1. Just now, I converted a book PDF to an MP3 audiobook as per this thread:
ÿÿ Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,comp.text.pdf
ÿÿ Subject: PSA: An offline Windows workflow for Balabolka audiobook
TTS from PDF
ÿÿ Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:38:41 -0800
ÿÿ Message-ID: <10oa1o1$1aoh$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>
2. Now I want to play the MP3 w/o needing the screen to be showing.
3. What free adfree app do you use for that simple audio-player task?
Here are a half-dozen potential Android apps that fit the need.
Musicolet <in.krosbits.musicolet>
ÿ<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.krosbits.musicolet>
AIMP <in.krosbits.musicolet>
ÿ<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aimp.player>
Vanilla Music ÿ<https://vanilla-music.github.io/>
Retro Music Player <code.name.monkey.retromusic>
ÿ<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details? id=code.name.monkey.retromusic>
VLC for Android <org.videolan.vlc>
ÿ<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details/?id=org.videolan.vlc> Foobar2000 <com.foobar2000.foobar2000>
ÿ <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details? id=com.foobar2000.foobar2000>
Here are a half-dozen potential iPad apps that fit the need.
MP3 Player
ÿ<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/offline-music-mp3-player/id6557048073> LudyAmp
ÿ<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ludyamp-offline-music-player/id6759071307> Melodista ÿ<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/melodista-music-offline- player/id1293175325>
YMusic (iOS version)
ÿ<https://ymusicapks.com/for-ios/>
VLC for iOS
ÿ<https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html>
Foobar2000
ÿ<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/foobar2000/id1072807669>
These appear to be cross platform:
VLC
Foobar2000
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank?
1. Just now, I converted a book PDF to an MP3 audiobook as per this thread:
Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,comp.text.pdf
Subject: PSA: An offline Windows workflow for Balabolka audiobook TTS from PDF
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:38:41 -0800
Message-ID: <10oa1o1$1aoh$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>
2. Now I want to play the MP3 w/o needing the screen to be showing.
3. What free adfree app do you use for that simple audio-player task?
Here are a half-dozen potential Android apps that fit the need.
Musicolet <in.krosbits.musicolet>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.krosbits.musicolet>
AIMP <in.krosbits.musicolet>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aimp.player>
Vanilla Music
<https://vanilla-music.github.io/>
Retro Music Player <code.name.monkey.retromusic>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=code.name.monkey.retromusic> VLC for Android <org.videolan.vlc>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details/?id=org.videolan.vlc>
Foobar2000 <com.foobar2000.foobar2000>
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foobar2000.foobar2000>
Here are a half-dozen potential iPad apps that fit the need.
MP3 Player
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/offline-music-mp3-player/id6557048073> LudyAmp
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ludyamp-offline-music-player/id6759071307> Melodista
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/melodista-music-offline-player/id1293175325> YMusic (iOS version)
<https://ymusicapks.com/for-ios/>
VLC for iOS
<https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html>
Foobar2000
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/foobar2000/id1072807669>
These appear to be cross platform:
VLC
Foobar2000
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank?
Nick Charles wrote:
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank?
I have always used the included Music app on iEverything. For many years. >> Not sure why you think "free adfree offline audio playback with screen
blank" is some kind of special functionality.
Nick kindly and helpfully mentioned "iMusic," which is not on my iPads.
I only have the built-in iOS app, which is called "Music", on my iPads.
Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> wrote:
Nick Charles wrote:
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank? >>>I have always used the included Music app on iEverything. For many years. >>> Not sure why you think "free adfree offline audio playback with screen
blank" is some kind of special functionality.
Nick kindly and helpfully mentioned "iMusic," which is not on my iPads.
I only have the built-in iOS app, which is called "Music", on my iPads.
No. I never said iMusic. I said the Music app that comes with every iOS device (iEverything). You are very confused.
Carlos E.R. wrote:
These appear to be cross platform:
VLC
VLC is opensource, no adds, but the reproduction of a video stops if I
switch to another app or tap the power button to close the display.
However, if it is a an audio file, it continues playing.
Maybe there is a setting to continue playing a video, but I have not
looked.
Hi Carlos,
Yes. VLC is behaving normally on your phone. On Android, VLC supports background audio by default but not background video.
Android pauses video when the screen turns off unless the app runs a
special foreground video service but VLC apparently does not implement it.
