title: Reliably Pausing Media Playback System-Wide in Android
body: <p>The title makes this sound much simpler than it is.. I'm trying to broadcast an intent that will pause most music players.</p>
  
  <p>I know I can use create a KeyEvent for that will broadcast KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE with this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    long eventTime = SystemClock.uptimeMillis(); 
      Intent downIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON, null);
      KeyEvent downEvent = new KeyEvent(eventTime, eventTime, KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE, 0);
      downIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT, downEvent); 
      ctx.sendOrderedBroadcast(downIntent, null);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And that works. It will pause the stock media player how I want it to, along with most other music players that support headphone play/pause buttons. But for some reason, it only works once with the stock music player. I can press the button to call this, and it'll pause music. If I start playing it again, and hit my pause button again, it doesn't work. Once I reboot the device, it'll work once again. But then, with Pandora, it works consistently as it should.</p>
  
  <p>I thought I might be able to work around that and just pause without using a KeyEvent. I tried this with AudioManager and another intent:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    AudioManager mAudioManager = (AudioManager) ctx.getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);    
      if (mAudioManager.isMusicActive()) {
          Intent mediaIntent = new Intent("com.android.music.musicservicecommand");
          mediaIntent.putExtra("command", "pause");
          ctx.sendBroadcast(mediaIntent);
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And this also works, and it works consistently. But it's inherently fragile, because by sending the intent directly to the Android music player, that's the only player it'll work with. No control of Pandora, Last.FM, etc. and I need it to work with most music players.</p>
  
  <p>I'm just not sure where to go next. I'm not picky about what kind of solution I'm given as long as it works. If you can help me make the KeyEvent work, fantastic, if you have some totally different solution, fantastic. I just want it to work! Thanks!</p>