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I have a Microsoft Natural keyboard that has a slew of media keys on it. Currently they are mapped to play/pause/next/previous functions in Winamp.

I've started using Rainmeter and found a nice little config that I'd like to use in place of having Winamp in the foreground all of the time.

The issue I'm finding is that if Winamp is minimized (but still playing), then my media keys no longer work.

Is it possible to continue to use my media keys with Winamp minimized...so that I can have my Rainmeter config in the foreground?

I'd rather not have both of them visible at the same time. I'm using Windows XP Pro with Rainmeter 1.1.

erik
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2 Answers2

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I use Global Hotkeys in Winamp (they're in Options -> General Preferences). I've set my play hotkey to Ctrl + Alt + X, for instance; this key combination works from any app, wherever I am, even when Winamp is minimized.

You can also set your multimedia keys as Global Hotkeys. This should allow you to control Winamp, even when it's minimized.

alex
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You can do this using AutoHotkey. It's designed to do exactly what you're asking. It's a simple scripting language that can bind actions to keys.

Here's a very simple example


^!p::
IfWinNotExist ahk_class Winamp v1.x
    return
; Otherwise, the above has set the "last found" window for use below.
ControlSend, ahk_parent, c  ; Pause/Unpause
return

This will cause Alt-Shift-P to send a "c" key to Winamp causing it to pause. It is possible to map the key to anything on your system. I think you can replace ^!p with {Media_Play_Pause} to use multimedia. I don't have one of those fancy keyboards.

Here are some multimedia keys AutoHotkey supports:

Browser_Back
Browser_Forward
Browser_Refresh
Browser_Stop
Browser_Search
Browser_Favorites
Browser_Home
Volume_Mute
Volume_Down
Volume_Up
Media_Next
Media_Prev
Media_Stop
Media_Play_Pause
Launch_Mail
Launch_Media
Launch_App1
Launch_App2

Here are more details: http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Winamp.htm

User1
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