2008-12-05

Howto make the Play/Pause key work for Amarok in Kubuntu 8.10

After installing Kubuntu 8.10 i could no longer press the "Play/Pause" key on my multimedia keyboard to pause a playing track in Amarok, instead it would restart the track.

It turned out that Kubuntu do set there own global shortcuts (Play in Amarok is assigned to the XF86AudioPlay key) for Amarok so you need to change them.

  1. In Amarok go to Settings -> Configure Global Shortcuts
  2. Press Defaults to reset all shortcuts
  3. Highlight the Amarok Action "Play/Pause" and select Custom Action and configure the Alternate shortcut to use XF86AudioPlay (Select the alternate radio button and click the box then press your "Play/Pause" key on your keyboard)
  4. Make sure the Amarok Action "Play" don't use the XF86AudioPlay shortcut and that the Amarok Action "Pause" is emty
  5. Assign your other multimedia keys like Stop, Next Track and Previous Track to there alternate shortcuts in Amarok

Now you should be able to use your multimedia keys on your keyboard like they used to. At least it worked for me.