You don’t always have to have the full iTunes window open whenever you want to pause, play, go forward or back through your playlist or library in Windows 2000/XP. Like with Windows Media Player, you can put iTunes’ controls in the taskbar. Go to “Edit” > “Preferences” > “Advanced” tab, then make sure that “Minimize iTunes window to system tray” is unchecked.

Next, right click somewhere on the taskbar (somewhere where you won’t click on any minimized windows in the taskbar), hover over “Toolbars” and let that menu expand, then click on iTunes. The next time you minimize iTunes, the iTunes controls should appear in the taskbar.