[mAxximo]

And 10.4.1 didn't fix it. Just realised that.

[Big Mac]

Darn. Well, at least we can go back to OS 9, which handles it so much better!

[mAxximo]

That's a brilliant piece of thinking. Way to go.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

That's a brilliant piece of thinking. Way to go.

Dude, didn't I take the words right out of your mouth? If you could have written something like that, you would have.

[Detrius]

I'm thinking about switching back to that god-aweful 10.3.9 due to this ONE lost feature.

no, not really.

Did you complain to Apple in addition to us?

[midwinter]

What is FUS?

[Detrius]

Fast User Switching. It's okay. Normal people aren't expected to know this stuff. Geeks and nerds tend to shorten things they don't like to spell out... that's part of where the short Unix commands came from (like mv, cd, rm, ls, du, df). In this case, we may just be dealing with FUD.

[mAxximo]

A broken feature == FUD

Hare Krishna!

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

A broken feature == FUD

Hare Krishna!

Originally, iTunes stopped the music when you switched users. How do you know that the music continuing to play wasn't the broken feature? Perhaps they fixed the bug. After all, you do have to switch users back to change anything. The existence of the iTunes widget could be very confusing, since it doesn't interact with the *playing* version of iTunes when you switch users. In fact, the bug could be considered that the music doesn't STOP when you switch users--the audio just goes away.

I think the feature you are requesting is only useful if you can control the audio from any logged-in user. In fact, if you have your library shared and leave iTunes open, any other user on the computer can access the shared library. Using it this way, the user that is logged in CAN control the audio that is playing--instead of being forced to perpetually listed to what is being played by the other user. The bug or missing feature at this point, then, is that the play count isn't updated, and the party list is no longer available. This would be the optimal way of designing the ability to listen to your audio across a user switch--not having the audio continue to play. Therefore, your original complaint is moot... just a complaint that something doesn't work the way you want it to work, without ever actually providing a useable alternative. I agree that a feature is missing, but I claim that the feature was never there, and that the annoying workaround has been disabled.

"Real users never know what they want, but they always know when your program doesn't deliver it."

Jesus Christ!

[Detrius]

BTW, I just requested Apple add these features to iTunes 5. I also requested Apple add the feature of adding references to song on another library into the local library.

You will probably get a better response to your complaints if you provide a good alternative--and if you complain to Apple via their feedback page. Complaining here about bugs and lost features is nothing but whining. While you have every right to do that, you are wasting your breath if you don't directly notify Apple of what you think should be done.

[mAxximo]

Originally Posted by Detrius

Originally, iTunes stopped the music when you switched users. How do you know that the music continuing to play wasn't the broken feature? Perhaps they fixed the bug.

No, the bug was fixed when the music continued to play after switching users, obviously.
Simply put, if I want the music to stop playing when switching users I can always do it manually. But if I want it to keep playing instead there's no way to enable it UNLESS this feature is present. Therefore, the feature is “music keeps playing”.

Therefore, your original complaint is moot... just a complaint that something doesn't work the way you want it to work, without ever actually providing a useable alternative. I agree that a feature is missing, but I claim that the feature was never there, and that the annoying workaround has been disabled.

You would claim Atlanta is in China if a bug in Time Zone said so.

[dli537]

I think it's a bug. You can try the following.

Play a song and then switch to another user account. The music will stop. Log out to the login window. You can hear the music again for a short period of time during the transition and it'll stop again when the login window is fully loaded. It's just weird.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

No, the bug was fixed when the music continued to play after switching users, obviously.
Simply put, if I want the music to stop playing when switching users I can always do it manually. But if I want it to keep playing instead there's no way to enable it UNLESS this feature is present. Therefore, the feature is “music keeps playing”.


You would claim Atlanta is in China if a bug in Time Zone said so.

Simply put, if I want to delete a folder, I can always do it manually in the Terminal. Just because you liked one detail better than another doesn't mean that it was the *best* way to do it. I like having the music continue to play better than it stopping, but I actually don't like either of those options, for reasons stated above. There are better, more user-friendly ways of accomplishing the end goal.


And who says Atlanta isn't in China? Perhaps there's a space warp around the city that makes it look like it's in Georgia. Besides... who would want to live somewhere that has a blatant racist symbol as the state flag?

