release player in PlayerVIewModel onCleared()

this fixes playback after the activity has been destroyed, while being in background

app/src/main/java/org/mosad/teapod/player/PlayerActivity.kt

@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ class PlayerActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
         initTimeUpdates()
     }
 
+    // TODO if view model was not destroyed, don't start a new media
     private fun initExoPlayer() {
         controller = video_view.findViewById(R.id.exo_controller)
         controller.isAnimationEnabled = false // disable controls (time-bar) animation
@@ -222,10 +223,8 @@ class PlayerActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
         playbackPosition = model.player.currentPosition
         currentWindow = model.player.currentWindowIndex
         playWhenReady = model.player.playWhenReady
-        model.player.release()
+        model.player.pause()
         timerUpdates.cancel()
-
-        Log.d(javaClass.name, "Released player")
     }
 
     /**

app/src/main/java/org/mosad/teapod/player/PlayerViewModel.kt

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package org.mosad.teapod.player
 
 import android.app.Application
 import android.net.Uri
+import android.util.Log
 import androidx.lifecycle.AndroidViewModel
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.C
 import com.google.android.exoplayer2.MediaItem
@@ -42,6 +43,13 @@ class PlayerViewModel(application: Application) : AndroidViewModel(application)
     var currentLanguage: Locale = Locale.ROOT
         internal set
 
+    override fun onCleared() {
+        super.onCleared()
+        player.release()
+
+        Log.d(javaClass.name, "Released player")
+    }
+
     fun loadMedia(mediaId: Int, episodeId: Int) {
         runBlocking {
             media = AoDParser.getMediaById(mediaId)