AIM MusicLink 4.1.0.0 is here

I have posted the latest version of AIM MusicLink, version 4.1.0.0.  If you are an existing AIM MusicLink user, you will get prompted for auto upgrade.  You can ignore the upgrade, or get it later.  You can get an upgrade via the Check For Upgrade button via the AIM MusicLink Preference window.  You will only be prompted once.  There are some real key feature and bug fixes in this release.

  • AIM MusicLink now supports an option to set your status in “Artist – Song” format and “Song – Artist” format.
  • Fixed a long standing bug with Windows Media Player not reporting the correct song.  This was due to an issue with the Windows Media Player API passing incorrect data in the MediaChange event.  I discovered a work around this Microsoft bug.
  • Fixed bug with RealPlayer song status being set with a missing leading character
  • Fixed bug with Uninstaller not unregistering the AIM MusicLink dlls.

Here is a screen shot of the new preference panel showing how to change the status format.

AIM MusicLink Preferences 4.1.0.0

AIM MusicLink Preferences 4.1.0.0

You can download the latest AIM MusicLink here.

To read all about AIM MusicLink or to get questions answered make sure to visit the AIM MusicLink homepage.

AIM MusicLink 3.0.0.0

Happy Monday everyone!  I am posting the latest version of AIM MusicLink that contains support for a new media player as well as a couple of fixes for some old bugs.  In AIM MusicLink 3.0.0.0, I have added support for XM Player version 3.4.2.1+.  MusicLink now has support for 8 different media players.  The full list can be found on the AIM MusicLink home page.

I have also fixed two bugs that have been around for a while.  ITunes would report the current song even if the player was paused or stopped.  MusicLink will only set an ITunes song if the player is playing a song now.  The other bug that I fixed involved Windows Media Player.  People were reporting that WMP songs were getting set in their AIM Status even when WMP was not running.  I have fixed an issue where if the player exits the WMP plugin was reporting the wrong information.  If WMP crashes, which does happen, MusicLink may still report the incorrect information.

Download the latest AIM MusicLink here.

AIM MusicLink Feedback

I want to say thank you to all the people who have downloaded the latest AIM MusicLink version 2.2.0.0 and are using it every day. The uptake for the plugin has been really great, and I have to be honest this release has gone much better than earlier ones. I wanted to address some of the issues people have been having.

  • I have fixed the problem with the Songbird Extension for AIM MusicLink and you can download the extension here. Once you download the extension, please use Songbird to load the sbMusicLink.xpi file.
  • I have spent a few hours testing this version of AIM MusicLink with Windows Media Player 11 in just about every configuration possible and cannot reproduce any of the reports people have. All my WMP plugin does is listen to the current playing song and then writes to the Windows Registry if the player is playing and if so what is the current song. Then AIM MusicLink reads the registry key. These two keys can be found in HKCUSoftwareAIMAIMPluginsAIM MusicLinkWMPCurrentMedia and WMPIsPlaying. If you observe weird behavior with these keys please let me know.
  • The latest WinAMP version has been working for me.
  • The theory I have regarding those who have issues with players beyond iTunes working, is that make sure iTunes is truly closed. I have seen instances where I close iTunes yet it is not truly shutdown. AIM MusicLink will still think it sees iTunes opened and try to set the iTunes song not WinAmp or other player you are using. AIM MusicLink has a specific order of operations that it looks for music. The first player it finds music for, it will try to report the result, even if no song is loaded on the player in some cases. Here is the order that I use:
  1. iTunes
  2. WinAmp
  3. MediaMonkey
  4. Windows Media Player 9/10/11
  5. Yahoo Jukebox
  6. Songbird
  7. RealPlayer

Please make sure if you are seeing issues where AIM MusicLink is reporting an incorrect or unexpected result, check the above list and make sure that a player is not accidentally loaded that you think you closed. As always I appreciate all the feedback, and keep it coming so I can make sure AIM MusicLink continues to be the top AIM Plugin.

A Twitter Plugin for SXSW

A year ago at SouthBySouthwest (SXSW) Twitter became mainstream in the developer community. The amount of traffic that Twitter experienced over the one week conference was incredible as it seemed that everyone announced their plans each evening via the service. With SXSW, starting this weekend and the Open AIM announcement this week, I thought I would release the latest version of the Twitter plugin for Windows. The plugin supports AIM 6.5+ or AIM Lite.

This plugin will update your status message on Twitter when your status message on AIM changes. The first time your status message on AIM changes, you will be prompted for your Twitter username and password. You can prevent this from happening by installing the plugin, signing on to the AIM client, choosing the Actions button at the bottom of the Buddy List, and selecting “Set Your Status.” Enter in your Twitter credentials, and you will be all set to go.

You can follow along my twitter feed and all the happenings at SXSW and beyond here.

New TwitterMan and Colorizer is Fixed!

I am releasing a new version of TwitterMan version 3.0 that works seemlessly in AIM 6.5. The widget, will listen for when your status updates in the AIM 6.5 client, and if you are authenticated to Twitter, will automatically update with the new status. If you are not authenticated, then the plugin will prompt you for Twitter authentication, then store the credentials for the lifetime of the session. The widget can be downloaded here, and as always feedback is appreciated. This plugin works with AIM 6.5 and better.

Many people have been pinging me this week asking why the Colorizer plugin stopped working. Well we hit the monthly rate limit on the key, which happens to be 2 Million sessions. So first thanks to everyone who is using colorizer, and second, the key is now unlimited so we should not have any more issues with it. For those who are wondering what Colorizer is, it is a plugin written by Justin Uberti back in 2005 when he and I were building JAMS (which were a suite of plugins that we wrote to test the OpenAIM API). Colorizer changes your out going IM text to appear as different colors to your buddies. Each IM results in a different color being sent.