The Windows version of iTunes is indisputably the poor cousin compared to the Mac release. One feature it implements patchily is support for the multimedia keys found on many PC keyboards, but you may be able to fix that with the mmKeys.dll plug-in.
If you’ve installed suitable drivers, iTunes will recognise keys for play and track skipping, but many users find that they don’t work if iTunes doesn’t already have focus. The Everything iTunes blog runs down how to install the mmKeys.dll plug-in to stop that happening. One key point: iTunes needs to be restarted to make the fix work.
It’s not a perfect solution, but for owners of flashy keyboards, it’s definitely useful. Now, if only Apple would give up on trying to shove Safari down my throat with iTunes (yes, there’s a hack for that, but it’s one you need to reset every so often) . . . Thanks Benjamin!
mmKeys.dll – Use a multimedia keyboard with iTunes [Everything iTunes]
I cant believe people put up with using such a terrible program. I used it once, and gave up on it for Floola, then just gave up on Apple completely.
And if you have a flashy keyboard (Like a Logitech G series keyboard) You're better off giving up on iTunes for a media player with better plugins specifically designed for your keyboard.
Youve got to understand that it is a personal preference thing, and many peoople started using iTunes when they bought an ipod, before it was possible to add music to it using any other program. This plugin has actually been out for a long time, and there are specific ones for keyboards like the logitech G series of keyboards. I use itunes and it works great for me, has all the features I want and as I have some music that I have purchased through the itunes store thanks to gift cards and the like, I see no reason to go through all the trouble of removing the drm on them and then using a different media player when my current one works absolutely fine.
I guess i am comming from the other end. I looked at iPods when the first windows supported version came out, and thought they were overpriced underperforming junk. Since i had a free one thrust apon me i thought what the heck i may as well try. Itunes constanty stopped responind on a fresh windows 7 install, and it was fairly obvious you cant fit all my music on a 900MB ipod, yet it took it 2 confirmation screens to tell me that it wouldnt be able to, and ask if i wanted to do it manually.From there on it just really annoyed me, mostly because i couldnt drag and drop one single song onto it, something that i could do for all my previous media playing devices (Creative MuVo, Sandisk Sansa, DSi, PSP, Winmo Phone).
This was when i found out about Floola, but it still had some bugs that were annoying, and couldnt repair the iPod when it somehow died and corrupted itself. i had to reinstall itunes just to make it boot properly again.
All that aside, I dont mind the store. I have used it to find very rare music I cant find anywhere else (Estrak and Vertigo for starters) and I could cope with the long Pause/CPU overload it decided to do when it "processed" a download, but for anything else media i cant see a day when ill give up my Foobar2000 and MPC.
Poor cousin? It's the red-headed stepchild with a payload of Apple-ware that it tries to insert each month. If anything makes me switch away from using an iPhone it's the aggravation of iTunes (currently snatching foreground focus every 20-30 seconds).
I had the same problem : where the multimedia keys would not work unless iTunes had focus.
I figured out that if you run iTunes as an administrator the problem is fixed!