iTunes: Please, make it stop!

March 18 2005

Am I the only one in the world who has nervous angst over the lack of a "stop" button in the Apple iTunes user interface?
Image:iTunes: Please, make it stop!
I understand that there's no logical need for a stop button, but it feels like I'm consuming resources unnecessarily in an extended pause.  Stuck in old paradigms, I guess.

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Toys  Add/View Comments [19]

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  1. 1  Roberto Boccadoro  | 3/18/2005 12:31:40 PM

    I wish there was the "stop" button too. Though is not necessary it makes me feel the controls are incomplete.

    Maybe we're getting too old for this new generation of kid's toys ? :-)

  1. 2  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 3/18/2005 12:35:36 PM

    Funny, when my wife slots her iPod Mini into the donut speaker unit at home I wish there was a stop button. Or a hammer within easy reach. And then when I turn mine on and play the Flaming Lips, she has the cheek to say "what on earth are you listening too?". Each to their own ;o)

  1. 3    | 3/18/2005 12:50:57 PM

    Actually, there is a stop button. If you change away from the playlist you're currently listening to, the pause button becomes a stop button.

  1. 4  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/18/2005 1:01:02 PM

    That's kind of a weird UI. it works, but it doesn't seem like the way I would have expected it to.

  1. 5  Ken Porter  | 3/18/2005 1:27:33 PM

    Why would you ever what to stop the music? :-)

    I have also found the Pause/Stop button thing a bit confusing. If you use the mini iTunes player (Ctrl-M), the UI does make a bit more sense. Perhaps it is an issue of consistancy between the large and mini player UIs.

  1. 6  Bruce Elgort http://www.bruceelgort.com | 3/18/2005 1:39:32 PM

    Now having a pause button for replication would be a nice to have feature for the Notes client :-)

  1. 7  Tom Githens  | 3/18/2005 4:13:35 PM

    Ever read "Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut? He writes that the designers of a space-ship control console included an "Off" button even though it wasn't connected to anything. It just made the operators feel better to see it.

  1. 8  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/18/2005 5:12:24 PM

    @7 - I am not sure if I read that one, though I've read a lot of Vonnegut. That's pretty funny - and exactly the sense I'm talking about.

  1. 9  Oliver Regelmann http://www.n-komm.de/blog.nsf | 3/18/2005 5:35:02 PM

    Ed, IMHO the UI is adaptive and consistent with common understanding of pause and stop buttons.

    When you stay within a playlist, iTunes will restart within the song and at the position you've been before. Thus the pause button.

    When you leave the playlist, hitting the play button won't make iTunes continue with the same song, but with the first song of the playlist you're in now. Thus the stop button.

  1. 10  Chris Whisonant http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com | 3/19/2005 8:16:20 PM

    @4 - Ed, that's what all the Outlook lovers in my company said about Notes...

  1. 11  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 3/19/2005 8:27:14 PM

    @10 ... touché...

  1. 12  Ben Rose http://blog.jaffacake.net | 3/21/2005 4:02:18 AM

    @10 - Of course we'd be looking for the "reset" button should it be Microsoft instead of Apple :)

  1. 13  Bill Geimer  | 3/21/2005 12:16:13 PM

    @12 - If Microsoft had done the UI, you would use the Start, er, play button to make it stop. And instead of just shutting itself down when you weren't using it, you would get the BSOD when trying to play a tune.

  1. 14  pali libot  | 4/2/2005 10:41:32 AM

    Yes! I want to be able to stop and restart the song from the beginning

  1. 15  JAY  | 12/4/2005 5:49:07 PM

    I am spitting mad as heck with the addition of a Stop button. If I wanted to play the first song in a playlist I would click on it. I mess around with my iTunes for hours on end, and there is never an occurance where I want to press play to start the first song in a playlist. Maybe I am a lone crazy dude like this, but I wish someone could just hack it enough to get me my Play/Pause combo back.

    If I get a phone call and have to Stop it, I lose the song and don't know where it stopped at!

  1. 16  James  | 12/23/2005 11:59:59 AM

    pali libot, you can restart from the beginning by pressing the '<<' button, it doesn't stop it though...

    i don't mind not having a stop button..

  1. 17  maggie  | 6/26/2006 9:43:41 PM

    My problem with the lack of a stop button is when I've played part of a song on itunes then load it onto my ipod, it picks up where i left it off on itunes as i'm listening to the ipod. i've only had the ipod for four days -- and for the life of me can't figure out how to get songs partially listened to while compiling a play list -- to play in their entirety. SOMEONE HELP!!!!

  1. 18  Rafael  | 1/13/2007 3:35:41 AM

    I was googling about the stop button issue and just found this.

    It's not that it's missing or something visual, it's a function ALWAYS present in all media players, virtual or not.

    I want to use iTunes, it's a really good software, but I also need to stop my songs and start 'em from the beginning.

    I think it's also needed a REAL minisize of iTunes. What's the point in a 100x300 window or whatever? It's WAY too big. It shoudl match window's titlebar height.

  1. 19  Raptor007  | 8/23/2007 5:28:13 PM

    @15 Jay, I agree! While at first I missed Audion's stop button, I've gotten used to only having play/pause and replacing my pause button with stop only annoys me. Like you, if I want to change playlists, I'll double-click a song in the new playlist.