Control the default music player of android or any other music player

How to control the default music player of android or any other player? By controlling i mean pause, play, next etc. Do i have to bind the service? I have tried to use the IMediaPlaybackService but it is not working. There is certainly a way out as i have seen apps in the android market which controls the music player. Any idea?

AudioManager mAudioManager = (AudioManager) getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);

if(mAudioManager.isMusicActive()) {
    Intent i = new Intent(SERVICECMD);
    i.putExtra(CMDNAME , CMDSTOP );
    YourApplicationClass.this.sendBroadcast(i);
}

you can by getting the audiomanager then sending commands to it.

these are the commands.

 public static final String CMDTOGGLEPAUSE = "togglepause";
 public static final String CMDPAUSE = "pause";
 public static final String CMDPREVIOUS = "previous";
 public static final String CMDNEXT = "next";
 public static final String SERVICECMD = "com.android.music.musicservicecommand";
 public static final String CMDNAME = "command";
 public static final String CMDSTOP = "stop";

Problem with sending Intent for broadcast receiver is that, user has to open Music Player at least once, also, It does not work for many third party music players.

The code given below works on all music players.

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);
sendOrderedBroadcast(downIntent, null);

Intent upIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON, null);
KeyEvent upEvent = new KeyEvent(eventtime, eventtime, KeyEvent.ACTION_UP, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE, 0);
upIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT, upEvent);
sendOrderedBroadcast(upIntent, null);

/*NEXT*/
Intent downIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON, null);
KeyEvent downEvent = new KeyEvent(eventtime, eventtime, KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN,   KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT, 0);
downIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT, downEvent);
sendOrderedBroadcast(downIntent, null);

/*PREVIOUS*/
Intent downIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON, null);
KeyEvent downEvent = new KeyEvent(eventtime, eventtime, KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_PREVIOUS, 0);
downIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_KEY_EVENT, downEvent);
sendOrderedBroadcast(downIntent, null);

I have tested this code on Sony, Htc and Samsung devices.

This code imitates play/pause button action from hands-free(ear phones).

If you want to control the music player (the current playing one) there is a way to send KeyEvents to it:

if (mAudioManager == null) mAudioManager = (AudioManager)getSystemService(AUDIO_SERVICE);

KeyEvent event = new KeyEvent(KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY);
mAudioManager.dispatchMediaKeyEvent(event);

This is a safer way, cause usually broadcasting keyEvent could cause to play more than one player at a time.

Note: it needs to have minSdk 19 or more.

Seems like the referenced KeyEvent methods don't work for me on the latest SDK. Using the AudioManager's dispatchMediaKeyEvent() method with a defined KeyEvent worked for me.

See: here

Code example:

this.mAudioManager = (AudioManager) this.context.getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);

long eventtime = SystemClock.uptimeMillis();

KeyEvent downEvent = new KeyEvent(eventtime, eventtime, KeyEvent.ACTION_DOWN, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT, 0);
mAudioManager.dispatchMediaKeyEvent(downEvent);

KeyEvent upEvent = new KeyEvent(eventtime, eventtime, KeyEvent.ACTION_UP, KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT, 0);
mAudioManager.dispatchMediaKeyEvent(upEvent);