show me yours and i'll show you mine
If you haven't guessed by now, I'm quite into music. We could go into reasons, but this entry isn't about that. This entry is quite self-serving. I'm always interested in finding new music that I like. This is where you come in. I want you to recommend new music to me that I may not be familiar with. And the easiest way you can do that is to show me what you are currently playing. Don't worry, i'll show you what i'm playing too.
How we'll do this is MSN Messenger. If you don't have this already, you need to step up into the new century. Chat is not a time waster, it's how people communicate in the modern world. So try it out!
MSN is the best chat program available as of yet, especially since version 7 added the "What I'm Listening To" feature. So don't worry, we'll make this real easy:
1. Get the latest version and start chatting.
2. Add " heydomsar (at) hotmail (dot) com "
This is me. Now you can chat me up. You'll notice you can see what songs I am listening to. They're all good.
3. Turn on "What I'm Listening To".
Now if you use Windows Media Player to listen to music, I will be able to see the songs you are playing. Problem is, most people (if they are smart) use Winamp to listen to music.
4. Get the latest version of winamp. You'll see why this is better than Windows Media Player right away. But now you need this to work with MSN Messenger.
5. Get this plugin for Winamp called Toaster.
Next to your MSN screenname, it will display the song you are currently playing in Winamp to the rest of us. Everyone should at least get this far.
Now, you may notice that some idiot at MSN decided we should start displaying our music in the format "Song - Artist". Not only is this backwards and confusing, it is stupid. You can figure out how to configure Toaster yourself, or you can download my Preset which includes some really cool extras...
6. Get Dom's Toast Settings (2k)
Once we get it installed, your music will be displayed in the format: "Artist - Album - Track - Song [Playing Time]"
Also, there will be "Toasts" or pop-ups like when someone signs on MSN, but they will contain the picture of the album you're listening to and all the critical info including what place this song resides in your list of mp3s.
Here's how we'll get this working....
7.(a) In Winamp, hit CTRL+P.
7.(b) Under Plug-ins, hit "General Purpose".
7.(c) Click the Toaster plug-in and hit "Configure Selected Plug-in".
7.(d) Make sure the "Toaster" Preset is loaded.
7.(e) Click Import Preset and find "DomToast.ini" that you just saved in step 6.
7.(f) Click Yes to merge the Preset.
The only downside of rearranging the display format is that when people click the song they see next to your name, they'll have to rearrange it back into "Song - Artist" for MSN to find info about the track. But it's worth it.
So now, hopefully, we'll both get some use out of this by being exposed to great music that we otherwise would not have known about. Plus we'll get to know a little more about eachother. And really, isn't that what life is all about?
Posted by heydomsar
2005-08-31
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
Rachel Ray - 2009-05-03
The cold wind was the reason - 2009-03-02
The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase - 2009-02-15
All's well that ends well. - 2009-01-07
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - 2008-10-04
