SudoDoubleBang

See those out-of-focus keys there? They’re called media keys and they are the reason I use Ubuntu now.

Media keys are nice because they make basic media player operations like changing songs, turning off embarrassing music when someone is nearby, or even bringing the media player to focus, extremely, touch-of-a-button easy. The biggest difference between my computer’s two boot options right now, other than being open or closed source, is how well these buttons work.

On Windows, I am pretty much forced into iTunes, since Windows Media Player was no good when I first started organizing my library, I got an iPod for a birthday, and iTunes looked all shiny (version 4/5 or something). iTunes hates these buttons. When I hit the “Media” button, it causes something sort of like a scene out of the original Star Trek movie, when trying to go into warp throws them into a wormhole.  

After it figures out what just happened, my computer randomly opens either WMP or iTunes.  The volume keys move the change the volume at either a 1 or 2% increment, which is usually not what I need.  Most of the other “action” buttons don’t actually do anything, unless a media player is open and focused on the screen. Oddly enough, the “Power” button will shut down my computer.

On Ubuntu, the media button does nothing. No system crash, no eventual program opening, it just ignores that key, probably because I never mapped it. The rest of the keys work just fine, as long as any media player is open, including Rhythmbox, Banshee, Totem, and VLC.  The volume keys move big distances of volume, which is nearly always what I want, moving at around 10%.  The power key does shut off my computer, but usually weirdly abruptly.

To summarize, iTunes’ Windows integration is the real reason I switched, but the media keys get more use than other key on my keyboard.