Fixing the Apple Remote in Snow Leopard

I've seen many complaints about the behavior of the Apple Remote since the Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6), so without getting technical on the cause of the problem, here's a way to work around the problem.

Problem

• Pressing the 'Menu' button on the Apple Remote launches Front Row.
• Pressing the 'Play/Pause' launches iTunes.
• Button events go to both iTunes/Front Row as well as the application you're REALLY wanting to control (like VLC, Hulu, etc.)

Solution

Part 1: Stop Front Row from Launching

As root, edit /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.RemoteUI.plist and replace the contents of the file with this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
      <key>Disabled</key>
      <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Reboot.

Part 2: Stop iTunes from Playing Songs

Open iTunes. Create an empty playlist (call it 'Empty' - makes sense). Minimize iTunes.

Rollback

So you want to put things back to normal. Well, here's the original contents of /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.RemoteUI.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
      <key>Label</key>
      <string>com.apple.RemoteUI</string>
      <key>ProgramArguments</key>
      <array>
              <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/Front Row.app/Contents/MacOS/Front Row</string>
      </array>
      <key>MachServices</key>
      <dict>
              <key>com.apple.RemoteUI</key>
              <true/>
      </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Put that file back to normal and reboot. Happiness ensues.