Windows 8.1 tablet, turn off screen while keeping tablet on?

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, I'm having a problem: I can't download the app. When I try to, the Windows Store is re-opened, and the app is not there. I'm Brazilian, so I dunno if it has something to do with the re-opening stuff, but I simply can't download the app. It seems there are different Windows Store for different regions, with different apps, and the one on my region doesn't offer TouchMe Gesture Studio. Any idea on how I could manage to download it? Thanks again!

So you asked if I think iTunes needs to fix their app?  I'll tell ya what I really think but I'm super opinionated on this topic. I usually don't even try going into this even at work, geeks and their opinions can get heated and I need to stay employed :)

What we want is to do basically like a phone would do, yes?  Phones and iPads (tablets) do this very very well indeed.

Windows 95 up until Windows 7 did not. They all completely cut out all activity in sleep mode.

With Windows 8, Microsoft finally built a mobile platform to compete with iOS and Android. Finally, apps can be built for Windows 8 so that it works like any consumer tablet or phone. But that's the key: apps have to be built for it.

All apps written for the new Windows Run Time platform ("modern app" aka "Windows store apps" aka "metro") are built on a mobile modern framework, just like iOS and Android.  And just like those, any apps need to be built and compiled for it.

Obviously, Apple has zero interest in doing this, because they would prefer that you only use their devices. Same with Safari and how un-optimized it is on Windows, even using a common rendering engine.

Google is identical with Chrome, where it caused significantly disproportionate batter drain on Windows for years (no really, look at the news at Ars Technica and others: http://cmdrkeene.com/r/chromebattery ). Google has no incentive to play nice but I'm very glad they answered calls to address it, I'm a big user at work as a web developer.

My point is that these companies are competing with each other, and you don't always get a great experience mixing and matching from the ones that are fighting.

Spotify has awesome app on Windows, as does LastFM, Pandora, and iHeartRadio.  Those are all streaming, so what about your own collection?  Well, Microsof's Music app is actually awesome. It has a store just like iTunes (no subscription required to use it, it's identical to iTunes), plus it can play what you already own. Heck, you can even dump them in OneDrive and stream/sync them to to your phones and devices.

Best part: Microsoft doesn't do the fighting. Even if you own an iPhone, Microsoft's music app there is top-notch. Apple might not want to support you on your PC, but Microsoft is a software company and they aren't here to ruin your experience.

Microsoft finally built an operating system that isn't stuck in 1993, capable of what everyone in the world expects from their devices and PCs, but to benefit from that, you'll have to make a choice. Since Apple won't built a modern Windows app to improve their "cousin" customers, you'll have to decide if you want to go all Apple, or try Microsoft's flavor (or all Google).

I think it's awesome (yet rarely recognized and even lesser thanked) that Microsoft supports "cousin" customers so well. You can buy Android or iPhone or Mac and basically get anything Microsoft makes.  Can you imagine how awesome the world would be if Google and Apple would play nice? Google won't even let Microsoft have a YouTube app. I have no idea why they allow Xbox to have one, though it's not allowed to integrate with voice search on Kinect or use your phone as a keyboard.

Every consumer electronics company is basically trying hard to turn Microsoft into IBM so they can move on and forget about them. IBM is huge, but do you get excited about IBM? Do you get on forums and talk about them? Do you care what they do in the least? How about that new edition of Lotus Notes LOL.

You might say I'm just a fanboy, but it's true that several coworkers and my entire family is on Windows Phones, PCs, tablets. We're probably the only ones in the state, but everyone loves it. We don't have an official versions of some apps, but the third-party independent developers we do have are passionate (you'd have to be to developed for this platform) and make some of the absolutely most beautiful, responsive, fully-functional apps I've ever seen. And for many of the official apps we do have, the independents frequently score much higher than official apps. And the Microsoft apps for everything in the Microsoft world from servers to IT professionals to CRM/sales to consumer apps are all amazing when they work perfectly with your live, your PC, and your services and apps.

I think Microsoft makes some rocking stuff that no one ever tries out. Even if you do have iPhone/Android, if you own a PC you should be trying Microsoft's services. "Everything just works together" isn't just for Macs anymore, but Apple (and Google) won't let you have it if they are part of the equation.

/End of rant

So I use iTunes and that does not work.  Are you telling me that iTunes needs to fix their app??  And if you know, would it make a difference using iTunes for the PC vs. iTunes from the store?  I know their are major differences on things like Kindle, so could that be part of the problem?  Thanks for your insight.

The screen on the Surface Pro 3 doesn't turn off when you close the lid (keyboard cover).  It can optionally put it to sleep (which turns off the screen).

Music for me keeps playing forever if I put it to sleep, even though it stops all my downloads and scheduled backup jobs and such (although I can set those to wake up to do their work).

Any app that wants to play music/audio during sleep can do so by adding a one-line command into their app file before the publish their file.  For example, I did this to my Weather Radio app that I sell in the store.

Why not just close the lid? Set the power settings to stay on when plugged in and simply close the lid? Just a thought. -matt