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Easy pausing with iTunes Apps
Now that I've stored away my CD collection and use iTunes almost exclusively to listen to music, it happens very frequently that the phone rings and I scramble to find the iTunes window in order to pause the music, after which I have to do some additional window shuffling to get the window layout back the way it was in order to continue working.

Obviously there are many shareware or even freeware tools that allow iTunes to be controlled with the keyboard, but I haven't been able to settle on one that I really like. However, these days I take advantage of an iTunes' behavior that is documented in other hints: when the iTunes window is zoomed to button-only size, clicking on the controls doesn't bring focus to iTunes.

So what I do is drag the zoomed iTunes window to the lower left or right corner of the screen and partially off-screen such that the the play/pause button occupies the actual corner. For some reason, windows never occupy the last few rows of pixels at the bottom of the screen, so unless the Dock has too many icons so they get in the way, moving the pointer all the way to the corner of the screen will always position it over the play/pause button even when there are other windows on top that are zoomed to maximum size. A click will then stop or start the music without changing window focus.

Since the corner of the screen traps the pointer, it's not even necessary to really look where the pointer is going: just moving it a good deal to the left/right and bottom will get it in the corner. Switching to iTunes and choosing "zoom" from the menu will restore the iTunes window to its regular size and position.
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Easy pausing with iTunes | 21 comments | Create New Account
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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: MattHaffner on Jun 25, '04 10:44:51AM

You can also right-click on the Dock, but you do have to navigate the menu.



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: Graff on Jun 26, '04 01:57:39AM

You can get around the menu by doing this:

  1. Open Script Editor (located in /Applications/AppleScript/)
  2. Enter this into the new window:
    tell application "iTunes"
    	if player state is not playing then
    		play
    	else
    		pause
    	end if
    end tell
  3. Go to the menu item File->Save
  4. Select Application as the File Format
  5. Make sure none of the Options are checked
  6. Name it something like "Toggle iTunes.app"
  7. Hit the Save button
  8. Drag the application from wherever you saved it to the Dock.

Now just click the new item in the dock to toggle iTunes between playing and paused. It will even launch iTunes and start if playing if it is not already running.

- Graff



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Use Applescript WAS:Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: dubmaster on Jun 28, '04 07:28:03PM

Open a new Script Editor window,
type or paste the following:

tell application "iTunes"
playpause
end tell

Save it as an application, stick it somewhere, maybe in ~/Library/Scripts and next drag it into the dock. just click it when you want to play or pause iTunes.

---
DubMaster
--
Rehab is for quitters!



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: SageSOlson on Jun 25, '04 11:47:38AM

Or one could use Butler's ability to run actions (such as, well, pausing iTunes) in corners. ;-) That way you can leave your iTunes window maximized in all its glory.



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: Greedo on Jun 25, '04 12:52:38PM

I take it that you have an older keyboard that doesn't have the "pause audio" button on it? Because that has to be the easiest way to mute your system.



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Pause key on which keyboards?
Authored by: iljitsch on Jun 25, '04 04:38:04PM

Ok, got myself a login...

No, neither my (European) Powerbook 15 nor my wireless keyboard have a pause key. They're not particularly old for obvious reasons. Which types of keyboards have these keys?

I wish Apple would provide a decent way to define these types of functions as part of the system, as the current keyboard shortcut mechanism only works with the current application, and only for menu functions that hide behind the non-existant right mouse button when the menu is activated.

I must say that SizzlingKeys4iTunes that someone mentioned looks promising, so I'm going to give that one a try. Too bad it insists on modifier keys and won't accept the otherwise useless enter key as a hot key, though.

And yes, I know about application switching, menus and the mute button. The latter has the disadvantage that it messes up iTunes idea of what you recently listened to (which can be bad for some smart playlists) and the former that it takes too much interaction, I want to stop the music with one hand while looking around for the phone and reaching for it with the other hand.



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Pause key on which keyboards?
Authored by: mrchaotica on Jun 25, '04 08:45:10PM
Although Sizzling Keys probably works well for iTunes, you seemed to want a more general solution. Butler is one such solution; it allows you to make hotkeys to do just about anything.

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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: ptwithy on Jun 25, '04 02:01:55PM

Synergy: http://synergy.wincent.com/



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: freddiepingpong on Jun 25, '04 04:52:48PM

You're absolutely right. It's all about Synergy. I just have control as my modifier key and then ctr-space easily plays and pauses tracks and ctr-left/right skips and ctr-enter brings it forward. So easy and effortless, it's the greatest thing about my mac and there are many.



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Pause iTunes on Mute
Authored by: bentucker on Jun 25, '04 02:23:43PM

Here's what I want. When the phone rings, I jump for the mute button on my powerbook's keyboard. Does anyone know of a way to have that also pause iTunes... and then unpause it when I hit it again?



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Pause iTunes on Mute
Authored by: locklin on Jun 26, '04 12:20:01PM

If you have a bluetooth enabled phone you can have Salling Clicker (http://clicker.salling.com/). It have a script that automatically pauses iTunes when a phone call happens.



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: rocketdyke on Jun 25, '04 02:04:00PM

my favorite:

SizzlingKeys4iTunes from yellow mug software

http://www.yellowmug.com/

uses hotkeys. pause/unpause defaults to <CMD>-<OPT>-<SPACE>



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: DavidRavenMoon on Jun 25, '04 03:17:09PM

Switch to iTunes and hit the Space bar... two clicks!



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: tjj on Jun 25, '04 03:29:01PM

run Butler. (donationware)
Hit Ctrl+shift+space



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: akuma-x on Jun 25, '04 04:23:53PM

command+tab, then spacebar. Or just hit the mute sound key work for me.



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Easy "generic" pausing with iTunes
Authored by: sjk on Jun 25, '04 09:40:14PM

Exactly. Mute first, then Command-Tab->iTunes->Space to pause, when it's urgent to hush it quickly.



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Control iTunes with X-Tunes
Authored by: agraboso on Jun 25, '04 05:38:15PM

My winner program for this is X-Tunes, which is freeware preference pane app.

Holding down a particular combination of keys (Command-Space by default, but I use Command-Option-C) displays a floating window in the center of the screen with info about the currently playing track. Pressing Enter pauses/resumes iTunes; left and right arrow keys go to the previous and next song, respectively; up and down arrow keys turn up or down iTunes volume.



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Control iTunes with X-Tunes
Authored by: ryanmathus on Jun 25, '04 06:32:32PM

I'd definitely agree with the freeware application, X-Tunes. It's unobtrusive and easy to use. Plus, it's transparent (or you can change it to be such). So it doesn't intrude with other work for the minimal amount of time it's viewable after hitting the selected key command to bring it up :-)



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iChat working with iTunes
Authored by: Anonymous on Jun 26, '04 10:40:30PM

It is nice though, that iTunes pauses automatically if you accept an audio conference in iChat. Wish there were a way to do the same for a standard phone.



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iChat working with iTunes
Authored by: madrobby on Jun 27, '04 07:01:34AM

With my Sony Ericsson T610 I use Salling Clicker (http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/) to do exactly that. Wish normal "desk-based" Phone had bluetooth...



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Easy pausing with iTunes
Authored by: CharlesV on Jun 27, '04 04:55:47PM

If you have a bluetooth enabled cellphone, <a href=http://homepage.mac.com/jonassalling/Shareware/Clicker/>Salling Clicker</a>, among many neat features like controlling iTunes / mPlayer / Keynote from your cellphone, has a nice feature that will pause iTunes when you pick up an incoming call or make an outgoing call, and unpause when the call is finished. Really really nice.



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