I use GAIM as my IM client. GAIM is an open source application that can talk on most of, if not all of, the most popular instant messaging networks such as ICQ, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and Google (Jabber), plus it can communicate with my work network (Sametime). What a great tool!
On all of these chat networks you can specify an "Away Message" even when you aren't really away. Basically this is a little note that says something about you or what you're doing. Some people, myself included, kind of like to make this little message more dynamic. For instance you might like to show what song you are currently listening to. With GTalk (and others) you can show the song title pretty easily but GAIM doesn't have this feature built in. What's a music loving braggart to do?
As is the case with many applications now-a-days you can extend the software with a plugin. Thankfully, someone took the time to create a "MusicInfo" plugin for GAIM. The newest version of the plugin only works with the 2.0 or later version of GAIM (currently GAIM 2.0 is in beta, but is running pretty well).
I have tried out Trillian (the free version) in the past, and GTalk but still go back to GAIM. GAIM is free but supports more stuff than GTalk app and Trillian's free version (doesn't support Jabber/GTalk). With this cool plugin my away message will now be broadcast to all of my contacts regardless of what network they use. Nifty indeed!