My mac starts playing music randomly

I had the same problem this evening. Turns out it was a a corrupted sound file. I'm not sure what caused it yet. My guess is either a bad URL or a PDF file that I opened. I found the cause by running an anti-virus and it detected a corrupted file (an "aif" file from a language program I have on my mac). I removed the file and all is well. Note that at first my mac was playing what sounded like ads, then all I heard was a "soft wind blowing" sound that wouldn't stop. I had no programs open and the sound persisted.

The spotlight on the mac is lousy at pin pointing specific file types. I used "virus barrier" by Intego (I bought it with one of those mac bundle deals). Even if you have a search program that can find specific file types, I don't know of another way to figure out which file or files is causing the problem.

~Bee: Thank you! My coworker had the same problem. We closed all applications and the music wouldn't stop. Somehow Pandora had installed a widget (she didn't know what widgets were so she didn't do it on purpose) and it was somehow running in the background while she was working.

You're brilliant. Thanks for suggesting that! We were beginning to think her computer was possessed.

teeeh --

Check your Widgets.
Especially look for a radio one.

I would start by looking at your dock to see what programs are open, close each of them until the music stops and you'll at least know what program is playing the music/movie or whatever.