Thanks to an early version of an unannounced podcasting app for Xbox One, we've been able to activate background music on the console and get an idea of how it works in practice.
When you boot an app that utilizes background music, it appears in the Xbox One's Guide menu, triggered by double-tapping the Xbox button on the console. The audio track you're playing is displayed at the top of the menu previously used only for snapping, complete with the necessary metadata. In this example, we're using Episode 22 of our own OneCast podcast. All of this this means that background music is available in the current Xbox One Preview, the apps simply need to utilize it.
You can adjust the audio level easily using the slider as depicted in the screenshot above. While track skipping didn't function for this particular third-party podcasting app, it seems as though it just needs to be enabled by the developer. Expect apps like the upcoming UWP version for Microsoft Groove to utilize this straight away.
Tapping on the dual arrow button sends you back to the source of the audio, whether it's a music app, a podcasting app or otherwise. I would also like to note that switching back to the podcasting app was incredibly fast in the latest Xbox One Preview build, and should make multitasking a dream on apps designed specifically for the Universal Windows Platform.
We're finally getting a glimpse at the full potential Windows 10 will unlock on the Xbox One. Developers both large and small will be able to target televisions in the living room via the Windows Dev Center for the first time, hopefully bringing huge benefits to Windows 10, Mobile, and HoloLens. The future of UWP is incredibly bright folks.
Thanks Dr Dornon for the tip!
