No iTunes guide for iTunes pop-up activity?

Hello. Wondering why the iTunes guide isn't shown when an iTunes activity is set as a pop-up.

Scenario: While watching TV in bedroom, I decide to mute the TV (but leave it playing), then peruse iTunes to play something on my Mac (via the Mac's speakers). That's why I have a "Play iTunes" activity as a pop-up, because I don't want that activity to turn off the rest of the system.

But the iTunes guide isn't displayed unless I remove the pop-up designation. Can this be changed in the future?

(It would be useful to be able to view any guide, without actually switching to that activity until ready. Maybe I'm listening to iTunes on the Mac, and I want to view the DirecTV guide to see what's on. Then, *after* identifying something I want to watch, I could tap that channel in the guide to officially begin the activity.)

Please advise. Thanks!

The simple answer is that Popup Activities don't have enough room to show a guide as they're contained within one panel. Only normal Activities can takeover the Guide panel.

It sounds like perhaps you could achieve the same goal and get the iTunes Media Guide as well by simply setting the Play iTunes activity Automatic Commands to Off and Popup Activity to Off. Then, opening the Play iTunes activity wont change any other aspect of your system.

Thank you.