Installing Simplify Media on Windows XP or Vista

Download and run SimplifyMediaSetup.exe.

Start Simplify Media and review the software license.

Create your free account by entering a screen name and password. Use your same screen name to sign in on your other computers.

Add an email address and a name for this computer.

The final set-up step: pick music to share. Only you and the people you invite can stream music from your computer.

You can select folders, your iTunes library, your Winamp library, your Windows Media player library or nothing at all. If you pick your iTunes, Winamp or WMP libraries, playlists are shared automatically.

If you only want to select certain playlists, return to the Music Sharing tab using Options once the initial scan is complete.

Note: it will take several minutes for your songs to start to be available, and it may take an hour or more for the scan process to complete if your library is very large.

The Media List displays the status of the computers you are connected to.

To access more music, invite friends (limit 30).

To chat with friends, click on their names. The Messages tab lets you see when others are playing your music.

To play music, open iTunes, Winamp or, if you use Vista, WMP 11. Remote libraries appear under Shared in iTunes and in Winamp and in the lower left in WMP.

Tip 1: use iTunes search and browse to explore large libraries.

Tip 2: use the playlist editor in Winamp to customize playback.