That is why audio continues but video stops. I could be wrong but I looked
it up and there is no VLC setting to change this. As I noted in my response to Nick, some Android apps (like NewPipe) do support screen-off video, but VLC intentionally does not, where I can't blame them as, at least on
Windows, it's easy to rip the audio out of a video using the VLC freeware.
Carlos is on Linux where VLC for Android supports playing the audio track
of a video in the background,
but Android (or iOS) VLC apparently does not
include any feature to save or export that audio as a separate file. Unfortunately, the iOS/Android VLC lacks the "Convert/Save" functionality that exists in VLC for Windows, macOS & Linux where we can rip easily.
With that in mind, here's a summary of background audio with no screen.
Android with the screen turned off:
a. Background audio: Allowed
ÿÿ But only if the app implements MediaSession + foreground service.
b. Background video: Not allowed ÿÿ Unless the app implements a special foreground video service (rare).
c. VLC: Audio continues while video stops.
iOS with the screen turned off:
a. Background audio: Allowed
ÿÿ But only if the app declares the audio background mode.
b. Background video: Never allowed.
c. VLC: Audio from video is not reliably allowed as iOS often suspends it
ÿÿ (based on reports that I unearthed in researching this for iOS)
1. Just now, I converted a book PDF to an MP3 audiobook as per this thread:Apple's Music app for iOS.
ÿÿ Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,comp.text.pdf
ÿÿ Subject: PSA: An offline Windows workflow for Balabolka audiobook
TTS from PDF
ÿÿ Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:38:41 -0800
ÿÿ Message-ID: <10oa1o1$1aoh$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>
2. Now I want to play the MP3 w/o needing the screen to be showing.
3. What free adfree app do you use for that simple audio-player task?
Nick Charles wrote:
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank?
I have always used the included Music app on iEverything.ÿÿ For many
years.
ÿ Not sure why you think "free adfree offline audio playback with screen
blank" is some kind of special functionality.
Nick kindly and helpfully mentioned "iMusic," which is not on my iPads.
I only have the built-in iOS app, which is called "Music", on my iPads. Apparently "Music" comes preinstalled on every iPhone & iPad and it has system-level background audio privileges, so it always plays audio with the screen off. There is no separate "iMusic" app to download I could find.
On 2026-03-04 19:07, Maria Sophia wrote:
Nick Charles wrote:
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank? >>I have always used the included Music app on iEverything.ÿÿ For many
-----------------------------------^^^^^
years.
ÿ Not sure why you think "free adfree offline audio playback with screen >> blank" is some kind of special functionality.
Nick kindly and helpfully mentioned "iMusic," which is not on my iPads.
I only have the built-in iOS app, which is called "Music", on my iPads. Apparently "Music" comes preinstalled on every iPhone & iPad and it has system-level background audio privileges, so it always plays audio with
the screen off. There is no separate "iMusic" app to download I could
find.
No. Nick did NOT call it "iMusic"...
...as anyone of any reasonable intelligence could tell just by looking
at what he actually WROTE.
Nick Charles wrote:
No. I never said iMusic. I said the Music app that comes with every iOS >> device (iEverything). You are very confused.
Oh. I just looked. My mistake. I apologize. Mea culpa. Much appreciated the correction. It's called "Music" so it was my fault for thinking "iMusic".
Luckily, the technical details were correct in that the iOS default app
plays audio in the background (no ads, and it's free), while there
basically isn't a default (native) Android app, so only on Android does it matter greatly.
On iOS is matters greatly, but for *different* reasons (e.g.,
functionality), so I appreciate the correction and apologize for my error.
On Thu, 5 Mar 2026 10:22 -0800, Alan wrote:
On 2026-03-04 19:07, Maria Sophia wrote:
Nick Charles wrote:
Which do you use for free adfree offline audio playback w/ screenblank? >>>>I have always used the included Music app on iEverything.ÿÿ For many
-----------------------------------^^^^^
years.
ÿ Not sure why you think "free adfree offline audio playback with screen >>>> blank" is some kind of special functionality.
Nick kindly and helpfully mentioned "iMusic," which is not on my iPads.
I only have the built-in iOS app, which is called "Music", on my iPads.
Apparently "Music" comes preinstalled on every iPhone & iPad and it has
system-level background audio privileges, so it always plays audio with
the screen off. There is no separate "iMusic" app to download I could
find.
No. Nick did NOT call it "iMusic"...
...as anyone of any reasonable intelligence could tell just by looking
at what he actually WROTE.
I don't think these hateful words are appropriate. M.S. is certainly highly intelligent, and therefore somewhat absent-minded once in a while, that's all.
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