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Mute=Pause

How often do you mute a song, only to come back 5 hours later and find that your pc is 90% the way through your playlist?

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When your sound is at zero, music stops.

I am sure that this must be available in some consoles, but I would like it built in my laptop and ipod.

—	danman, Jul 16 2009

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How come you don't just hit "pause" to begin with?

—	jutta, Jul 16 2009

Jutta, first off, this would be a good substitute. It is easier for me to reduce the volume on my speakers than pause.

In the case of an ipod, if your lock isn't on it is easy to accidentally reduce the volume to nil. One often incorrectly thinks that when there is no volume, the ipod is off/paused. This even happens with those sport ipods.

—	danman, Jul 16 2009

I set up space bar for pause alt-tab to player space

—	dev45, Jul 17 2009

Yea 21... I am not proposing a mute button. By mute we mean zero volume. When your sound is at zero, music stops. I will add that to description to make it clear.

//simply make the button with the desired function more accessible.// No, not really. We are talking about a safety feature here also.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

//How often do you mute a song, only to come back 5 hours later and find that your pc is 90% the way through your playlist?// Like a lock as a precaution.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

Let "Playlist" = P
If 90% of P = 5 hours, then total P = 5/90*100 = 5.556 hours - or 5 hours, 33 minutes and 20 seconds - the running time of about 7 CDs.

—	zen_tom, Jul 17 2009

//A mute button on a music player makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.// Windows media player has a mute button, and so do many others.

So what you're asking for is something that pauses the music when the external speakers are muted? I have to say, for all the effort it would take to set up, you'd be better off getting a cheap "media keyboard" with play/pause and volume buttons on the top of it.

—	mitxela, Jul 17 2009

Pause=Mute.

—	theleopard, Jul 17 2009

I propose a new feature that pauses the player if no one listens...

—	loonquawl, Jul 17 2009

A Tree-In-The-Woods button.

—	theleopard, Jul 17 2009

Removing the headphones from an iPod will pause it.

—	phoenix, Jul 17 2009

// In the case of an ipod, if your lock isn't on it is easy to accidentally reduce the volume to nil.

If you're listening to the iPod at the time, wouldn't you notice that its volume has changed, correct it, and apply the lock? And if you're not listening, wasn't the fact that you were playing the problem, rather than the volume?

I sometimes accidentally hit play on an unlocked iPod, and come back to a drained battery and an audiobook that has been quietly reading to itself. But this change wouldn't help with that, since it can't detect whether I'm actually *wearing* the headphones that are plugged in. I'd need something involving a heat sensor on the earbuds.

I like that iPods pause when one pulls out the headphones, and for narrow interaction channels, this is a similar thing. But its less clear in a context of an overall media player and a rich UI - what if you *do* still want to see the picture moving, but not listen to the sound? Have a "volume only" knob next to the now overloaded "volume/pause" knob?

—	jutta, Jul 17 2009

Jutta, // you're listening to the iPod at the time, wouldn't you notice that its volume has changed, correct it// yes, if it was just an accident then yes you would, but as miasere mentioned, it is more often than not a distraction that causes you to lower the volume and then once the distraction has passed and you have realised that you are no longer listening to your ipod, you have gone from soothing island music to hard rock.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

//what if you *do* still want to see the picture moving, but not listen to the sound?// In this case you can keep the volume next to zero or you can just turn off the setting-- there is often some resistance and a 'click' you have to pass to reach the last setting.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

//audiobook that has been quietly reading to itself// Jutta, you just gave me an idea, I will post it under ''audio book //''.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

I don't understand the reasons for this, or why it is difficult to use a pause function instead of mute. I never use mute on any of my music devices, it's always pause.

On my PC music program, pause is activated with the space bar. It couldn't be much simpler.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 17 2009

Tatterdemalion, our focus here is as a precaution. Many of us also prefer to reduce volume than hit pause.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

I like this. My laptop has a mute button. The mute button would work as a normal mute button, like in case you go to a website with an annoying flash animation. But also on mute it would pause your music player. So it's slightly different than just a button that pauses your music player. I'm sure this is bakeable, at least for my laptop's mute button.

—	calculust, Jul 17 2009

// Many of us also prefer to reduce volume than hit pause. //

But it creates a problem for you, which this idea is an attempt to solve. A better solution is to stop doing the thing that creates the problem.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 17 2009

Very true, tatterdemalion, but it is an old habit and I would just like to be able to have this pause feature available.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

Ian Tindale, I am not proposing a pause button. Rather I am proposing a kind of lock as a precaution. Please see above.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

Sure, but if you read the annos... by mute, I mean zero volume.

—	danman, Jul 17 2009

What???? I have never seen this in any console. I would be very surprised if it wasn't in an existing console, but under what circumstances can you use that as proof to justify your argument? This is certainly not a logical reason to [mark for deletion]!

//easier to access the mute button than it is to access the pause button// I am not quite sure where you pulled that quote out of, however, I did state that //It is easier for me to reduce the volume on my speakers than pause//. This is very true (acer aspire 7720G).

21, please //make the pause button easier to access// on your console, but I would like THIS feature on mine. I personally prefer to reduce volume than press pause.

