HTML 5 background audio

[sean8102]

Hey everyone. Just got my lumia 900 a few days ago and i love the phone. Had a question though. I read on wikipedia that 7.5 supports background html 5 audio. I cant figure out how to use it though. What I am trying to do is stream a podcast from twit.tv through ie9 in the background. I go to the site and click the link for the audio version of the podcast and it starts playing but as soon as i go back to the start screen the audio stops. I was wondering if im just doing something wrong, or am i misunderstanding what background html 5 audio is? Thank you for the help. Also just wanted to say this site has been super helpful in showing me tips and trick for windows phone so thanks for all your content.

 

[mtmjr90]

I'm no expert and I'm not a dev, but my guess is that although the OS might support it, it probably has to be built in on the backend by each app's developer.

 

[ilsonfan]

Couple of thoughts. How are you going back to the start screen? Pressing the back arrow will close IE so try pressing the start button instead. Secondly, I believe there is a twit.tv app so try that instead of the website

 

[Hypnopottamus]

Don't have a fix for doing this in the browser, but you might try using an app in the Marketplace called "Podcast!" which is free and can not only download content in the background, but also stream in the background. Not really a "fix" but it is a workaround.

 

[mtmjr90]

I feel your pain though, I have yet to find a good podcast app for WP (I've tried them all) and sometimes I just want to use an RSS feed reader through the browser to listen to them. I've found that some (the Vergecast and Verge Mobile Podcast for example) have an embedded player that works as background audio (both through the site as well as RSS), so I really do think it's up to the person posting to make it work.

 

[eric12341]

Zune supports podcasts too, the problem mentioned might be related to the webkit specific coding of the site that alot of sites seem to do.

 

[Xerxes10]

For podcasts on the Lumia 900 I just use the built in podcast app under "music and videos". I subscribe to a couple twit tv podcasts as well as others and for the audio versions you can go back to the home screen and the audio will keep playing (in fact audio controls appear at the top of the screen). For video podcasts it does seem to pause them if you leave. You can also stream them straight from YouTube (video). My only annoyance is it will only download podcasts with a WiFi connection, and there is no apparent way to download a file directly from the source website to the phone to listen to later. As soon as you click on a download link it starts streaming...

 

[DanSmithKY]

I don't know if you were saying that you can only download podcasts over WiFi using the Music and Videos (Zune) app, Xerxes10, but if you were you can change that. In Settings, if you pan over to the applications page and go into the "music+videos" option, you will see near the bottom of the screen a checkbox to "Only download new podcast episodes over Wi-Fi". Just unselect that and you should be good to go.

 

[Xerxes10]

Thanks for the tip, I will try that-

I don't know if you were saying that you can only download podcasts over WiFi using the Music and Videos (Zune) app, Xerxes10, but if you were you can change that. In Settings, if you pan over to the applications page and go into the "music+videos" option, you will see near the bottom of the screen a checkbox to "Only download new podcast episodes over Wi-Fi". Just unselect that and you should be good to go.

 

[mtmjr90]

It still prevents most podcasts from downloading if they're deemed "too big". Of all my subscriptions, only Tech News Today works over cellular since it's consistently under 100MB

Sent from my Lumia 710 using Board Express

 

[awesumjon]

Sometimes some are too big to download, but you can just stream them by tapping the play button instead of downloading it.

Sent from my HD7 using Board Express