Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
QuickTime Player, a popular player for various formats, has a nasty habit of inserting itself into your browser, and being difficult to remove.
Why does it seem that quick time takes over playback of MP3s in Internet explorer? This phenomenon appeared after I installed iTunes. instead of my default media player, quick time seems to want to play my MP3s instead of my default. The only way the default works is if I right-click and download first.
•
This is one of the Most Annoying Things Ever.
Can you tell I've experienced this?
Let's look at what's happening, and what to do.
•
Here's the scenario: you find a link to an MP3 file on a web page, and click it. The web page disappears, is temporarily replaced with the QuickTime logo:
And then a small audio player, centered on the page:
which then begins to play the audio. You have to hit Back to return to the page you were viewing, but of course that stops the audio.
Most annoying "feature" ever.
And it's not at all obvious how to get it to stop.
Turns out, it's fairly easy.
The "trick", if you want to call it that, is even if you don't actually plan to use Windows Media Player long term, set it to become the default player, then disassociate QuickTime from everything, and then go ahead and pick another media player as the default. But make sure to let Windows Media Player do the heavy lifting first.
First, exit Internet Explorer.
Run Windows Media Player, type ALT+T to get the "Tools" menu, then click on Options, and then on the File Types tab.
Make sure that MP3 audio file is checked. Click OK.
Now, it's also a good idea to remove QuickTime's misguided associations as well.
Fire up QuickTime Player, click on the Edit menu, Preferences item, and then the Quicktime Preferences sub-item. Click on the File Types tab:
I uncheck Audio, MPEG and MP3. While I'm here I also uncheck Notify me if other applications modify these associations, so as to keep QuickTime from bugging me in the future.
Next, still in QuickTime preferences, click on the Browser tab, and then the Mime Settings... button.
Same thing here: uncheck Audio, MPEG and MP3, as well as Notify me if other applications modify these associations.
Click OK as appropriate and exit QuickTime Player.
At this point, MP3 files should play automatically in Windows Media Player, outside of your browser.
If you'd like to choose a different player you can:
|
Now, the bad news.
It is possible that the next time you take a QuickTime update (or an iTunes update, which often includes a QuickTime update) you might need to repeat this process. It may have gotten better, but QuickTime has a nasty reputation for taking over.
I know that Microsoft gets a lot of flak for forcing things on you because "they know better", but in my opinion Apple's no better when it comes to QuickTime. Perhaps over time they'll improve, but the fact that this has been happening for years doesn't speak well to the situation.
Article C3872 - September 18, 2009 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
May 18, 2011 7:57 AM
For Windows 7 it is different, and there have been several comments to this, one of which is close but I found not to be completely accurate. What I found works for Windows 7 running IE9 (or IE10 preview) while keeping QuickTime is the following:
1. Start > Default Programs > "Set program access and computer defaults" > Custom > Choose a default media player don't select QuickTime but DISABLE access to the program > Select Windows Media Player > OK
2. "Set program access and computer defaults" > Custom > Choose a default media player don't select QuickTime but re-ENABLE access to the program > OK
I found that if I didn't disable QuickTime, the selection just wouldn't take. (Then I re-enable QuickTime but don't choose it so it can be used yet doesn't force itself as the priority. This is if the user wants QuickTime to remain capable.) Also, you do not have to restart IE 9 or IE 10 for this to work.
Cheers,
coder
August 10, 2011 12:58 AM
If you want to get rid of quicktime annoyance, just open whatever browser your using. Example: If i opened firefox, i went to Tools, then add-ons, then i scrolled down, found quicktime, disabled it.(you can always enable it for whatever purpose you need it for l8er on) Boom, now you can download songs and whatnot again :3 Hope i helped xD
October 27, 2011 1:17 PM
Thanks to anobody....that quicktime TRASH was driving me crazy! Quicktime is almost worse than the AoHell software!
"If you want to get rid of quicktime annoyance, just open whatever browser your using. Example: If i opened firefox, i went to Tools, then add-ons, then i scrolled down, found quicktime, disabled it.(you can always enable it for whatever purpose you need it for l8er on) Boom, now you can download songs and whatnot again :3 Hope i helped xD"
August 30, 2012 11:19 AM
This post is obsolete.
The is no files types in media player options, or QuickTime preferences .
In vista, you go to control panel, default programs.
You can set your audio preferences here.
But it does not help.
QuickTime still hijacks the mp3 mime in IE.
A possibility is to uninstall QuickTime and install QuickTime Alternative codec.
Don't know if this will fix the problem, but it's worth a try.
January 6, 2013 8:06 PM
Article is outdated for Windows 8 and Media 12. I tried everything, including making Media default player and disabling Quicktime addons. Nothing worked. Finally I uninstalled Quicktime completely. Now it's gone and Media is back.