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Mr Pippin Author

Level 1

17 points

iTunes 8.2.1(6) randomly starts playing music

Haven't seen this, but since I've updated to the current version of iTunes, my player randomly will start playing music.

Basically, if iTunes is running with no song playing, within a couple of hours, it will start playing the last song I was playing.

This only started after the last update I put on this weekend.

Unibody MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Aug 17, 2009 5:20 PM

82 replies

blsbmt

Level 1

8 points

Dec 9, 2010 3:10 PM in response to Mr Pippin

Just started having this problem today. iTunes 10.0.1

BJMcBean

Level 1

5 points

Dec 21, 2010 10:25 AM in response to blsbmt

Me, too. When I push pause or stop, it just starts playing again. It's like the "Twilight Zone." 10.0.1

Jan 19, 2011 8:25 AM in response to Mr Pippin

I'm having the same problem. It just started today. My computer was on sleep and I hit the space bar to wake it up and iTunes started playing. It wasn't even the last song I had played. Then a few minutes later I was just sitting here looking at a website and there went another song playing by itself. Then not 10 min. later another one stared. It's at random times and randomly just playing different songs from my iTunes. I have the latest version of iTunes, but I've had it for a while, so I didn't just update it. It sometimes just pauses in parts of the song it's playing on its own too. I have no idea why it would do this either. I have been using iTunes for a long time and never had this happen until just today. That's the first thing I thought of..."Twilight Zone". Welcome to the 'Twilight Zone' iTunes users. LOL

Message was edited by: Rebecca0630

Message was edited by: Rebecca0630

Mar 25, 2011 6:27 AM in response to jaredpotts

I've been having the same problem for the last six weeks or so. It doesn't seem to matter if I'm working on the Mac or not, or if I have iTunes off or on - at any random time iTunes will start up if it wants and start playing something from its library. If the Mac is asleep, iTunes will wake it up and start playing something. With me, it is always one of the items in the iTunes library be it music, movie, podcast, whatever.
After reading jaredpotts' post, I had a look in the Sharing & Permissions for iTunes and see I have a person called 'wheel' with Read Only Privilege. Who is this 'wheel'?.
I hate to use the V word, but this problem has all the hallmarks of those playful hacks that have plagued the Windows world for years. Could this be the first iTunes virus? And after all the posts here on this topic, is Apple taking it seriously enough?

May 2, 2011 2:20 PM in response to EricMacDavis

I had the same guy on mine. just went ahead and removed him. hoping that goes away. I will wait a few days and see and post if it does. I also unplugged my external speakers, but I would hate to lose them if that is the problem

AndresJ

Level 1

0 points

Aug 2, 2011 4:20 PM in response to Travis Keller1

I have to add my computer to this list.

It seems like this behavior started some days after I enabled the "home sharing" feature. What I did to stop it was to disable it from the iTunes Preferences window.

The "wheel" group seems to be a genuine group in the mac system:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA44217?viewlocale=en_US

Is there someone from apple who can give some feedback about this?

AndresJ

Level 1

0 points

Aug 2, 2011 4:30 PM in response to AndresJ

Hey, I just want to confirm that the problem stopped after disabling the "home sharing" feature in iTunes.

To get to that option, in iTunes, go to Preferences, then Sharing and uncheck the "Share my library on my local network" option.

thoweb

Level 1

0 points

Aug 26, 2011 1:57 AM in response to AndresJ

For some time the problem seemed to be solved after an update for Snow Leopard. Now – after having upgraded to Lion – it has started again. (On my Mac the Home Sharing option has been deactivated ever since.)

baiken22

Level 1

0 points

May 26, 2012 4:38 PM in response to Mr Pippin

Same problem here. Seems to respond to mouse clicking but also plays and stops randomly. This is extremely frustrating because I'm an audio engineer and depend on iTunes for work and study. I have iTunes10

Jul 14, 2012 5:32 PM in response to baiken22

Why doesn't apple respond to any of these queries?

Aug 19, 2012 3:54 PM in response to Mr Pippin

I had this problem too. Resolved it by swapping the cable that connects my MBP to my speakers. If the plug doesn't fit in the headphone jack just right, it'll short a connection which makes the macbook think there's a pair of apple headphones plugged in and you've hit the play button. If you wiggle the cord near the jack and it makes a crackle noise through your speaker, this is a good indication that the plug doesn't fit right.

Aug 25, 2012 10:37 PM in response to Mr Pippin

I just added all of my music to I tunes and it is doing the same thing started playing ramdomly sometimes a full song and sometimes not. It's also creating what seems to be a ton of play lists :/ ... Not cool I am hoping it dosent create a mess. Really freaking me out though.

Jan 23, 2013 6:49 AM in response to Mr Pippin

Just spoke to Apple support. One reason for Itunes to start playing is when you use the spacebar - if Itunes is Open.

Which it is unless you Force Quit.

Quit doesn't do it and its not clear what it does. In other words, even though the little light below the Icon is off the app is still open

Sounds absolutely nutty to me - but I used that work-around.

This is just what Support told me -not clear if Apple sees this as a bug to fix.

Cheers, S.

Jan 23, 2013 8:01 AM in response to Sunshineperson

Forcequit did NOT work. Called Apple support again - they took me through emptying the Cache folders and Repairing Permissions.

Seems like a housekeeping task I perhaps should do but never have in 3 years with this machine.

So fingers crossed. S./

Nordsman

Level 1

35 points

Feb 12, 2013 7:29 AM in response to Mr Pippin

Why is this still happening? Addressed this several times and Apple has still not gotten to the root of this problem. Just happened to me twice in the span of a half hour. I'm now off AppleCare so now I have to live with it? I am a total Applehead, but this is just one more example of how they are slowly letting it slip through their fingers. Come on Apple GET IT TOGETHER!!

iTunes 8.2.1(6) randomly starts playing music