We're reaching out to all of the blog readers to ask for your participation in testing a new Winamp plugin that will send your listening history to Winamp so that we can build some sweet new features that will allow everyone to see the eclectic musical tastes of the Winamp universe.

More specifically, the Winamp team is working on a future release of a "Charts" experience within the Winamp Client and on Winamp.com, where users can view the most popular songs & artists being listened to across the Winamp user base (and you'll also get a slick web based presentation of your own listening activity).

The Charts experience leverages music listening data which is collected via the Orlger plug-in. Each time you listen to a song through Winamp (while the plug-in is enabled), it sends the basic metadata associated with that file to Winamp. Currently the plug-in only supports local media playback (streaming playback may be available in a future version).

To help make this project successful, we need your help; a) so you can report any issues with the plug-in functionality, and b) so we can start filling up the database w/ your musical tastes (even Yanni fans can participate).

If you're interested, please check out the below instructions:


Step 1
Be sure you are using Winamp version 5.5 or later. Download the latest version

Step 2
Make sure Winamp.exe is not running

Step 3
Download the Plug-in from - http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/221993

Step 4
Install the Plug-in.
- After the plug-in is installed, open (run) Winamp
- The Winamp Preference window will be opened to the "Orgler" section.
- Click on Login. You will be required to sign-in using your Winamp.com (or AOL/AIM) account information. If you're not registered go to the following URL to set-up a new account - https://new.aol.com/productsweb/?promocode=825431

Step 5
Since the Winamp Charts page hasn't launched yet, you have two ways of verifying that the Plug-in is reporting your listening history:
- In your Winamp directory, you can see the data recorded to the "orgler.log" file - (C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\Application Data\Winamp\orgler.log)
- For those less technically inclined, you should try this options instead.... since the Winamp Charts & Profile pages haven't launched, in the meantime you can go to www.music.aol.com/profile and you'll be able to view your 10 most recently played songs. You'll need to log into the AOL Music Profile page with the same account information you used when you installed the plug-in. By default the AOL Music profile page is set to private. If you want to allow others to view your profile (and listening history), you can change the setting to public

Step 6
The final step is to listen to your Winamp media library as often as possible. Be sure to leave a comment below:
- Let us know if you're participating in the beta program and from which country you'll be listening
- Once you've had a chance to use the plug-in, please provide feedback (your experience, issues, bugs, enhancements, etc.)


We hope you take this opportunity to be one of the early adopters. Your support is appreciated and with your help, we look forward to launching this new feature.