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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 an