3 ms·

Weird - why do people not just have play set to random? I've been using Aux, Bluetooth - never had this issue.

bartc 9y ago
On my car, when I start the car with my phone attached via Bluetooth, it random shuffles by default. However, if I start the car with my phone attached via USB cable, it plays all the songs alphabetically. The actions available on the iOS music app are also different... when attached via Bluetooth, there are "Play Next" and "Play Later" options, where as when attached via USB, these options do not appear. As a software engineer, I think the differences stem from whether the "now playing" playlist is being managed by the phone or by the car multimedia system. As a car driver, it's extremely annoying and I'm disappointed at how poorly it behaves.
- shadowtree 9y ago
  ah, ok - don't think I tried USB. Guess the radio of the car then takes control and tries to use the phone as an external drive, overriding the native music app.
  - jlgaddis 9y ago
    I leave a flash drive with a bunch of MP3 files permanently plugged in to my Harley, although I usually play music from my iPhone via Bluetooth. When I turn the bike on, it starts playing from the flash drive wherever it left off (e.g. in the middle of a song). When I tell it to connect to my phone, it also starts playing wherever it left off. I can switch back and forth and it never "starts over" so I'm guessing it must be the vehicle that controls the playback?
- eclipxe 9y ago
  The is because of the iPod. Car systems were built around the iPod and its accessory protocol. The iPhone supports it as well but it leads to these weird use cases where your phone is constrained by what the car thinks an iPod can and can’t do.
jawilson2 9y ago
Here is what happens when I connect my iPhone to the USB in my Honda Odyssey, which has a specific iPod input on the menu (as opposed to a generic USB input device). As soon as I plug it in and select iPhone on the car audio, it starts playing "About a Girl (Nirvana)". I usually want to go to youtube to find a song for the kids, but have to sit through 10 seconds of the song EVERY TIME I PLUG IN THE PHONE. The upside is that my kids have learned to like Nirvana; also, my wife's phone has some spanish language kids music as the first item in the playlist, so it could be worse. But, I'd rather not have the phone decide "you have connected to car audio, PLAY MUSIC TIME HAS ARRIVED!" This doesn't happen with bluetooth, and rarely (???) with headphones.
- eclipxe 9y ago
  The phone isn’t deciding this. The cars legacy iPod accessory interface is deciding this.

On my car, when I start the car with my phone attached via Bluetooth, it random shuffles by default. However, if I start the car with my phone attached via USB cable, it plays all the songs alphabetically. The actions available on the iOS music app are also different... when attached via Bluetooth, there are "Play Next" and "Play Later" options, where as when attached via USB, these options do not appear. As a software engineer, I think the differences stem from whether the "now playing" playlist is being managed by the phone or by the car multimedia system. As a car driver, it's extremely annoying and I'm disappointed at how poorly it behaves.

shadowtree 9y ago
ah, ok - don't think I tried USB. Guess the radio of the car then takes control and tries to use the phone as an external drive, overriding the native music app.
- jlgaddis 9y ago
  I leave a flash drive with a bunch of MP3 files permanently plugged in to my Harley, although I usually play music from my iPhone via Bluetooth. When I turn the bike on, it starts playing from the flash drive wherever it left off (e.g. in the middle of a song). When I tell it to connect to my phone, it also starts playing wherever it left off. I can switch back and forth and it never "starts over" so I'm guessing it must be the vehicle that controls the playback?
eclipxe 9y ago
The is because of the iPod. Car systems were built around the iPod and its accessory protocol. The iPhone supports it as well but it leads to these weird use cases where your phone is constrained by what the car thinks an iPod can and can’t do.

jawilson2 9y ago

Here is what happens when I connect my iPhone to the USB in my Honda Odyssey, which has a specific iPod input on the menu (as opposed to a generic USB input device). As soon as I plug it in and select iPhone on the car audio, it starts playing "About a Girl (Nirvana)". I usually want to go to youtube to find a song for the kids, but have to sit through 10 seconds of the song EVERY TIME I PLUG IN THE PHONE. The upside is that my kids have learned to like Nirvana; also, my wife's phone has some spanish language kids music as the first item in the playlist, so it could be worse. But, I'd rather not have the phone decide "you have connected to car audio, PLAY MUSIC TIME HAS ARRIVED!" This doesn't happen with bluetooth, and rarely (???) with headphones.

eclipxe 9y ago
The phone isn’t deciding this. The cars legacy iPod accessory interface is deciding this.