[mpancha]

Originally Posted by Detrius

I think the feature you are requesting is only useful if you can control the audio from any logged-in user. In fact, if you have your library shared and leave iTunes open, any other user on the computer can access the shared library. Using it this way, the user that is logged in CAN control the audio that is playing--instead of being forced to perpetually listed to what is being played by the other user. The bug or missing feature at this point, then, is that the play count isn't updated, and the party list is no longer available. This would be the optimal way of designing the ability to listen to your audio across a user switch--not having the audio continue to play. Therefore, your original complaint is moot... just a complaint that something doesn't work the way you want it to work, without ever actually providing a useable alternative. I agree that a feature is missing, but I claim that the feature was never there, and that the annoying workaround has been disabled.

"Real users never know what they want, but they always know when your program doesn't deliver it."

Jesus Christ!

I actually would like that feature... b/c there are times at work when I'd rather have my music going while I leave my laptop at the login window. I tend to walk away from my desk frequently enough during a work day that I forget to lock my computer (leave it at the login window) when I leave, so I'd rather just leave it at the login window and keep my music going.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

No, the bug was fixed when the music continued to play after switching users, obviously.
Simply put, if I want the music to stop playing when switching users I can always do it manually. But if I want it to keep playing instead there's no way to enable it UNLESS this feature is present. Therefore, the feature is “music keeps playing”.

The expected behavior is that iTunes stops playback when switching users, I'm 100 % sure on this.

Other apps (like Adium) offer you more choices, e. g. to set the status to Busy.

Reason is that you cannot control and interact with those apps anymore (as it should be, since another user is working on the system).

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mpancha

I actually would like that feature... b/c there are times at work when I'd rather have my music going while I leave my laptop at the login window. I tend to walk away from my desk frequently enough during a work day that I forget to lock my computer (leave it at the login window) when I leave, so I'd rather just leave it at the login window and keep my music going.

Use a screensaver to lock your computer instead. The music will keep on playing.

[mpancha]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

The expected behavior is that iTunes stops playback when switching users, I'm 100 % sure on this.

Other apps (like Adium) offer you more choices, e. g. to set the status to Busy.

Reason is that you cannot control and interact with those apps anymore (as it should be, since another user is working on the system).

The thing is iTunes (not sure which version) did continue playing when at the login window, but when you logged in as another user, the playback stopped. That's what I would prefer

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Use a screensaver to lock your computer instead. The music will keep on playing.

I used to do that, but after 2 instances where the screensaver locked my computer when it was actually just in screen saver mode due to nonuse for a few minutes, it got on my nerves and I quit using password mode on the screensaver.

Regardless, its just a preference I would like to see, but I doubt apple will bring it back. I'll survive regardless.

[mishap]

Connect to iTunes from the other user using Bonjour Sharing. What's the problem?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mpancha

I used to do that, but after 2 instances where the screensaver locked my computer when it was actually just in screen saver mode due to nonuse for a few minutes, it got on my nerves and I quit using password mode on the screensaver.

Regardless, its just a preference I would like to see, but I doubt apple will bring it back. I'll survive regardless.

You can also set your screensaver timer to never and either activate a hot corner or enable the security menu item (Applications/Utilities > Keychain > Keychain Prefs > Activate Menu Item) and start the screensaver from there. How's that?

[mAxximo]

Apparently not many of you are using FUS. iTunes was fixed long ago (10.3.1 I think) to keep playing while using another account. That was the normal behaviour all along until Tiger broke it. I expect Apple to fix it ASAP (yes, I posted my feedback). For those of you not liking it, it would be good to have a preference so each one could choose the desired behaviour.

[mpancha]

Originally Posted by mishap

Connect to iTunes from the other user using Bonjour Sharing. What's the problem?

I wouldn't want my itunes playing on a different user. I jsut want it to continue while at the login window.

hot corners doesn't work out so well when I'm confined to the 1024x768 limitation of the ibook display and usually havce it packed. and, I dont want a password on my screen saver as it becomes an annoyance to me (personal preference).

Like I said, its somethign I'd like to see, but I have learned to deal with it until apple brings back the option, or not.

[bmedina]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

The expected behavior is that iTunes stops playback when switching users, I'm 100 % sure on this.

And I'm 100 percent sure that I expect the music to keep playing. But maXXimo is right; it should be a preference.

