A friend asked me today a question about iTunes. It’s one I get often. And the answer is, the best iTunes keyboard shortcut™ ever.

He wanted to know how he could find what’s playing in his music library. After tagging a bunch of songs, and moving around in different views, he wasn’t sure what he was listening to. (He could see it in the iTunes LCD, but he wasn’t sure where it was located.)

The best iTunes keyboard shortcut™ takes you to the currently playing track, and highlights it. Just press Command-L (Control-L on Windows). Whether you’re listening to music, watching videos, or listening to iTunes Radio, Command-L transports you instantly to the item that’s playing. (You can also choose Controls > Go to Current Song, if you prefer using menus.)

So memorize that one. If you get lost in your iTunes library, a quick Command-L takes you back where you want to go. There’s only one exception: if you press Command-L while playing music you’ve added to Up Next, iTunes will go to that music in the Music library. If you had added the music from a playlist, iTunes won’t go there.

Note: this doesn’t work with the iTunes Store, so if you’re listening to a song preview in the iTunes Store, pressing Command-L won’t do anything. Unfortunately.