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Prevent iTunes web previews from opening iTunes automatically


Ever since Apple rolled out web previews for iTunes links several months ago, I've been meaning to find a way to disable those pages from automatically opening iTunes, which I don't usually have running. <del>These pages have a "View in iTunes" link already, so if I want to open iTunes, it's easy enough to do manually.</del> (Update: A commenter correctly notes that these links do not seem to work after making this change. You will have to open/search iTunes manually.) The Apple Blog posted some instructions for doing this, but that method didn't seem to always work for me. Some links still opened iTunes. My best guess is that Apple uses a variety of methods of opening these links, but The Apple Blog's instructions were only addressing one.

Then I remembered RCDefaultApp from Rubicode, a freeware application which allows you to easily set which application will open files based on filename extension (such as the ".doc" in "review.doc") or by the protocol in a URL, such as http:// or itms://.

I went into the URLs section of RCDefaultApp (which is a preference pane), and disabled the following protocols:
  • itms:// (this seems to be the most prevalent in my limited testing)
  • itunes://
  • itmss://
Then I went to the "Extensions" tab and disabled the "itms" extension, based on The Apple Blog's advice. I tested several iTunes web preview links and did not find any which still automatically opened iTunes. The other advantage to using RCDefaultApp is that the settings should work for all browsers.

Speaking of iTunes links, the folks over at Bjango have posted an article dissecting iTunes links and how to craft them. Great reading.


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iTunes

Ever since Apple rolled out web previews for iTunes links several months ago, I've been meaning to find a way to disable those pages from...
 

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Eric

I clicked the "do nothing" as well as "remember my response..." but actually want this option back. Does anyone know how to reset this option (for a mac)? I don't see anything in the preferences.

May 01 2010 at 2:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Eric's comment
Luis Menendez

Great tip guys, I downloaded the pref pane and apply my changes in less than 5 minutes. I'm loving it!!!

March 25 2010 at 5:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Quinn

I'd like to be able to turn off the Weblinks as I do have iTunes running all the time and these web previews are a pain in the butt.

March 25 2010 at 3:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
AreJay

Using Firefox, is this "fix" the same for Windows (I'm on XP SP3) users?

-AreJay

March 25 2010 at 12:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Britonius

Actually Google Chrome on Mac does pop up an External Protocol Request dialog box that gives you two choices 1) Do Nothing & 2) Launch application and there is a check box to remember your choice. @cdogg you probably set it to remember to Launch the app so now it does it each time. I'm not yet sure where it stores this info to change it. But it does by default ask you what you want to do and you could set it to remember to do nothing and then the prompt won't display and you will have to manually click the View in iTunes button on the web preview.

March 25 2010 at 11:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Philotech

Or just use Chrome. Chrome's default settings (on a PC; haven't tried on my Mac) make it ask before opening an external app (at least iTunes). So you get the browser page plus a huge (I mean it) dialog box asking for consent to open iTunes which I usually deny.

March 25 2010 at 9:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Philotech's comment
Colin

Nope, sadly Chrome on a Mac opens iTunes as well (at least it does for me).

March 25 2010 at 10:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
macuser

I have chrome for mac and it alerts me that an application is trying to open, asking me to allow or deny access. There is also a checkbox that you can check to prevent that warning.

March 25 2010 at 11:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sphere

Or you might just use a userscript such as

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/71794

or

https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/oookoagggbojjfppmpolekejedpkjkmi

which will do the same thing but preserves the possibility to click on an itunes:// link if you wish to.

March 25 2010 at 9:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex P

One problem, if you do this then the "View in iTunes" link won't work either! I suppose you could always drag it onto the iTunes dock icon, but having to do that would annoy me as much as it opening automatically I think.

March 25 2010 at 9:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

RCDefaultApp appears as "Default App" in System Preferences.

March 25 2010 at 9:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Greenie

I was wondering how to do this. Thanks.

March 25 2010 at 9:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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