And we wouldn't be complaining about this if it hadn't changed with Tiger.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by bmedina

And I'm 100 percent sure that I expect the music to keep playing. But maXXimo is right; it should be a preference.

And we wouldn't be complaining about this if it hadn't changed with Tiger.

Yes, but that's not what Apple's position is.

I remember also that iTunes used to stop in Panther as well ...

[chris v]

It doesn't make any sense at all to have something playing, over which you have no control. When you switch accounts with iTunes playing, how do you pause or switch songs? I recall this really exasperating my daughter, who'd want to be able to hear her own tunes, but also be able to leave my radio station playing on my account. Having bits of one user's environment spilling over into another's sounds like the non-standard behavior to me, at least from a logical perspective.

Edit: It seems that the original bug was that you couldn't have more than one instance of iTunes running in different user accounts.

Edit Edit: I just launched iTunes in my account, hit play, then switched to my wife's account. iTunes muted. I launcher her iTunes and hit play-- it played fine. I left it playing, and switched back to my account, and the song switched from the one playing in hers, to the one playing in mine. Furthermore, it would appear that iTunes doesn't pause-- the output is merely handed off between users. This looks like the most standard behavior, from Apple's (and my) perspective. I wouldn't call it buggy at all.

[mAxximo]

Originally Posted by chris v

It doesn't make any sense at all to have something playing, over which you have no control. When you switch accounts with iTunes playing, how do you pause or switch songs? I recall this really exasperating my daughter, who'd want to be able to hear her own tunes, but also be able to leave my radio station playing on my account. Having bits of one user's environment spilling over into another's sounds like the non-standard behavior to me, at least from a logical perspective.

Well, you can always stop iTunes before switching accounts if that's what you want. But what if I want it to keep playing instead? There's no way of doing it if Apple decides to change the way things were in Panther.
In the end, iTunes should have a preference so each one decides which one is the desired behaviour but, why am I not holding my breath.

[d.fine]

Originally Posted by dli537

I think it's a bug. You can try the following.

Play a song and then switch to another user account. The music will stop. Log out to the login window. You can hear the music again for a short period of time during the transition and it'll stop again when the login window is fully loaded. It's just weird.

I get that too. Only after that everything is stuck, the clock works, and menumeters as well, but nothing else does, Finder is unresponsive, Dock stutters and doesn't change, bla bla bla. I just stop iTunes before I switch.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

Well, you can always stop iTunes before switching accounts if that's what you want. But what if I want it to keep playing instead? There's no way of doing it if Apple decides to change the way things were in Panther.
In the end, iTunes should have a preference so each one decides which one is the desired behaviour but, why am I not holding my breath.

Chris v gave a nice explanation why.

[Dog Like Nature]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

Well, you can always stop iTunes before switching accounts if that's what you want. But what if I want it to keep playing instead? There's no way of doing it if Apple decides to change the way things were in Panther.
In the end, iTunes should have a preference so each one decides which one is the desired behaviour but, why am I not holding my breath.

Although I liked the original Panther behaviour, it makes more sense in Tiger. What you're suggesting is UserA can force his/her music on UserB, even when the display is switched to UserB's desktop.

If, by setting a preference, UserA can make his/her music play continually, how is that fair to UserB? What might make sense is a global sound preference that says "Allow sound from other logged-in users to be heard" -- in this way, the preference is with the oncoming user (UserB) not the other way around.

[Big Mac]

In Tiger, is it just iTunes that gets muted, or do all other sounds of other users get muted as well? For my users, it's very useful for the respective Mail notifications to be heard.

[TETENAL]

All sounds of switched out users are muted.

If you want to hear another user's music, turn on music sharing.

[Millennium]

If I call correctly, this is not a bug: Apple does this deliberately. In fact, it's the bit about playing music during transitions between users which is the real bug. Why do they do this? My guess is that the RIAA makes them do it, as a condition for continuing to license its songs to Apple for sale at iTMS. They've been known to do this type of thing in the past.

This is very stupid on the RIAA's part, and frankly they shouldn't be allowed to insist on things like this, but unfortunately they've got Apple over a barrel: if RIAA pulls their songs, iTMS is basically dead.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

Well, you can always stop iTunes before switching accounts if that's what you want. But what if I want it to keep playing instead? There's no way of doing it if Apple decides to change the way things were in Panther.
In the end, iTunes should have a preference so each one decides which one is the desired behaviour but, why am I not holding my breath.

