 and WMP v11 and I tried everything and nothing happened UNTILL i reinstalled BOTH iTunes v8 AND Windows Live Messenger and what do you know; my messnger was missing some files. Haha try this tip and see if it helps.

Sincerly,

Extreme Pickle Eater

xoxo

**Me** wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 12-17-2008 12:12 PM

I have itunes 8 and the latest msn but it won't show my music on my message and nothing works!!!!!!!!!!

From

V.ANNOYED!

Katie wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-02-2009 3:17 AM

I have the latest version of everything; wmp, itunes AND msn messenger and nothing works! I've tried all this...

Very irritating...any more ideas anyone?

Rik wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-04-2009 1:08 PM

It's allready checked with me, but it doesn't work. so this does not help me at all

Sarah wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-10-2009 3:11 PM

Wow, it works :D

Definitely a bizarre fix!

Thanks :

(To all those having trouble, when I didn't have my show song information from WMP as a personal message ticked, it didn't work, when I ticked it, it did, if that's any help!)

Fluffy wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-10-2009 8:21 PM

the solution is simple downloads windows messenger live. Once that is downloaded go to www.msgpluslive.net and download it. This contains the plug in that allows music to be detected by iTunes and thats it lol. Thats how i did it and it worked fine.

Beccaaaa wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-11-2009 12:35 PM

It doesn't seem to work :S

Kat wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-12-2009 2:21 PM

what pisses me off the most is that i prefer window media player any day, yet that wont even work anymore. No clue why. So back to iTunes, which used to always show what I was listening to in my name, to find that it doesn't show what I was listening to anymore. I tried doing whatcha said, but I already had that checked off... I miss windows media player :'(

crazymonkey wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-12-2009 3:14 PM

thanx this helped soooo much thanks you

Nat wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 01-20-2009 10:48 PM

Yay! thx Will!  worked for me :D

This worked for me...

Will wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature

on 11-29-2007 12:46 AM

While the above fix(es) might work because of the restarts, no amount of clicking options on or off will solve the problem. If you want to know how to fix iTunes/MSN Messenger, read on....

First - open task manager and go to the process list. Next, find and "End Process" on the following applications: MSN messenger (msnmsgr.exe), iTunes (iTunes.exe) & windows media player (can't remember what it's called but it is specified similarly). Now start up iTunes & MSN messenger in any order you like - I don't know what these people are talking about order of start up for, there are no dependancies between the 2 applications so this makes no sense.

In fact I think that simply closing the mediaplayer process completely should achieve the same effect, the problem seems to be with the plugin being written by a moron as opposed to an issue with either iTunes or MSN messenger, if the mediaplayer process is in the list but you don't have media player open then you have found the bug with the plugin.

Enjoy... and to the cowboy tech guys; if you don't know, don't make it up.

manders wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-01-2009 10:51 PM

mm, it didn't really work, iunno

nothing works for me lol x

kyzin wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-27-2009 4:45 AM

man it didnt work

chlobob wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 02-27-2009 10:53 AM

argh!

its still not working for me, it used to for a while & now it doesn't. i've got the lastest msn & itunes - any suggestions to get it working again? i've tried what everyone has suggested.

=(

Fernando wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 03-15-2009 10:39 PM

It works on MSN 8 as well. It's a really bizarre fix.

Thank you!

syscrasher13 wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-12-2009 12:58 PM

the problem is that WMP effectively hoggs the "what im listening" plugin, so what you have to do is KILL the WMP process which this realeases the plugin. then start itunes and it should work.

this is for vista where WMP seems to be running at all times.

Linward Koopman wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-30-2009 12:59 PM

HAHAHA TOPPIE,

bedankt voor de tip!!

groetjes linward

cherelle wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 05-31-2009 11:47 AM

it worked :) thanksss.

something so simple aswell.

Ellie wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-06-2009 11:56 AM

It didn't work D':

cat wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-11-2009 9:39 AM

nats way to fix it worked :D

Ivan wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-11-2009 1:54 PM

haha unbelievable

its works!

Thank you!

john crowford wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-20-2009 5:29 PM

this does work!!it was bugging me,butnow it works!!thanks a lot!!

Stephanie wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 06-26-2009 4:19 AM

it works! thank u so much!

thanasi wrote re: Making iTunes Work with MSN Messenger's "Now Playing" Feature
on 07-02-2009 7:12 AM

TED nothing worked for me and your message saved me. thanks mate!

everyone listen to ted

press CTRL+ALT+DELETE

go to your processes and make sure windows media player is taken off that list

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