play-intent-decided-before-load

Decide whether the freshly-loaded item should start, and where it should start, before you build it — then pass both into the load call, rather than loading with a hardcoded "start playing" and correcting it a moment later. Reach for it when a follower in a synchronised room bursts into sound in a session everyone else has paused, or when a newly loaded item audibly starts and then stops.