After migrating from Media3 1.5.1 to 1.6.1, we've observed that the media notification now appears as soon as a MediaItem is loaded/prepared, before playback actively starts. In 1.5.1, it typically appeared only when playback began.

Is this change—showing the notification earlier (e.g., when the player is ready but not yet playing)—an intended behavior in Media3 1.6.1?

We noticed the 1.6.1 release note about keeping notifications visible in stopped/error states ("Keep notification visible when playback enters an error or stopped state..."). Is the immediate appearance on load a direct consequence of this desire for more persistent notifications?

Could you clarify the expected trigger for media notifications appearing, specifically in pre-playback states (STATE_BUFFERING/STATE_READY) in Media3 1.6.1?

Note:
We can recreate this in the media3-demo-session example by setting a mediaItem when the exoplayer is created.