I have created my second plugin for Windows Live Writer which is a tool that will do information lookups via the Amazon.com web service.  This is particularly useful if you want to post about a book you are writing.  The "insert" includes the ability to add the title, author, book image, and a link to the book itself on Amazon if you want to read more about it or simply buy it.

It looks like this:

Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble, Shel Israel Read more about this title...

 

You can simply search for a title or author and you are presented with the results from which you can select the one you are looking for.

If you are interested in this plugin, check out the Windows Live Writer Plugin Project over at CodePlex and find other plugins as well.

For the past few days I have been working with the Windows Live Writer SDK and trying to come up with a new plugin more-so to learn how the

SDK works and to see what it is capable of.

I found a CodePlex group that specializes in WLL plugin design, so I joined.  I noticed there were several plugins that allows you to insert a tagline in a blog post that would indicate what music you are currently listening to.  This is great if you use Windows Media Player or Winamp, but I use a subscription service called Rhapsody.

Rhapsody has a web services offering that lets you view your listening history with a variety of information.  Since I almost always have Rhapsody running when I am working on the computer, I thought a plugin that would post the last song I listened to would fit that nitch.

Although simple, it accomplishes what people are looking for and caters to other Rhapsody listeners.

Again, it is simple, but here is what it puts at the bottom of a post:

I'm Listening to "The Riddle" by Five for Fighting on Rhapsody.

The text is fully customizable so you can include your own text and any combination of song time, artist, album and additional details coming in upcoming versions.

Now the other cool part of this is that it contains a link so you can play the song on the Rhapsody website.  If you're not a member you get something like 25 free song plays per month.  Check it out!