Whatever happened to "Media Control: Toggle Pause" starting playing music??!

[Wojtek]

I have updated to 1.3u1 on my SGS2 Android 4.0.3, and have now found that all the tasks that I had programmed in that would normally set to play music with the "Media Control: Toggle Pause" command now no longer work!!!

After going into the online help for the Media Control action, I have noticed the instructions now say "Note: the Toggle Pause function will not work unless playback has already been started manually".

Pent: why did you change this as I relied on this to start playing music automatically, for instance, when I connected to my bluetooth in the car, or for my pre-sleep task when opening my alarm app at a certain time of the evening.

Can you not bring these actions back to how they used to be, or introduce a new "Play" action for the media control action as this has now screwed up a few tasks I use and rely on daily!!! :-(

[Pent]

> set to play
> music with the "Media Control: Toggle Pause" command now no longer work!!!

I can't reproduce that.

> After going into the online help for the Media Control action, I have
> noticed the instructions now say "Note: the Toggle Pause function will not
> work unless playback has already been started manually".

That's been there for 2 years, I'll change it since it seems to be no
longer the case.

> Pent: why did you change this

I don't remember changing anything about Media Control.

Are you sure it's not your contexts malfunctioning ?

(try running it with Menu / More / Run An Action)

Pent

[Pent]

BTW, have you got 'Simulate Media Button' checked ?

Pent

[Wojtek]

Hi Pent,

I have tried doing the run an action via the menu / more, and had simulate media button ticked. It only worked after I manually started my media player, paused, got out of it and then did the media control in tasker.

However, in saying this, once I restarted the phone to clear the memory, all is well again and the media control works normally! Strange...!

[Wojtek]

Scratch that comment! The problem is back! Toggle pause does not start playing music unless I have manually started play through my music player first!

I have tried menu / more / media / media control / toggle pause, with simulate media button ticked.

Seems like something else at play here??! :-(

[Stupifier]

This is the same for me as well....any workarounds/tricks I see posted in other threads are extremely unstable/inconsistent.  They might work once....but never again.  I'm using the latest official Tasker release with CM7 ROM Droid Incredible.

[Unicyclist]

I have no problem with the media pause/play function running the latest Tasker beta. I'm on GB 2.3.6 though. No ICS for me. :-(

[Stupifier]

On Wednesday, September 19, 2012 7:56:48 PM UTC-7, Unicyclist wrote:

I have no problem with the media pause/play function running the latest Tasker beta. I'm on GB 2.3.6 though. No ICS for me. :-(

None of us have problems with pause/play function AFTER music has already been manually started....it is the other part we are all talking about.  Can you get Tasker to START the initial music playback in your music app.  For whatever reason, Tasker is very commonly unable to start the music playback.

[M]

I have a problem with it after music would be already playing. It would start the default player instead of pausing the current one.
But that is in JB, ICS worked but if the app was not running (I.e. not even in the background) it would launch the default player. The workaround I had was to launch the app first. It would do nothing it app already was running and start it if it was not. Needed to wait there too , if it was not running, so that it was fully loaded. Then I would send "Pause" followed by "Play/Pause" which guaranteed it would be playing regardless of initial state.

-M

[Stupifier]

I've been messing around with it more.  So far, I do get Tasker to perform correctly in this case....but not consistently.  It's pretty hit or miss.  I already have the app set to load and give it a proper wait time to fully load prior to sending the "Pause" "Play/Pause" commands.  I dunno, I just find it overall sorta unreliable.

[beerfuzz]

Here's what I found. Works for me.

After screwing around with it for a while I got this to work pretty consistent using Google Play Music.

Create Group Task Play Music

Create Task - Load App = Play Music

Create Task - Wait 3 seconds   (If the app is already open this isn't needed.. but seems to need time to load app)

Create Task - Toggle Pause. (Simulate Media Button = OFF) the default is on. Wont work for me.

