From f252586398a8b132e4abdb1fd81b53c5d6287c2a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Honey <me_honeyy@proton.me>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2026 18:01:38 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] experiment(web): drop separate preload <audio> element
 (single-element like Navidrome)
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Navidrome's player (react-jinke fork) uses one persistent <audio> element and
does not flicker the OS media tile, so the source-swap itself isn't the cause.
Our one structural difference was a second buffering <audio> (_preAudio) for
preload. A second media element seems to make Chromium hand the OS media
session over on skip → Windows tile flicker. This drops it; we rely on the main
element's preload="auto" + browser HTTP cache. Cover art is still prewarmed.

Trade-off: next-track start may be marginally slower. Easy to revert if it
doesn't fix the flicker.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 src/player/player.js | 13 +++++--------
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/player/player.js b/src/player/player.js
index 8e59d07..3dcee40 100644
--- a/src/player/player.js
+++ b/src/player/player.js
@@ -293,14 +293,11 @@ function _preloadNext() {
   const ni = _nextIdx();
   if(ni < 0) return;
   const next = S.queue[ni];
-  if(!next || _preId === next.id) return;
-  _preId  = next.id;
-  _preUrl = streamUrl(next.id);
-  // Real Audio preload — actually buffers the stream so canplay fires instantly
-  if(_preAudio) { _preAudio.src = ''; _preAudio = null; }
-  _preAudio = new Audio();
-  _preAudio.preload = 'auto';
-  _preAudio.src = _preUrl;
+  if(!next) return;
+  // (b) EXPERIMENT — no separate preload <audio> element. Navidrome's player keeps a single
+  // element only; a second buffering media element appears to make Chromium flip the OS media
+  // session on skip (Windows tile flicker). We rely on the main element's preload="auto" + the
+  // browser HTTP cache instead, and just warm the next cover art. Easy to revert if it doesn't help.
   if(next.coverArt) {
     [256, 512, 1024].forEach(size => {
       const img = new Image();