iTunes 10.5 and Microsoft keyboard media keys with IntelliType Installed

Same issue here with Microsoft Wireless Natural Multimedia Keyboard and Intellitype 8.2 on Windows 7 32-bit. If I try to use the media buttons (Play/Pause, Stop, Back, Next), iTunes does not respond. To add injury to insult, several other programs (no rhyme or reason) subsequently crash. Everything worked fine before iTunes 10.5,

Similar problem here. Vista64 with a Dell multi-media keyboard. Upgraded to iTunes 10.5 for x64 PCs. When iTunes is running, the multimedia keys do not work for other applications, such as Windows Media Player. When I close iTunes the media keys work fine. My media keys work fine with iTunes, even when minimized.

@ Not quite converted, I ran into the same problem: programs crashed often (including a very stubborn and annoying Windows Explorer crash), but all of that has disappeared since I uninstalled IntelliType 8.2. I know it sounds ironic since it's made by Microsoft but it worked wonders for me.

Thanks - I'll keep that in mind if the problem becomes unbearable. There are other features of Intellitype that I use and would not like to have do without.

Since Apple seems to have caused the issues with changes in iTunes 10.5, I'm hoping Apple can fix the problem in an iTunes update.

As much as I like Apple (and I do, I am typing this on my MacBook Pro), I wouldn't count on an update for just this fix and it will likely be a while before then next "scheduled" update arrives. Have you considered iTunesKeys? It litterally took me 3 steps to get my functionality back with intellitype installed. I downloaded the binaries from

http://andy.hillhome.org/blog/code/ituneskeys/

copied all three files from the zip into a folder in Documents,

and double-clicked ituneskeys.exe

That's it. It worked.

I also went ahead and added a shortcut to the exe to my startup folder and have only had two issues since. The first is recurring: if you leave you computer alone for several hours, the play/pause button performs both actions in quick sequence the first time you press it. It will work normally after this. The second is that once, the key started making iTunes freeze (like what you experienced) for a short time before becoming responsive again. I fixed this by closing both itunes and ituneskeys (from the tray icon) and restarting them.

I am going to keep using this software for my media keys until and maybe after iTunes fixes the functionality depending on how stable I feel the iTunes implementation will continue to be (i.e. if it seems like they may just break it again, i'll keep using ituneskeys).

Good luck.

That is true it took apple a long time before they ever worked, so what you detailed will be what I use now.

I can hope Apple can fix it but I won't be holding my breath....

Found this after I started my own thread on the topic, and I can also confirm that killing the itype.exe process restores the functionality of my media keys.

I'm running Win7 Ultimate x64 and intellitype 8.2.

Do you guys think Apple did this on purpose, or is it just an unfortunate byproduct of the new iTunes 10.5?

I doubt it was intentional. If it was, it was likely not and order from the "top".

More likely, it was a result of them changing something about the 10.4.1 version. Specifically in 10.4.1, this was listed as a major change: "Fixes a problem where the media keys on non-Apple keyboards work inconsistently".

I know from experience both with apple hardware and my own programming, that you may get a feature working and then break it with some other code, especially in large software like itunes.

For example, for a while on the macbook pro, the backlit keyboard (which is designed to dim before the computer turns off the screen) would turn the light ON after it was set to off by the user as a part of the dimming process. That is, rather than the program checking if the light was higher than the dim value and therefore dimming it, it simply set it to the dim level and then off.

This was probably just lazy or rushed coding, but it was broken for me until I upgraded to Lion (which broke some other stuff like zooming, but that's another topic).

Yes, that's true....I was curious if they did it intentionally because they have a habit of doing things like that sometimes, like how in iOS 5 they did away with those annoying pop-overs for notifications, but then when you go to compose an email without a subject, you get one of the old, nasty pop-overs informing you that our subject line is blank, and "do you want to send anyway."

THAT is clearly intentional & really ****** me off.

Oh well....guess I'll wait for the next iTunes update & just keep killing the iType process, or try the workaround described here....

YESSSSSSS, someone buy that man a beer! 🙂

Woweee.....10.5.1 iTunes fixes this problem!!!!

Thank you, Apple!!!😎

everyone just use this download link and install the program, it is intelltype 8.2 and it will work with itunes when itunes is running in backgroundhttp://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=26950