Thx Ludek!

OK, thx,
I think I replicated it with similar steps,
tracking it as https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=20676

It appears to be only the "Artwork" lookup.

Thanks for the updated info, BTW could you please test which of the metadata lookup options is causing the issue?

I've edited the subject, now that I better understand the cause of my woes.

Heya Lowlander.
So the problem no longer happens, after I've made some changes.

I'm on version 5.0.4.2693.
It only seemed to happen with (possibly just) mp3 files that do not have artwork and/or any mp3tag data. (I'm uncertain if I have any non-mp3 music files that don't have tag data, but I might - so that is untested). When my playlist began playing one of those songs, MediaMonkey would steal focus. It appeared to be the popup initially, where the popup was the one with the active Windows colors, but the problem happened even with the popup display disabled. In that case, my active program still lost focus, but MediaMonkey did not visibly become the active window if it was already behind other windows.

And I do fully power off every night, so computer was restarted often during the months I've noticed this.

The changes that I have made:
[list]
[*] The pop-up display is still active (Tools > Options > Player > Pop-up display --> all 3 boxes are checked and all 3 sliders maximized)
[*] Background metadata lookups are disabled. (Tools > Options > Library > Metadata lookup) The following are disabled now:
[list]
[*] Artist Images
[*] Artwork
[*] Lyrics
[*] Auto-tagging > metadata > Audio > Artwork
[*] Auto-tagging > metadata > Video > Artwork
[/list]
[/list]
In this configuration, I have not seen the problem happen again.

Much appreciated!
As a side note: this is an excellent product, and I'm unaccustomed and elated at how interested you are in understanding and solving even small concerns like this.

So, after disabling the Popup display, and a PC restart MediaMonkey steals focus or becomes the active window on changing of file during playback? Which Build (Help > About) of MediaMonkey are you using?

I discovered additional information about this:
1) It happens even without the pop-up display - so clearly it isn't related to that.
2) It does not happen with my songs that I have album art for. Not sure if lack of album art is the actual cause, or some other less obvious property of those files, such as perhaps volume normalization.

I'll definitely have to try disabling certain functions.

I'll be quite happy if anyone else can replicate this, and has ideas.

Interesting. Thanks for testing that and letting me know - it must be something specific with my system.

What you have tested is exactly what has caused a problem for me. Specifically, for text interruptions, I've had the problem in SecureCRT, Putty, and Notepad++. For games - been in The Messenger (full screen), and BizHawk (window).

I do also have Windows 10, but appear to have an older version than you of MM5 - I have 5.0.4.2693, so I'll try upgrading that.

Thanks!

It might be a phenomenon that only occurs when a game is running in full screen.
Is there an option to run the game in borderless window mode? Maybe this helps.

Out of curiosity I had a play with this.
How I tested:
[list]running MM5 5.1.0.2832 on Windows 10 PC[/list]
[list]the options that you mentioned are [url=https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5ajkbdlq187fszxxzodcu/player-popup-options.png?rlkey=ot50tmxfmj0hkd1vxjl9hodbj&dl=0]set like this[/url][/list]
[list]MM5 is minimised[/list]
[list]I have another window, where I am typing 12345... etc[/list]
[list]==> when the next track starts the popup displays, but it doesn't (temporarily) capture the cursor, ie my typing is uninterrupted[/list]

You are doing something different?

I do like the Pop-up display (config found in Tools > Options > Player) , but would like it not to become the active window when present.

I've had several times while typing or playing games, that the next song plays, the pop-up display opens, and my main program stops receiving input for those few seconds. Makes for some interesting Bash commands that way. :o

Thank you!

<2024/02/21 editing title after cause is better understood>