Apple Remote pause/play button keeps opening iTunes

Stridder44 · Sep 16, 2009

I'm sure this has already been posted, and I apologize if it has, but a couple of searches turned up empty.

Anyway, I just discovered this today and I'm praying this is a bug and not a "feature". When you click the pause/play button on the Apple Remote, iTunes opens and begins playing. The same thing happens when you hit the pause/play button on the media bar. I thought I was becoming dyslexic because iTunes kept playing randomly. It was only until today when I discovered this bug while playing a file in VLC. Apparently it happens with pretty much any app.

I don't know if this is thanks to Snow Leopard or iTunes 9, but it's downright stupid. Come on Apple, please fix this.

cptbigt · Sep 16, 2009

Sadly, this is a new feature and works on most of the new apple keyboards - I wasn't aware of it working on the remote too. If you wish to disable it then your out of luck, unless someone knows of a way

devburke · Sep 16, 2009

Its a Snow Leopard thing. In Leopard, it would happen if you werent already in another app that utilized the remote. Now in SL so far, even if another app is using the remote, the OS still sees it and uses it to control iTunes, Volume, and Front Row. It makes the remote unusable in other apps. Hopefully 10.6.2 fixes this bug.

springyfox · Sep 16, 2009

If indeed this is a feature of Snow Leopard, then unfortunately it is also present in iTunes 9. I haven't upgraded my Mac yet as I use it for business but whenever I press the Play/Pause button on the keyboard, iTunes 9 opens!

This is really frustrating as I frequently press the button to try and pause some other media player by mistake, even YouTube! Rather than stopping the video playing, iTunes opens and begins to play the first thing alphabetically in my library!

devburke · Sep 16, 2009

springyfox said:
If indeed this is a feature of Snow Leopard, then unfortunately it is also present in iTunes 9. I haven't upgraded my Mac yet as I use it for business but whenever I press the Play/Pause button on the keyboard, iTunes 9 opens!

This is really frustrating as I frequently press the button to try and pause some other media player by mistake, even YouTube! Rather than stopping the video playing, iTunes opens and begins to play the first thing alphabetically in my library!

Well pre-Leopard, it would launch iTunes unless other software you were using supported the remote. YouTube doesnt. But if you launch Hulu Desktop and then press the play/pause button (at least on the remote, I cant speak for the keyboard button) it wont launch iTunes.

rwilliams · Sep 16, 2009

I commented on this in another thread, and it unfortunately appears to be some ill-conceived "feature" of Snow Leopard. The way to get around it is to open QuickTime X, but without opening an actual movie. As long as QTX is open, you can use your remote on other apps just as you did in Leopard. This "trick" works just fine with VLC & Plex.

damian001 · Sep 16, 2009

Apple should make these as "options" instead of "features..."

rwilliams · Sep 16, 2009

damian001 said:
Apple should make these as "options" instead of "features..."

I agree, but this is the same company that in 2009 still refuses to make a mail client that uses vertical columns to take advantage of their own widescreen machines, and has removed many configurable options from QuickTime X (thus forcing people to find their own workarounds).

HLdan · Sep 16, 2009

rwilliams said:
I commented on this in another thread, and it unfortunately appears to be some ill-conceived "feature" of Snow Leopard. The way to get around it is to open QuickTime X, but without opening an actual movie. As long as QTX is open, you can use your remote on other apps just as you did in Leopard. This "trick" works just fine with VLC & Plex.

Your workaround is the hard way. All you have to do to get around this is make sure iTunes is opened up to the store, this way the remote can no longer cause reactions by iTunes. Just hide iTunes and you're good to go.

jointsmoking · Sep 16, 2009

It's very frustrating. I really really hope it's not a "feature". In my home, it makes the remote go from being used constantly to having little use at all. I used it with EyeTV and VLC mostly. Leaving I-Tunes open at the Store also serves as an ugly workaround.

rwilliams · Sep 16, 2009

HLdan said:
Your workaround is the hard way. All you have to do to get around this is make sure iTunes is opened up to the store, this way the remote can no longer cause reactions by iTunes. Just hide iTunes and you're good to go.

