Techniques to Reduce Time to Music for a Playback Device

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium is provisioned with program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a playback device to:

• based on a command to play back audio content, (i) begin initialization of a wireless network interface of the playback device and (ii) begin initialization of an application for retrieval and playback of audio content;
• after beginning initialization of the wireless network interface but before the playback device is capable of establishing a connection to at least one wireless network type via the wireless network interface, begin scanning for available wireless networks of the at least one wireless network type;
• after beginning initialization of the application for retrieval and playback of audio content but before the playback device has obtained an internet protocol (IP) address, begin executing one or more operations of the application;
• based on scanning for available wireless networks, identify at least one available wireless network of the at least one wireless network type;
• and
• after the playback device is capable of establishing a connection to the at least one wireless network type via the wireless network interface, establish a connection to a given wireless network of the at least one available wireless network.

A method carried out by a playback device, the method comprising:

• based on a command to play back audio content, (i) beginning initialization of a wireless network interface of the playback device and (ii) beginning initialization of an application for retrieval and playback of audio content;
• after beginning initialization of the wireless network interface but before the playback device is capable of establishing a connection to at least one wireless network type via the wireless network interface, beginning scanning for available wireless networks of the at least one wireless network type;
• after beginning initialization of the application for retrieval and playback of audio content but before the playback device has obtained an internet protocol (IP) address, beginning executing one or more operations of the application;
• based on scanning for available wireless networks, identifying at least one available wireless network of the at least one wireless network type;
• and
• after the playback device is capable of establishing a connection to the at least one wireless network type via the wireless network interface, establishing a connection to a given wireless network of the at least one available wireless network.