Control iTunes With Hotkeys Using HKTunes

Posted by dkszone on March 9, 2010

Ever wished you could control iTunes using hotkeys or keyboard shortcuts? By default iTunes does not support custom hotkeys, so you just have to be happy with their default shortcuts. iTunes does support media keys such as play pause, and volume keys, however some laptops may not be supported.

HKTunes, an open source and free system tray utility solves this problem by letting you configure hotkeys for iTunes. Right clicking on the music icon in the system tray and selecting ‘Edit config’ brings up the options screen. Here click on any function to change the hotkey associated with it. Along with a single keyboard shortcut, you can also assign modifier keys such as Win, Ctrl, Alt, or Shift. The best thing about this app is that it works even when iTunes is out of focus, for instance when you are playing a game and listening to music.

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You can set shortcuts for Play/Pause, next track, previous track, volume up, and volume down. HKTunes is a portable utility, requiring no installation. You can carry it anywhere you go on a USB pen drive and have fun with your iTunes. If you don’t want to run the program each time you log in to your PC, simply add the program shortcut to the Startup.

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