Media keys issue

[psihonavt]

Not sure whether this is Hermes issue but situation is next:

1. "Control playback with media keys" option is enabled. Media keys are working as expected
2. Launching VLC (with "Control playback with media keys" disabled) returns control over media keys to iTunes, meaning that with running VLC, Hermes play/pause key is launching iTunes.
3. Closing VLC won't affect this behavior
4. Re-checking "Control playback with media keys" option in Hermes preferences fixes things.

[nriley]

On Fri, May 22, 2015 at 05:33:45AM -0700, Anton Koval wrote:

Not sure whether this is Hermes issue but situation is next:

1. "Control playback with media keys" option is enabled. Media keys are working as expected
2. Launching VLC (with "Control playback with media keys" disabled) returns control over media keys to iTunes, meaning that with running VLC, Hermes play/pause key is launching iTunes.
3. Closing VLC won't affect this behavior
4. Re-checking "Control playback with media keys" option in Hermes preferences fixes things.

I think there's little Hermes can do about this - once you're up to more than 2 apps that handle the media keys, all bets are off. There's no real standard for coordination between apps.

--Nicholas

[kmoya]

@psihonavt my experience has been that the media keys control whichever app last had its playback started (or stopped) using the app itself. In other words, the last app you clicked the Play (or Pause) button in will be controlled by the media keys. (VLC does not seem to follow this rule, but as long as you have "Control playback with media keys" disabled in VLC this should work!)

So if you want Hermes to be controlled by the media keys do the following:

• stop iTunes playback (either with the media keys or using iTunes directly)
• switch to Hermes
• start Hermes playback using the Play button or by pressing the space bar

Once this is done the media keys will now control Hermes. If you want to switch media key control back to iTunes (while Hermes is still running) do the following:

• stop Hermes playback (either with media keys or by using Hermes directly)
• switch to iTunes
• start iTunes playback using the Play button or by pressing the space bar

I just tested this on my machine running Yosemite 10.10.3 but I know that it worked this way in Mavericks and Mountain Lion as well.

Obviously, if you quit Hermes, the media keys will go back to controlling iTunes, and if you quit iTunes, the media keys will control Hermes.

I apologize if any of this information is incorrect - it works very well for me so I was hoping I might pass along some useful information!