itunes does not recognize play key or mouse click

So, the new itunes on mountain lion on last year's iMac and when I try to play a podcast by pressing the keyboard play key (F8), nothing happens. Also, if I mouse click the play button in the player, nothing happens. If I double mouse click the podcast itself, it will start playing. I never had this with the older itunes.

Any ideas what to check. The batteries are fresh in the keyboard and trackpad, so I rule them out.

TIA