[bound008]

> The play/pause media key automatically starting the Music app

$ sudo chmod -x /Applications/Music.app

This was a common complaint I have heard from those coming from Windows/Android and even Linux... It's unix.

Also, the play/pause key works with other apps. Other default apps can be set.

Many other valid points in this article and thread, but I don't know why people expect the default behavior of the play button to behave any differently when no media is playing. Music.app may have an upsell, but it's still a place to organize your own personal music library. No cloud or SaaS required.

[dont__panic]

Play/pause always starts the Music app, regardless of your preferred music player. It's annoying for those of us who don't use the built-in Music app at all.

Your command doesn't work. The music app actually lives at `/System/Applications/Music.app`. And since Monterey, I think, even sudo won't let you modify data in that folder because of macOS's built-in protections that cannot be disabled:

  chmod: Unable to change file mode on /System/Applications/Music.app: Read-only file system

Even disabling SIP and booting into safe mode doesn't let you do this.

[Neff]

If you haven't seen it yet, NoTunes[1] does a great job of fixing the hijacking of the play button or when bluetooth headphones are connected or disconnected.

1: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes

[deafpolygon]

I think the complaint is that it shouldn't hijack the button in the first place.

[throwup]

There are solutions, but on some level this is no different from telling Windows users to just tweak some registry keys. It all leads to the same place.

[krono]

Solutions aplenty yes, just not for, say, my mother. Not providing a normal way for users to select a an alternative default (like competitor Spotify), is disproportionally inconvenient relative to the benefits for Apple.

Accidental music app launches by my pinky finger brushing the play/pause touchbar control strip button, well.. let's just say it happened more then once. Absolutely maddening.

[grishka]

Firstly, .app is a bundle, so

sudo chmod -x /Applications/Music.app/Contents/MacOS/Music

Secondly, on modern macOS you'll have to disable system integrity protection for this to have a chance of succeeding.

[the_gipsy]

> It's unix.

Unix has ads?