One small annoyance I’ve had for some time with iTunes is the fact you can’t keep the video window “always on top” of other windows. This is really annoying if you are trying to work and watch your favorite podcasts or movies.
Currently there is no way to accomplish this with iTunes. However I found a nice small program, for Windows and Apple, that allows you to designate any window you want to always stay on top!
For Windows: PowerMenu
Description: PowerMenu is a small application that adds some extra menu items to the windows control menu: Always On Top, Transparency and Minimize To Tray.
For Apple: Afloat
Description: Afloat is a small Cocoa plug-in that adds “Keep Floating”, “Always on Top” and “Make Transparent” commands to the Window menu of many Mac applications.
Once installed simply right-click your iTunes video window and select “Always on Top” from the menu. Now you can easily enjoy your favorite videos while working away!
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not working for me with iTunes 7.4.1 =(
opps, on a mac
Dude, it’s well known that afloat on a Mac DOES NOT WORK WITH iTUNES !!! Do a bit of research before you start posting helpful little hints on the web, eh?
@Aaron seeing as how I don’t own a Mac I wouldn’t know. I just went off what other sites suggested. Don’t worry, I’m sure Apple will sell you a piece of proprietary software for $50 to allow you to do this.
Thanks for the suggestion, power menu is great!
At least on the Mac with the latest iTunes (and probably going back a few version) if you go to Preferences->Playback there’s a checkbox for “Keep Movie window on top of all other windows”
No need for a plugin
@Ryan Thanks for the last post. That’s exactly what I was looking for.
It’s funny that we are both commenting this post on today, little over a year after the original post.
After a year, with my MacBook, I have always been able to keep the movie window on top of all other windows. Until today when I downloaded and installed iTunes 8. The check box is still in the preferences, but iTunes does not do this. Mac OS X 10.5 has been amazing since I installed it. Hopefully there will be fix for this again.
It does work – you just need to also select ‘play movies and tv shows in a separate window’ in the playback preferences. Still that is rather hidden away when Apple go on about how intuitive their products are…
I was looking at itunes menu but there’s nothing that says play movie in separate windows till i figured out that it’s on the rightclick context menu.
http://www.machoe.com/2196/itunes-tip-make-itunes-video-float-on-top.html
I have a PC with the newest version of itunes 9.1.0.79 and the option is located in Edit>Preferences>Advanced Tab near the bottom gives you the option to keep itunes mini on top. Note itunes will not stay on top of all other windows unless in mini mode. Quick Key for Mini is Ctrl M. Hope that helps.
Thanks! For Windows 7 I move my cursor over the iTunes icon on the taskbar (when iTunes is open) and wait for the mini view of the window to pop up. Right click on that and the option will be on that menu. Works perfectly!
Awesome…It works great, now I can run my itunes visualizer and work at the same time…Thanks