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How to stop iTunes from launching when using Keyboard media keys

Hi,

I love the media keys on my MacBook and Apple wireless keyboard for playing, pausing, changing tracks etc with iTunes, but there are other than can utilize the media keys, like Spotify for instance. However, if I have iTunes closed, when I hit the Play key, iTunes will automatically launch, and will intercept any subsequent presses of just the play/pause button. Is there a way to stop this annoying behavior? I haven't found anything in the Keyboard shortcut system pref.

thanks.

black MacBook (Santa Rosa), 2.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 160GB HD, 4GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 16GB iPod Touch, 2G 1GB iPod Shuffle, 4G 20GB iPod

Posted on Aug 20, 2009 5:51 PM

310 replies

Ayjona

Level 1

10 points

Dec 3, 2010 7:02 PM in response to thebitguru

Works wonderfully. Thanks, thebitguru!

Dec 9, 2010 3:26 PM in response to thebitguru

The patch worked for me, but I'm wondering what other "Remote Control" functionality I'm giving up. What is the purpose of the remote control feature anyway?

Dec 9, 2010 11:21 PM in response to Bunnyslippers

The patch that I released only disables the launching of iTunes. Everything else should work as usual.

Based on what I have seen so far I believe remote control daemon (rcd) controls the launching of programs and implements a lot of the other multimedia related functionality when using remote and other multi-media keys on the keyboard. I have seen that without rcd iTunes wouldn't respond to any of the multimedia keys (rewind/forward), but I haven't confirmed that.

Jan 27, 2011 11:23 AM in response to dmonner

This works great, but I seem to have prevented iTunes from opening all together now. Can you give me some details on how to revert back so I can start the over?

Thanks!

Peyt

Level 1

0 points

Apr 3, 2011 12:25 PM in response to anarchistic

I found this with some Goggling, but I haven't tried it yet, though I don't have any Mac yet 😟.

http://lifehacker.com/#!5651055/free-your-macs-media-keys-from-itunes-no-manual- hacking-required

Apr 8, 2011 7:01 AM in response to Peyt

The MMfix tool, for me, is the best solution to this problem. Since I don't have a local iTunes library on my MBA it hasn't been that big of an issue but Apple really should do something about it.

May 24, 2011 2:57 AM in response to andrew pz

Hi there,

I followed the instructions to disabled iTunes but I didn't know it was going to disable the whole thing. Is there any way to reset this? I can't open iTunes now!!!

Thank you in advance!

May 24, 2011 4:04 PM in response to William Brawley

First

Start Quicktime player. But don't play a movie. If you press the play button then, nothing happens.

Second

Wait for Apple to do something about it. We're not the only one who doesn't like this.

May 24, 2011 10:59 PM in response to syllodesigner

Well, the thing is I already did this:

Open a Terminal and type the following

cd /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS

sudo mv iTunes iTunesX

sudo curl http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~app26/itunes/iTunes -O

sudo chmod uog+x iTunes

which completely disabled iTunes so I can't open iTunes now, even if I want to. I know I shouldn't be messing with Terminal, but I thought it would be safe... and now I'd like to reset on undo whatever I did there. Does anyone know how can I do it?

maelcum

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2011 4:47 AM in response to andresfrommadrid

Hi AndresfromMadrid.

the command "sudo mv iTunes iTunesX" just changed the name of the original iTunes binary.

If you did this *just once*, you could revert that change with

cd /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS

sudo mv iTunesX iTunes

That should fix everything.

If you tried the "sudo mv ..."-command multiple times, the original binary has been overwritten with the second try. In that case, your only option is to restore iTunes.

Either by using an older TimeMachine Backup, or by downloading it from Apples site and drag'n'drop it in your Applications-folder. (No need to reinstall anything else, since nothing has changed except for the one binary. Installation doesn't harm either, so feel free to do what makes you most comfortable.)

maelcum

Level 1

4 points

May 27, 2011 5:02 AM in response to JeremyCrabtree

Hi JeremyCrabtree,

very cool solution - the one with the "hexeditor" (I used vi). followed your lead and it's working great!

thanks a bunch!

May 27, 2011 5:11 AM in response to maelcum

thanx a bunch maelcum...

burepe2

Level 1

4 points

Jul 14, 2011 7:26 PM in response to William Brawley

Easy solution:

http://lifehacker.com/5651055/free-your-macs-media-keys-from-itunes-no-manual-ha cking-required

burepe2

Level 1

4 points

Jul 14, 2011 7:26 PM in response to William Brawley

Easy solution: http://lifehacker.com/5651055/free-your-macs-media-keys-from-itunes-no-manual-ha cking-required

Jacken

Level 1

4 points

Aug 20, 2011 5:07 PM in response to Peyt

Confirmed working. I tried it in OS X 10.7 Lion without problem. I did save the rcd daemon first, just in case, but not problems. Now I can finally use the keyboard with SongBird playing back FLAC files. APPLE SUPPORT FLAC!

How to stop iTunes from launching when using Keyboard media keys