So you want an option that actually breaks UI consistency. I think you would befuddle the UI people at Apple as to just why you need to have multiple accounts for just you. The idea behind the multi-user environment is that each user account is for an actual different person. The user who sits at a machine and logs into multiple accounts one after another as part of his daily routine has to be pretty rare compared to machines where different people have their own personal accounts. It's bad UI to have one person's app interfere with another users' login. You may want this feature, but to call it a bug when it has been actually FIXED to behave in a consistent manner, that the vast majority of users would expect, is specious, disingenuous and as usual, combative.

[mAxximo]

UI consistency has nothing to do with this. Stopping the playback of music, radio or a soccer match because my girlfriend wants to check her email is plain stupid, moreover when during the last year and a half it was the other way around. Funny how nobody complained about this at the time and now, suddendly, it has become something that “the vast majority of users would expect”.

[Chuckit]

Being able to make another user listen to your music and have no way to stop it is an extremely egomaniacal feature.

At any rate, the idea behind different users is to have different environments. This is like saying, "Why can't I have my application preferences and and permissions carry over from one user to another?" You want multiple users not to be multiple users.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

UI consistency has nothing to do with this. Stopping the playback of music, radio or a soccer match because my girlfriend wants to check her email is plain stupid, moreover when during the last year and a half it was the other way around. Funny how nobody complained about this at the time and now, suddendly, it has become something that “the vast majority of users would expect”.

I'll tell you what's plain stupid-- removed. Sorry dude, but you really really really don't "get" the idea of multiple users, still. At all.

I did complain about it, as it was a pain in the ass to me. My kid would go to log into her account, then have to log back into mine to stop iTunes so she could listen to her music, and people would get booted off Radio Tejas. And if she forgot to QUIT iTunes while back in my account, she'd have to log into it AGAIN, as she was unable to launch iTunes in hers so long as I had it open in mine. This was very frustrating for the both of us, and I DID bitch (to Apple-- not here). So blame me for filing the bug report that got the behavior changed, if you must.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

UI consistency has nothing to do with this. Stopping the playback of music, radio or a soccer match because my girlfriend wants to check her email is plain stupid, moreover when during the last year and a half it was the other way around. Funny how nobody complained about this at the time and now, suddendly, it has become something that “the vast majority of users would expect”.

Just because we didn't complain doesn't mean we liked it the way it was. Perhaps we are just mature enough not to whine every time something doesn't seem absolutely perfect. I don't like it either way--with the music turning off, or with the music playing. The bottom line is that there is no way to control the music from the other logged in user if the music keeps playing. Therefore, this is bad. If you stop the music and use the sharing feature, then you don't get your playcount updated, and you can't use party shuffle. This is bad too. Both solutions are bad. iTunes is missing real features/solutions for this issue. The fact that you are self centered does not change the fact that the 10.4 and the 10.3 methods are both fundamentally flawed.

Anyway, you really do have issues. I agree with Chuckit that your complaint is, in fact, egomaniacal--as are all of your other complaints about OS X and fast user switching. This complaint, as well as you not liking the password-request-on-shutdown feature, are both centered around you not caring about other people being logged in to the computer (despite your arguments to the contrary in other threads). The purpose of fast user switching is not so that you can still have complete control of the computer while someone else momentarily checks their e-mail. The purpose is so that you don't have to quit absolutely everything--including a long compile, render, or download--while someone else takes complete control of the computer. Fast user switching is about sharing the computer--not about allowing your girlfriend to use a real e-mail client to check her mail without disturbing your computer.

I think you need to buy a computer for your girlfriend (a low end iBook would be more than sufficient, given what you tell us on here). This would make her life, your life, and our lives much simpler.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

...Stopping the playback of music, radio or a soccer match because my girlfriend wants to check her email is plain stupid...

So get her another computer...

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

UI consistency has nothing to do with this. Stopping the playback of music, radio or a soccer match because my girlfriend wants to check her email is plain stupid, moreover when during the last year and a half it was the other way around. Funny how nobody complained about this at the time and now, suddendly, it has become something that “the vast majority of users would expect”.

