Windows 10: ITunes stop playing when display goes to sleep - Win 10

I just discovered a fix to a silly problem that I want to share. I also want to know why it happens in the first place.



I have a new Lenovo desktop running a fresh install of Windows 10 and newly downloaded iTunes. The computer is essentially a music server connected to my home theater / home audio system. The audio is transferred digitally from the PC to the audio system via a Displayport-to-HDMI connection.



This setup was working fine except that iTunes would mysteriously stop after a few minutes. I wasn't sitting at the computer when this happens. After a bunch of trial and error, I figured out the problem. In Windows 10, the display was set to go to sleep after 5 minutes. Not the whole computer, just the display, and while plugged in. On a desktop, this is silly, but that's the way it was. It turns out that when the display went to sleep, iTunes would just stop playing. It didn't crash, it just stopped. The only fix was to stop and restart iTunes.



My fix of course is to tell Windows not to put the display to sleep. This wastes power, but iTunes is happy. Why does iTunes stop when the display goes to sleep?


I can also force this to happen another way. If I turn on another speaker zone in the home theater receiver, iTunes stops. This other zone is recognized by Windows as a separate audio playback device, and it will play through both zones. But it I switch one of the zones on or off, iTunes stalls. Perhaps this is a clue.

:)

 

iTunes stops playing when the computer go to sleep

Hi Ross,

Sleep mode is designed to stop all actions on a computer as it puts the device to a low-power state. Since you want to continue using a program even while your computer is locked, we suggest turning off Sleep mode by following these steps:

• Click Start.
• Go to Settings.
• Click System.
• Choose Power & Sleep from the left pane.
• Under Sleep, choose Never.

Let us know if you have any other concerns about your computer.

 

Music stops playing when monitor goes to sleep

I am also not happy with this answer, as it doesn't even address the issue raised.

The issue is not that it is stopping playing when the computer goes to sleep (which it does of course), but it is that it stops playing when the screen is turned off for power management reasons.

I have been down the setting and it's set to high performance settings and it's set to turn nothing off apart from the screen. The question is why would power management turning the screen off cause an app to go to sleep and stop playing?

 

Music stops playing when monitor goes to sleep

Ok, I don't know if it is just my old computer (that I keep upgrading) but using Groove Music, when the monitor goes to sleep, the music stops. I can use Media Player or Zune and it will continue playing after the monitor goes to sleep, like it is supposed
to, but Groove Music stops playing. As soon as I use the mouse or touch the keyboard, it starts again. But why does it stop in the first place? Is there a setting I am missing?