I'm using 0.08 and you can choose what you want it to be. This is for when any app is open. Pressing Space, Right, Left don't pause or change song when the app is open unless those are the hot keys chosen. It would make sense that when the app is open, the space should work. I hope this is fixed for the release of 0.08 or hopefully 1.0 soon 
1 2009-01-07 22:02:36
Re: [Duplicate] Spacebar to play/pause (3 replies, posted in Squashed Bugs)
2 2008-12-30 14:38:12
Topic: Use Spotlight Panel as a "Library" (0 replies, posted in Features)
I have been using the spotlight panel feature a lot and I think that more could be done with that to make Cog more powerful. If I could point to a few folders, Cog would use the spotlight panel to create more of a library feel.
I think it would be nice to watch a folder and Cog automatically sees the music files from those and has them in a Library type Panel.