UI consistency has everything to do with it. Separate users, separate workspaces. And your music doesn't belong on your gf's workspace.

It's funny how someone who puts so much attention on GUI concepts would prefer such a solution.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by Detrius

Just because we didn't complain doesn't mean we liked it the way it was. Perhaps we are just mature enough not to whine every time something doesn't seem absolutely perfect. I don't like it either way--with the music turning off, or with the music playing. The bottom line is that there is no way to control the music from the other logged in user if the music keeps playing. Therefore, this is bad. If you stop the music and use the sharing feature, then you don't get your playcount updated, and you can't use party shuffle. This is bad too. Both solutions are bad. iTunes is missing real features/solutions for this issue. The fact that you are self centered does not change the fact that the 10.4 and the 10.3 methods are both fundamentally flawed.

Anyway, you really do have issues. I agree with Chuckit that your complaint is, in fact, egomaniacal--as are all of your other complaints about OS X and fast user switching. This complaint, as well as you not liking the password-request-on-shutdown feature, are both centered around you not caring about other people being logged in to the computer (despite your arguments to the contrary in other threads). The purpose of fast user switching is not so that you can still have complete control of the computer while someone else momentarily checks their e-mail. The purpose is so that you don't have to quit absolutely everything--including a long compile, render, or download--while someone else takes complete control of the computer. Fast user switching is about sharing the computer--not about allowing your girlfriend to use a real e-mail client to check her mail without disturbing your computer.

I think you need to buy a computer for your girlfriend (a low end iBook would be more than sufficient, given what you tell us on here). This would make her life, your life, and our lives much simpler.

I admire your bedside manner, and shall endeavor to emulate your sense of restraint from now on.

[SMacTech]

Originally Posted by Detrius

So get her another computer...

Or web mail, or an email account setup in his account, with options not to delete email from the server when checking. I can't imagine privacy is a big concern.

She can reply and cc:herself and if it is so darn important, switch to her account and the music stops. Boo-hoo.

Or get her another computer. That's what I would do. My wife never uses mine, its for me.

[mAxximo]

Originally Posted by chris v

I did complain about it, as it was a pain in the ass to me. My kid would go to log into her account, then have to log back into mine to stop iTunes so she could listen to her music, and people would get booted off Radio Tejas. And if she forgot to QUIT iTunes while back in my account, she'd have to log into it AGAIN, as she was unable to launch iTunes in hers so long as I had it open in mine. This was very frustrating for the both of us, and I DID bitch (to Apple-- not here). So blame me for filing the bug report that got the behavior changed, if you must.

The Lowest Common Denominator strikes again. And I lose yet another feature. Nice.
Like it would be too difficult to realise there's some music playing and stop it or quit iTunes before logging in to another account if someone doesn't want to keep listening to it. Too much to ask, evidently.

It's clear to whom this platform is being geared to.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by chris v

I admire your bedside manner, and shall endeavor to emulate your sense of restraint from now on.

LOL. Sorry dude; it's a very fine line, and mAxximo is prone to complain about highly direct personal attacks. It's all about how you say it. You can say an idea is dumb, but you really shouldn't say something like that about a person. Everyone has dumb ideas every once in a while. Sometimes, they are intentionally dumb (e.g. my idea on how to get rid of the ripple -- http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/258288/enough-disable-spotlight-kill-damn-ripple/ ), while sometimes, they stem from religiously backing up a small complaint that could have been retracted much sooner and thus allowed the original speaker to save face. Of course, I'm saying this hypothetically, and not directly implying anything about the situation at hand.

[Detrius]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

The Lowest Common Denominator strikes again. And I lose yet another feature. Nice.
Like it would be too difficult to realise there's some music playing and stop it or quit iTunes before logging in to another account if someone doesn't want to keep listening to it. Too much to ask, evidently.

It's clear to whom this platform is being geared to.

You expect people to know ahead of time what they intend to do. You expect one person to be able to unfairly control the entire computer. You expect people to login as another user to turn off the music when they change their mind. What if that user is no longer available? What if the person sitting at the computer does not have an administrator password? Then, if this user wants to watch a DVD, there is no option available, but to force-restart the computer. At this point, we have two selfish people to deal with (the one that left with music playing, and the one that rebooted the computer, killing all of the original user's processes).