Galaxy Nexus 

Nightlies 4.1.1 (20120924)

Tasker Version 1.3.1m 

[Unicyclist]

Sorry. I meant that I have no problem with it starting playback, or pause/playing after starting it manually. I have a simple task that starts the music when I click the headset media button IF not in silent mode. It works every time. In fact, I haven't started music playback manually for months.

[Brad Minion]

I don't know if I'm understanding the problem correctly, but it sounds like a similar problem I'm having with my GS3. I have a pair of JF3 wireless headphones. On my Droid X I could do a short press on the play/answer button to toggle pause the audio I was listening to. On my GS3, this sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. What I found was, that if the screen was on, pressing the button would always do Play then pause immediately. It would not toggle back to play only. If the screen is off, the button works as a play/pause toggle. I don't know why the screen being on or off makes a difference but it does in my case. So, I created a profile that turns off the screen after 15 seconds to insure that the screen was always off when the app is in the foreground. Now my play/pause toggle works again.

Brad

[Stupifier]

Finally figured out my playback issues.  To recap, I couldn't get Tasker to Start playing music...like the very 1st instance of music playback.  I had it open the music app, wait for it to load, then would send the Pause or Toggle Pause commands.....the app would never start the initial play of music.  Here is the Pause and Toggle Pause command combination that ends up working for me.

1.  Pause (Simulate Media Button On)
2.  Wait 500ms
3.  Toggle Pause (Simulate Media Button On)
4.  Wait 500ms
5.  Toggle Pause (Simulate Media Button On)
6.  Wait 500ms
7.  Toggle Pause (Simulate Media Button On)

Yes, I literally have to send the command 3 times before the music app (Audiogalaxy) finally understands wtf is going on.  Sometimes it responds before the final command.  Anyway, this has successfully worked CONSISTENTLY for the past 4-5 days now.  I'm finally satisfied since I use this function in my car and really hate manually beginning playback everytime I enter my car.  On a sidenote, I have no idea if those wait times can be decreased (they probably can).....but I'm not terribly bothered by 500ms wait times and would rather not mess with something that is working.

[Matt R]

You could try this plugin: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.snarfed.android.headphonebuttons

It works really well for me to send play commands (actually, I use toggle play/pause with "if music not playing").

Matt

[Stupifier]

Matt R, I already tried all the things mentioned in this thread.  They wouldn't work....or would perform inconsistently.  I have no idea why I was having such terrible difficulty with this simple task....but I was...and the only solution I've found that works so far is what I posted above.  Maybe its ROM related, I have no idea....I'm using CM7.

[Matt R]

I don't see that plugin mentioned earlier in this thread. I thought it might help with your "Sometimes it responds before the final command." Tasker only has a toggle pause command, but that plugin can do play or toggle pause only if audio is/isn't playing. You may still need to send the command 4 times, but using the plugin you might avoid the problem where it plays on the third command and then pauses on three fourth.

Matt

[Stupifier]

My mistake Matt R.  The plugin was mentioned in a very similar thread around here.  Using my current combination, it hasn't finished the task in a music paused state yet.  Sometimes I notice it start flicker quickly between Playing and Pause super quickly...but it never finishes in the paused state yet.  I'm just gonna leave it as I currently have it.  Its been 100% effective for me so far.  If I get a problem, I might tinker a little more.  In the end, I think this kinda issue is extremely user-specific and everyone sort of discovers their own solution.  I find it interesting how most everyone offers their own little quark to solve the issue (including me).  To me, that means something is fundamentally bugged.  Looks like developers know it.....just by looking at how many media control command apps there are out there.

[Pent]

I put Play in for next time (if you have at least Honeycomb), don't
know if it will help.

Pent

[Asim Ullah]

Guys, i have been struggling, so i have 4 media buttoin, one is set to play musicdirectory, that plays video, then i use the second button for pause, third for next some and previous button for prevoois, but non of the media control work, only play directory button works, what am i doing wrong ?

[Matt R]

From the userguide (emphasis mine):

Media Control
Send a command to a media playback application.
Note: the Toggle Pause function may not work unless playback has already been started manually.
Note: Tasker's Music XXX actions are not controlled by this action.

Matt