Windows Only: Enable iTunes in the System Tray
If you're a Windows user, open the iTunes Preferences window. (Choose Edit, Preferences.) Click the Advanced tab, and then click the General subtab. Enable the Show iTunes icon in system tray check box to display the iTunes control icon in the System Tray, which is the box within the Taskbar in the lower-right corner of your Windows screen. Double-click this icon to quickly launch iTunes as well as to control it while it's playing.
Tip
The Minimize iTunes window to system tray option, when enabled, means that when you click the Minimize button in the iTunes window, it disappears entirely from the screen and doesn't take up a slot in your taskbar. Instead, double-click the iTunes icon in the System Tray to return the window to full size.
Play Music in iTunes
For both the Mac and Windows versions of iTunes, using the Library view or a playlist, play your music as you normally would.
The illustrations for this task show the Mini Player, which is a space-saving minimalist version of iTunes that shows only the necessary controls and status readouts and can be shrunk horizontally until it takes up only a minimum of space so you can stick it in an out-of-the-way area of your screen. To switch to the Mini Player in Windows, right-click the iTunes icon in the System Tray and select Switch to Mini Player. Select Switch to iTunes Window from the same menu to change it back. On the Mac, click the green Zoom button in the top-left corner to change modes.
Tip
If you want to ensure that it's always available for you to control your music, you can choose to have the Mini Player float on top of all other windows . To do this, open the iTunes Preferences window, click the Advanced tab, and click the General subtab. Enable the Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows check box.
View Song Information from the System Tray or Dock
While a song is playing, right-click (or Control+click) the iTunes icon in the Dock (on the Mac) or the System Tray (in Windows). A context menu appears with a number of different control options for iTunes, as well as a readout of the song's title, artist, and album name. These items are grayed out because they are informational items rather than controls.
Control Playback from the System Tray or Dock
The context menu has Play (or Pause), Next Song, and Previous Song controls that correspond to the playback control buttons in iTunes. Using these controls, you can skip from song to song or pause the music without having to restore the entire iTunes window.
You can also use the Repeat Off, Repeat All, or Repeat One options to choose the Repeat mode. Click the Shuffle option to turn randomized playback on and off.
Rate a Song from the System Tray or Dock
From the context menu, open the My Rating submenu and choose a star rating for the currently playing song. Choose None to clear the rating. The rating you choose is immediately saved into the iTunes database.
Mac Only: Control iTunes Using the Dashboard Widget
If you have Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or later, there's another quick way to control iTunes playback: the Dashboard. Activate the iTunes Dashboard widget as you do any other widget: Press the configured Dashboard hot key (F12 by default), or click the Dashboard icon in the Dock. Open the widget bar by clicking the circled + icon in the lower-left corner, and drag the iTunes widget from the bar to any position on the screen. This iTunes widget shows the currently playing song name and presents controls for playing and pausing, skipping forward or back, controlling the volume (drag the circular ring left or right), scrubbing to a particular location in the song, or toggling the Shuffle or Repeat mode. You can even change to a different playlist by clicking the i icon to flip the widget around and access the controls on its back.