Connect360
- December 19, 2006
- 4 comments
A couple weeks ago, I finally broke down and bought an Xbox 360. I bought the Premium system with the wireless controllers, headset and other nice extras. I also bought an extra wireless controller and an intercooler fan for the back (which I’ve actually stopped using since I’ve been told it will void my Xbox’s warranty). It came with Need For Speed: Most Wanted which is quite a fun game, especially since I like racing games.
I’ve got it all setup so it can login to Xbox Live. I didn’t have to buy anything extra to do it since I already had everything I needed, which was nice.
It replaced our cheapy DVD player as well. The DVD interface is very intuitive and has all the features of a regular DVD player.
One thing I’ve been wishing I could do for a while now, even before I bought the Xbox, was a way to play music on my Mac in the living room. I’ve got a decent music collection going, but can only listen to it in my office, which sucks.
Well after watching a DVD tonight, I started digging around on the Xbox and noticed it could connect to a PC on a local network and stream music from it. Of course since Microsoft makes the Xbox, they said it could only connect to a Media Center edition PC. I decided I’d look into it some more and found a Mac app called Connect360 that lets me share my music, photos and movies with my Xbox!
It’s actually a preference pane for OS X that controls a service that runs in the background. I can check what I want to share and who I share it with. Installation was a snap. It instantly found my Xbox on the network and enabled sharing for my music and movies. It works flawlessly too! No skipping or stuttering. It even updates the play count in iTunes when a song is played! The only bad thing now is my crappy old TV! That will have to wait until later. Right now, I’m just very happy I can listen to my music in the living room.
I love Connect360. Its worked flawlessly for me. My little hack is that I have my xbox360 hooked up to my Airport Express. Perhaps not really a hack, but I like the irony.
Anyway, if you’re a fps fan pickup (or rent) Gears of War and the new Rainbow 6 Vegas. Both are stellar!