How is mine harder than this? All I do is click on QuickTimeX in the Dock, and then use the remote to control other apps. One click is all it takes.

rwilliams · Sep 16, 2009

jointsmoking said:
It's very frustrating. I really really hope it's not a "feature". In my home, it makes the remote go from being used constantly to having little use at all. I used it with EyeTV and VLC mostly. Leaving I-Tunes open at the Store also serves as an ugly workaround.

I agree. Really, this is all I do to get around it:

1. Put QuickTime X in the dock.
2. Click on it. No QTX window opens by default, so all you see is the indicator under its icon.
3. Open VLC, EyeTV, Plex, etc. and use the remote as you did in Leopard.

3 easy steps, the first of which you only have to do once, ever.

devburke · Sep 16, 2009

rwilliams said:
I agree. Really, this is all I do to get around it:

1. Put QuickTime X in the dock.
2. Click on it. No QTX window opens by default, so all you see is the indicator under its icon.
3. Open VLC, EyeTV, Plex, etc. and use the remote as you did in Leopard.

3 easy steps, the first of which you only have to do once, ever.

These workarounds only work for play/pause and the skip buttons though. The volume and menu buttons are still unusable, so you cant use the remote with an app like Hulu Desktop.

rwilliams · Sep 16, 2009

Actually, I'm able to use the volume buttons with VLC, but I haven't tried the Menu button yet.

HLdan · Sep 16, 2009

rwilliams said:
How is mine harder than this? All I do is click on QuickTimeX in the Dock, and then use the remote to control other apps. One click is all it takes.

Ha, you're right, I was reading so fast I thought your method looked complicated. Gotta slow down on my reading.

brendu · Sep 21, 2009

this is realllly lame... apple made a terrible decision in doing this. Hulu Desktop was so great before, and now while its still usable with the keyboard, it is a huge bummer that the simple remote which worked so perfectly now does not. Apple: please fix this asap.

Stridder44 · Sep 21, 2009

bman0408 said:
this is realllly lame... apple made a terrible decision in doing this. Hulu Desktop was so great before, and now while its still usable with the keyboard, it is a huge bummer that the simple remote which worked so perfectly now does not. Apple: please fix this asap.

Agreed. It's even more annoying that the pause/play button on the keyboard does the same thing.

troels · Sep 26, 2009

If you already have iTunes open, I find that the QuickTime trick does not work. Then you can do the iTunes Store trick, but if you do not want to have it load the iT store using bandwidth and memory, you can just create an empty playlist, mine is called '****', and click on that. Then the controls will be disabled without having to load more stuff (than the already open iTunes).

osplo · Sep 27, 2009

devburke said:
Its a Snow Leopard thing. In Leopard, it would happen if you werent already in another app that utilized the remote. Now in SL so far, even if another app is using the remote, the OS still sees it and uses it to control iTunes, Volume, and Front Row. It makes the remote unusable in other apps. Hopefully 10.6.2 fixes this bug.

Gee, I cannot believe this. In my Mini, pressing play for a while opens up Front Row, but I can use the remote to control Plex freely.

Is this confirmed?

I am NOT upgrading to Snow Leopard if I can't use the remote to control Plex.

devburke · Sep 28, 2009

osplo said:
Gee, I cannot believe this. In my Mini, pressing play for a while opens up Front Row, but I can use the remote to control Plex freely.

Is this confirmed?

I am NOT upgrading to Snow Leopard if I can't use the remote to control Plex.

Yeah, it’s been really widely reported, so I’d say it’s confirmed. Technically, you can still control other apps with the remote…but it’ll also control iTunes / Front Row at the same time. Although the QT workaround sounds good for apps that basically use stuff like play/pause, maybe skip. But as for the volume buttons (if the app uses them) or the menu button, I think for now we just have to wait.

osplo · Sep 28, 2009

osplo said:
Gee, I cannot believe this. In my Mini, pressing play for a while opens up Front Row, but I can use the remote to control Plex freely.

Is this confirmed?

I am NOT upgrading to Snow Leopard if I can't use the remote to control Plex.

Wait a second. If you use Plex with the Media Server always on supporting the Harmony remote (not the Apple remote) then Plex should be controlling all the remote keystrokes, right? It means that iTunes would never get the remote keystrokes, solving the problem...

Has anyone tested this?

Thanks

Apple Remote pause/play button keeps opening iTunes

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