Streaming PC music to XBox 360... what am I doing wrong?

[digitalpress]

I have my 360 hooked up to a home network with a PC that contains my MP3 library but cannot get the 360 to recognize it.

Things I HAVE done:
- My MP3 folder is "shared" on the network. I can get to the folder easily enough from another PC.
- My Photos and Video stream from the same PC to the 360 no problem.
- I have even added the "TVersity" software which is supposed to help with this stuff. Again, it seems to work fine for video and photos.
- I've updated my Windows Media Player 11 software to monitor the folders where the MP3's are located.

It seems like everything *should* work. I'm missing something though. Any tips?

[NE146]

This probably doesn't apply to you (I hope).. but I had major problems for a long time getting my XP WMP11 "shared" directories to be seen on the xbox 360. I was doing everything right.. but nothing worked. I looked at it for weeks.

Then one day I uninstalled WMP11, rebooted. Reinstalled WMP11, and bam. Everything worked. I blame it on Billy Gates.

Now that being said, if you can stream your Vids & photos fine, what if you pop in some MP3's into those same folders as a test. Are you able to see them then?

[NayusDante]

Are you running Vista? You may need to enable Media Sharing in the Network and Sharing Center, which can be accessed by right-clicking your network icon in the system tray. You should then get a box asking what devices to allow sharing to. Allow the 360.

Once you enable that, go to the System Settings on your 360. Then, Network Settings. Finally, Test PC Connection. After a minute, your PC should show up.

If you're not running Vista, then it may be time to consider upgrading. The media-sharing functionality of the 360 is definitely designed with Vista in mind, and the Media Center Extender functionality is even better.

[Apollo]

If all else fails, try downloading and using Winamp Remote. It works fine for me, and I used to have the same problem that you're having. It doesn't work too well with videos, though.

[dgdgagdae]

Firewall, maybe? I had trouble until I told Norton 360 to trust the Xbox 360. You'd think with the same surname, they'd have gotten along just fine.

[Cryomancer]

Personally I use the outdated "Windows Media Connect" program instead as I do not wish to upgrade/use WMP at all.

[NayusDante]

Firewall, maybe? I had trouble until I told Norton 360 to trust the Xbox 360. You'd think with the same surname, they'd have gotten along just fine.

Not since Uncle Norton started "scanning" little Xbox's mom, MS Windows. There's been some trust issues between them ever since.

[klausien]

Setting up media sharing was a nightmare for me as well, but I managed to get it working after fulling out several handfuls of hair. Now I totally love it, and it was well worth it, as I can play all of my mp3's in the living room on a real receiver. Two quick suggestions:

1) Is your network static or dynamic? I got better results when I set everything to static.

2) I also opened the following ports to TCP & UDP traffic on my router: 88 & 3074. This is really more for Live, but it can't hurt to do this if you haven't already.

Also, I would disable Windows Firewall, and do the Media Player reinstall someone else suggested if your settings are all correct and it still doesn't work. Do not "upgrade" to Vista! It's being quietly phased out, as Windows 7 is around the corner. XP is still fully supported anyway, but you already know all that.

Good luck Joe!

[NayusDante]

XP is still fully supported anyway, but you already know all that.

Actually, "mainstream support" is ending, meaning that XP will only get occasional security updates. No more additional features or software support.

[digitalpress]

I did a whole bunch of stuff suggested above and tried again and I'm good to go! Not sure exactly which thing got the music working again but it's working, so thanks to all for the assistance!