We aren't trying to make the point that it's bad UI to have the audio continue across switching users; we are trying to make the point that it's bad user interface to not be able to do anything about it. You are complaining about the loss of a "feature" that had no interface. You are requesting a preference be hidden somewhere to be able to turn this "feature" on and off. Basically, you are asking for something along the lines of how the Keyboard Viewer got buried in the international preferences... you want an iTunes preference to be buried in the System Preferences application... or worse, relegated to the defaults CLI utility. I'm claiming that iTunes needs the same access to shared libraries as it has to the local library (with the exception of being able to physically copy the files). Any audio source should be silenced across a fast user switch. iTunes should be smart enough to pause itself--not continue playing.

I think it's clear to whom you think the platform should be geared: toward the single person that uses the computer the most. The computer should absolutely not, under any circumstances, assume that people are nice, willing to share, and willing to accept the consequences of sharing. The computer should assume that any user logged in is sitting at the machine (or near the machine) and is waiting for their turn to get back on the machine.

It's clear on whom your opinions focus.

[mAxximo]

It's clear you don't share your computer with anyone else.

Also, anything the computer decides to do that it doesn't serve my purpose or that I didn't specifically ask it to do is, by my definition, wrong. Macintosh 101.
In my house, my girlfriend and I want to be able to listen to music with no interruptions while going back and forth between accounts like we've been doing for the past year and a half. All the other hypothetical scenarios that you depicted I couldn't care less since that's not what happens in real life when you share a computer with someone else.
Try it sometime and we'll talk.

[Chuckit]

You specifically asked it to switch accounts. Switching accounts means changing from one user context to another. Nothing you did in the other account should affect the behavior of the account you've switched to. That is the meaning of having multiple accounts. If you do not want multiple accounts, just don't have multiple accounts. It's quite clear that's what you really want.

[mAxximo]

No, I want multiple accounts and I want iTunes to keep playing just like Panther did all this time. If it was right then it's right now too.
But it all goes back to Apple changing stuff for no reason as always, leaving users in the air without adding a preference to retain the older behaviour. iTunes >Preferences >“Keep playing after switching users”.

[TETENAL]

It's not changed "for no reason". It probably has been changed because it is annoying to have switched out accounts make random sounds you can not stop. A preference in iTunes wouldn't make sense since iTunes has nothing to do with that.

If you want to play the music of a switched out account turn on music sharing.

[Big Mac]

I actually have to concur with mAxximo's general assertion, even though he's been so annoying in the past it's difficult to agree with him on any point. If global sound/audio were a Panther bug, why was it never "fixed" throughout all of those releases? And if Apple chooses to return the Panther functionality, what will be said then? There should definitely be a global audio administrator preference. Detrius: I don't really understand why you would object to having such a preference in System Preferences, controlled by admin. The administrator account controls a number of other system aspects, so why not this one?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by mAxximo

No, I want multiple accounts and I want iTunes to keep playing just like Panther did all this time. If it was right then it's right now too.
But it all goes back to Apple changing stuff for no reason as always, leaving users in the air without adding a preference to retain the older behaviour. iTunes >Preferences >“Keep playing after switching users”.

The reason has been explained to you often enough. After you switch users, you are in another context and you have lost control over the iTunes playing music. Crying `this is Mac101' every time there's a feature you don't like won't help understanding.

What you are thinking of is a scenario where the user actually has control over two accounts, your proposal becomes unusable when you really have several users sharing a computer. If ONE person ticks the checkbox, and the others don't wanna listen to his music, what do they do? They can't do anything.

Or even better: imagine several people having activated this feature and several iTunes playing. A normal user can't and mustn't have this kind of power. If you don't wanna think beyond your example, fine.

Originally Posted by Big Mac

I actually have to concur with mAxximo's general assertion, even though he's been so annoying in the past it's difficult to agree with him on any point. If global sound/audio were a Panther bug, why was it never "fixed" throughout all of those releases? There should definitely be a global audio administrator preference. Detrius: I don't really understand why you would object to having such a preference in System Preferences, controlled by admin. The administrator account controls a number of other system aspects, so why not this one?

You will still loose control over iTunes.

[Big Mac]

In reply to my reply:

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

You will still loose control over iTunes.

As has been amply demonstrated by this thread, many prefer that arrangement.