Music stops playing on MS Surface when screen turns off.

Anonymous
2012-12-20T21:34:16+00:00

I have a Microsoft Surface. I have my mp3's in my default Music folder. When I play an album, a song will play but it will not play the next song if the screen has turned off. I always need to hit the power button again to turn the screen back on in order to play the next song. This makes this device useless as a music player as I have to turn it back on every few minutes. Often the song will start skipping as well when the screen turns off. This is for the Music app but also any other music playing apps I've tried such as Music Info. And please don't tell me this is by design. It is not by design. It's a bug. It would be nice to know when this will be resolved. Playing an MP3 is a basic function that should just work out of the box. It really can't be that hard. If a $30 mp3 player can do it I sure expect my $700 tablet to.

Windows for home | Other | Music, photos, and video

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-30T17:50:24+00:00

    I think there may be some system things going here, because I have the same experience as you with music that is on the harddrive, but not in a Onedrive offline folder.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-30T08:21:48+00:00

    I have this issue on my Surface 2. The playback works fine if the screen blanks out or if I press the power button while the music plays. Once it hits the end of the track and should start to play the next, it does not advance before 30+ seconds has passed (sometimes it never advances). This happens in all music apps.

    The music I play is local files from OneDrive (i.e.  they have "available offline" checked).

    What I do suspect happens is that once it tries to load the next track, it still tries to make a connection to OneDrive even if the file is set to be available offline, and the playback only continues after it has connected to OneDrive or timed out. However, the device only connects to the internet so often when in standby mode, and because of that it doesn't continue before the next connection attempt done by the device.

    Can Microsoft confirm whether the device will try to make a connection to OneDrive if you try to access a file that is set as available offline?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-02T22:36:45+00:00

    Well hey guys,

    I guess an easy explanation to all the developers at microsoft is needed...

    When i'm playing music, no matter if on native Music App, Spotify or others, the music DOES stop playing a few seconds after I push the Power/Standby Button on the top.

    The music DOES NOT stop when the screen blacks out after the time which is set in the battery settings.

    That just means we need an option in the advanced battery settings that just blacks the screen when you push the Power/Standby Button instead of sleeping the whole device. This option is missing. You only can choose between hybernate, sleep, idle stand and doing nothing. In all of these settings (except the last one obviously) the music stops playing after pushing the Power Button.

    The best work around till then seems to be that you go into Advanced Power Settings -> Display -> Black Screen after -> 1 Minute (it's the min.), let this minute expire instead of hitting the Power Button and the music comtinues. Try that. You can then easily reactivate screen just by tapping it.

    Well and btw i'm on Surface Pro (1st Gen) and I think this worked out of the box on my old Surface RT?! Correct me if not.

    Hope I could help a bit.

    Greetings,

    Timbo

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-24T14:36:06+00:00

    You would think that this is EXTREMELY basic functionality given that ALL other devices can do this without a hitch. Does the XBOX music team use their own products?!

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-04-24T14:25:14+00:00

    Sigh.  Every attempt to use my Xbox Music seems to be met with a new frustration.  Just encountered this using a Surface 2 (8.1 RT - fully updated).

    Real world functionality this thwarts:

    • Using Xbox Music to control playback of local, DRM free music to DLNA players;
    • Using Xbox Music to control playback or DRM protected subscription content to:
      • Xbox 360 (Xboxes being the only devices I know that supports the DRM, which is a MAJOR annoyance);
      • external speakers (via physical or bluetooth connections)

    Basically, I want to use the tablet to pick some music to play in my home, then set the tablet down, and go about my day while the music plays.

    Media playback doesn't prevent sleep in either Windows 8.1 or 8.1 RT?  Even as an option?  Why not?

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