For a long time, MSN Messenger and Windows Live Messenger have been able to display what is currently being played on Windows Media Player. It gets displayed next to your ‘Display Name’. If you use iTunes, what you’re playing can also be displayed in the same way.

Solution

Firstly, open iTunes and go to the Preferences window. You can do this 2 ways:

1. Press ‘Ctrl+,’ (that’s the control key, and the comma key at the same time).
2. Go to ‘Edit’ in the top menu, and then ‘Preferences’.

…then click on the ‘Advanced’ tab, usually on the far right. Within the ‘Advanced’, tick the item that says “Use iTunes as the default player for audio files” (shown below):

Setting iTunes to be the default player for audio files.

Secondly, open the Live Messenger main window (the one that shows all your contacts), then:

1. Go to ‘Tools’ then ‘Options’ in the main menu.
2. Within the ‘Options’ window, select the ‘Personal’ tab on the left.
3. Tick the “Show song information from Windows Media Player as a personal message” check box, as shown below:

Setting the Show song info checkbox item

Now when you play something in iTunes, people will see what you’re playing. Examples of what they might see are shown below:

Song showing in the contact list

Song showing in the conversation window

There… now all you need to worry about is not playing any Abba or other music that could earn you ‘Social Outcast’ status!