Halp! I can't seem to stream my PC music from my 360

Hardware and technical stuff
#1

So at one time I had my 360 set up to stream music and video via Media Center Extender. As some point this stopped working and I never got it fixed. I think, and I may be wrong here, that it was when I got a replacement for a RROD. I know I was streaming music when GTA IV came out.

Anyway, I install Media Center Extender, from xbox.com/pcsetup. I install and get the code from my 360, and everything appears to go ok. It adds all the stuff in My Music, My Videos, and My Pictures. In Media Center Extender Manager, I see my 360 and it says “connected”.

I go into Media Center on my 360 and see pictures just fine. I can see the video thumbnails and music album labels/names, I just can’t play them. For music it gives me some kind of error like “Cannot play back this file” and similar for video. This is in the Media Center app off the dashboard. If I try to browse for Music from the . . . what is it called, Blade popup (when you tap the big XBox button on your controller), and select music, my PC does not show up, only Harddrive.

I have Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2, and the latest update to the 360 dashboard via LIVE. I’ve tried some stuff like disabling my firewall, and opening up some nodes on my router.

It’s so frustrating … what is going on?

#2

I don’t bother with the Media Center extender. So I don’t know anything about that part of it. But for the normal music playback, I just go to my Windows Media Player, and click on the little arrow below where it says “Library”. That gives you a list of options, one of which is “Media Sharing…”

Then, depending on your firewall settings (which might have to be changed), you can then click on share my media, and if your 360 is up and running and connected to Xbox Live, you’ll be able to see it as one of the devices you can share music with. Once you allow the 360, you can then go to your 360 and play any music from your computer without going into the media center, but just through the 360 blade interface.