Over 10 seconds to load an audiostream with MediaPlayer on Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 5.0

Question

Since the update to Android 5.0 MediaPlayer does not work properly on the Samsung Galaxy S5. The loading time is over 10 seconds after you start an audio stream.

Samplecode:

MediaPlayer mPlayer new MediaPlayer();
String url = "http://149.13.0.80:80/radio1.ogg";
mPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
mPlayer.setDataSource(url);

mPlayer.prepare();

mPlayer.start();

Same problem if I use MediaPlayer in a service/with prepareAsync()/other audiostreams. Nexus 4 with Android 5 has not such problems. Any solutions?

Answer 1

First, your code should be surrounded in try-catch. So you might want to do an update such as

MediaPlayer mPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
        String url = "http://149.13.0.80:80/radio1.ogg";
        mPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
        try {
            mPlayer.setDataSource(url);
            mPlayer.prepare();
            mPlayer.start();
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (SecurityException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

Secondly, if your prepare() is stalling you might consider using prepare() wrapped in a thread instead of prepareAsync(). That device might be doing some behaviors that are hanging, and trying to stop the MP. Adding an actionCancel might be useful.

private void actionCancel(){ 
            try { 
                mp.setDataSource(new String());
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
                android.util.Log.d(TAG,"actionCancel(): mp.setDataSource() exception");
                mp.reset(); 
            } 
}