Described is a technology for managing audio playback queues maintained in separate memory spaces, e.g., in a game console, such that that audio playback continues upon transitioning between states (including reboots) that change a memory space's contents. For example, before transitioning from a dashboard mode to a game playing mode, the playback queue in memory space used for the dashboard (and the game) is copied to a second queue in a second (e.g., operating system) memory space. The dashboard queue's contents (often large) are truncated as necessary to fit in the relatively smaller queue space. When transitioning from a game to the dashboard mode, copying the queue back takes place after the dashboard is operational. A third type of queue corresponding to a container of an audio source is also managed, including copying its contents when appropriate to the memory that has the queue currently being used for playback.