// all your proposing is making it mandatory for the manufacturers of the brands you like to do what other manufacturers have already done// If you are so sure this exists, please give me a link. I am not certain that this exists, so until you can prove that it doesn't, lets view it as my idea. When you provide the link, my idea will be reduced to a suggestion for this to be implemented into many consoles. If this is then still rejected, sure, if your [marked for deletion] is justified, and you can consider it deleted.

—	danman, Jul 18 2009

danman, perhaps it would be helpful if you could explain the difference between a mute function that pauses, and a pause function.

It might also be helpful to know why you // prefer to reduce volume than press pause //. Since pressing pause would solve the problem you describe, it's hard to understand why you prefer muting.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 18 2009

//Explain the difference between a mute function that pauses, and a pause function.//

Sure, tatterdemalion. I am proposing that when you have reduced your volume to nil, the pause feature kicks in. This will be mainly used as a safety feature, to prevent your *mp3* playing through your entire playlist while you are not listening to it. It will also act also as a secondary pause feature-- for people like me who prefer to reduce volume when distracted than pause.

—	danman, Jul 18 2009

That does not explain it. What you're describing is a pause function.

Sorry, I don't see any difference. To accomplish what you are trying to do, press pause.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 18 2009

Are we forgetting that music is not the only sound a computer can make? If you have other software running that could be making a noise, and the phone rings, mute would be the obvious thing to press, rather than just pause.

—	mitxela, Jul 18 2009

Mitxela, we would only use this for music. Even if you had to reduce volume to nil while running a programme, the programme wouldn't be paused.

—	danman, Jul 18 2009

Good point 21, but we have stated previously that we will have a notch that you will have to pass before the pause kicks in, so that you can still use zero volume.

//Every sound application I've ever used has displayed a very accessible pause button on the screen//. This is by no means stops you from using those, it is simply a precaution.

We will have a general pause. All your video and/or audio will be paused when you cross the point( depending on your settings).

You also brought up another good point earlier in the anno's. To clarify, there will not be all that much resistance to push your sound wheel past the pause click, so the safety click will still function as a precaution.

—	danman, Jul 19 2009

I been reading this post for a couple days and I'm still not sure I'm following you... you want a separate "Mute" button that not only mutes, but pauses whatever player(s) happen to be running ? Program an F-key or something assuming your Player(s) will accept passed commands.

If you don't mind a bit of pseudocode:

var State type switch
var Volume type short

On F7
- If State is OFF
-- Get (external)System-Volume to Volume
-- Send "Pause" to Player(s)
-- (ignore error codes for players that aren't started)
-- Set State ON
- Else
-- Put (external)System-Volume from Volume
-- Send "Play" to Player(s)
-- (ignore error codes for players that aren't started)
-- Set State OFF
- Return

—	FlyingToaster, Jul 19 2009

spotify already does this, but only on adverts, and only if you turn you computer volume down. obviously, it can't tell if you turned your speakers down; but if you have a volume dial on your keyboard (that actually effects volume change through the OS) then you're covered.

i often turn spotify down at work, to come back and find i'm pause at the start of a commerical. great fun.

—	seanbo, Jul 19 2009

I think that this is a good idea, provided that there's no situation where you'd want to mute music/video without pausing it. I think 21Quest brings up an interesting point about those compulsory ads on various websites, but then I'm not sure you can pause those ads either, and if I'm right about that then that point doesn't come into the equation, and there wouldn't seem to be any particular argument why it *shouldn't* happen, apart from the complexity of the system.

I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to the HB, but from what I know of it, I agree with miasere, that it isn't in the spirit of HB to tell someone "it's too difficult, just learn not to make that mistake anymore".

—	duh_don, Jul 19 2009

duh_don, it's not quite a simple as that. He is asking for button A to perform the function already being performed by button B, but not presenting any reason why, other than to say he'd just rather press button A to perform that function.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 19 2009

the reason being that if (on a PC) if you're playing a track in one of the 2-3 different players you have, some of which will minimize to the tray and some of which won't, and playing an online game fullscreen(also with sound) you just want a one-button/f-key "wait" which performs a whole system mute *and* a pause, for when you have to answer the phone; a bit fringy but not that much.

or at least that's my take.

—	FlyingToaster, Jul 19 2009

//He is asking for button A to perform the function already being performed by button B// Which button does this?

//...not presenting any reason why...// I have stated on many accounts that this would act as a precaution.

—	danman, Jul 19 2009

// Which button does this? //

The pause function, you may have noticed, conveniently also mutes.

—	tatterdemalion, Jul 20 2009

Sure tatterdemalion, but when you rotate your 'volume wheel' so that sound is at zero, does your music pause?

—	danman, Jul 20 2009

No, but if they want the music to mute and pause (as a precaution), they press pause, which fulfills both these criteria most admirably.

—	theleopard, Jul 20 2009

Ok, sorry danman, I've been convinced, this mute=pause thing would probably cause one convenience, but three problems. When I want things to pause, I'll pause them, and when I want them to mute, I'll mute them. I don't want my computer telling me that whenever you mute you have to pause as well.

—	duh_don, Jul 20 2009

//it isn't in the spirit of HB// It's a mute point. {gets coat}

—	pertinax, Jul 20 2009

losing the will to live here...

—	po, Jul 20 2009

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