archive.org audio only streams as an active page

April 26, 2019 2:13 PM

Today, archive.org streams in mobile Firefox only when the page is active. Yesterday, and for long before, it would stream in the background. How can I return things to the way they were?

I have long been able to listen to audio from archive.org on my phone with other pages open. However, beginning today, the archive.org audio page will not stream if I open another application. The streaming also stops when the phone sleeps.

I'd like to fix this, because I have become dependent on having old BBC programs from archive.org streaming in the background regardless of what else I am doing. I don't want to download them, and I don't have space for that in any case.

Oddly, I used to be able to stream these through Chrome, but (about a year ago) archive.org stopped playing audio on Chrome altogether -- the file appears to be open, but no sound comes out. I addressed that issue (or ignored it) by installing Firefox.

The phone is a Moto E4, a couple of years old. Though I can use a podcast app for the same effect, I'd prefer to fix this, if that's possible. Is there something I can do about this?

Thanks.

posted by Francolin to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: Can you give us an example of a page where this happens?

Firefox 66 blocks autoplaying media by default, do you see any icon on the left of the URL bar as shown in this article?
posted by Bangaioh at 4:31 PM on April 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: It was the autoplay setting! It must have changed on its own, and I changed it back.


Thank you very much!
posted by Francolin at 5:05 PM on April 26, 2019 [2 favorites]