Page Type: REFERENCE
Leading Edge mode disables all audio buffering in the player, to play transmissions as close to realtime as technically possible, but with significant performance impacts (transmissions will be needlessly skipped) that make the mode not recommended.
Leading Edge Mode is selected by clicking on the lightning icon on the top bar of the Rangecast player. When Leading Edge Mode is selected, this icon will show in white.
The intent of Leading Edge mode is that transmissions are played as close to realtime as technically possible (eliminating any delays related to buffering in the player.) However, the mode is not recommended -- performance will be worse in ways that are not immediately evident to someone listening in this mode, because transmissions of potential interest are needlessly skipped.
Rangecast usually buffers transmissions, so even if two transmissions are broadcast at the same time, both can be heard over the player (one after the other). And while audio is playing, the Rangecast player (in the background) starts downloading and buffering the audio of other transmissions, so the next transmission can start instantly (eliminating unnecessary downtime while fetching audio.)
In Leading Edge mode, all audio buffering within the Rangecast player is disabled. When audio is playing, every new transmission that becomes available will be skipped. When no transmission is currently playing, the player will play the next transmission that becomes available.
Examples of the implications:
Since the player doesn't buffer a second transmission while a first transmission is playing, significantly less total audio can be played. This is because, instead of overlapping the playing of a first transmission with the download of a second transmission, these two actions are done sequentially -- and while the player is downloading audio, nothing can be played, and that time is effectively wasted.
Even if there is enough time available to play all transmissions (there would be no need to skip any transmissions to stay current, and a player in Monitoring Mode would play all transmissions), due to the lack of any buffering, a player in Leading Edge mode will likely skip some or many of these transmissions. For example, suppose the only two transmissions in a minute are a 9-second transmission at :12 seconds and a 30-second transmission at :17 seconds. In Monitoring Mode, the transmission at :12 would play, then the transmission at :17. But in Leading Edge mode, since the transmission at :17 becomes available while the transmission at :12 is playing, the :17 transmission is skipped.
If there is not enough time to play all transmissions (meaning something must be skipped), whereas the Monitoring Mode process will attempt to prioritize more interesting content, the Leading Edge mode will choose which content to skip or play essentially randomly. Since the selection criteria is to play the first transmission that becomes available while the player is silent, the player does not prioritize transmissions based on originating channel or transmission length.
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