Why does iTunes keep opening on its own?

Is your iPod connected to the computer when it keeps opening?

do you have the 'FoxyTunes' extension for Firefox installed?

Are you using a file "sharing" app that has a citrus fruit in the name? If so that would pop open iTunes whenever it completes a download. Just one more reason to avaoid it 😉

do you have the 'FoxyTunes' extension for Firefox
installed?

Not just FoxyTunes, but if you have any other program that "controls" iTunes remotely, then it can trigger iTunes to startup. Only solution is to remove that program.

If you figure out what other program is causing it, tell the author of it to "check for the existence of the iTunes.exe process before you instantiate the iTunes.Application COM object". That will prevent this sort of thing from happening.

So Otto
(congrats by the by!)
Would that include something like a poorly written widget for the app formerly known as Konfabulator as well? Not that I have a particular issue that fits this, just curious.

Would that include something like a poorly written
widget for the app formerly known as Konfabulator as
well?

Probably, yes. Anything that accesses iTunes as a COM object will cause iTunes to start up seemingly by itself. Although newer versions of iTunes have seemed to be a bit better in this respect in at least some cases... Sometimes, iTunes still starts up, but it doesn't display the GUI until you manually start it.

Point is that in order for any program to connect to iTunes, iTunes has to be running. If iTunes is not running, attempting to connect to it will trigger it to start. That's just a consequence of how DCOM works.

Aha! Thanks.