7 ms·

> Of all the crazy things people have asked me to do to their car, none of it would be more dangerous than a touchscreen for driver controls, and especially one

> Of all the crazy things people have asked me to do to their car, none of it would be more dangerous than a touchscreen for driver controls, and especially one with entertainment features. I drive an older car with an old fashioned CD player rather than an infotainment system so what do I do? That's right. I put my phone in a cradle next to the steering wheel and use Spotify. Apart from the serious issues caused by the lack of tactile feedback and the fact you have to look at the interface to use it, it's like the Spotify product development teams have gone out of their way to make the app clumsy and dangerous to use whilst driving. It is crappy and unresponsive, with way too much clutter. I swear, Spotify have a giant engineering team and I have literally no idea what they spend their time doing: it's certainly nothing that I find useful or that improves my experience. So in order to avoid dying or killing anybody else I plug the phone in to the aux socket on the car stereo (no Bluetooth in my car), select a playlist before I set off, and then let it do its thing. I'd switch back to CDs but they're a pain in the ass to carry in bulk. Or I listen to an audiobook. I hate touch interfaces in cars.

Spooky23 6y ago
Even better is Pandora. I switched to Apple Music mostly because my car forced me to use some shitshow built in Pandora mode that works poorly and locks out the Pandora interface on the phone! I hate driving and fill the navigator/DJ role in the car. Assuming I’m driving in a 7 passenger car is dumb.
- jacobr1 6y ago
  That is another good point - having a passenger. Our Toyota has safety features prevent bringing up a keyboard (mainly for the gps to search for new locations while driving). The car needs to be stopped. For a solo driver this makes sense ... but I know my local area ... the only time I ever need this is when I'm on a roadtrip and usually the passenger is the one making the change. I want _more_ powerful interfaces and touch is fine for a passenger coordinating with the driver, even though a physical interface for the driver with better integration into apps would work better for that use case. One-size doesn't fit all.
olyjohn 6y ago
Exactly! People seem to underestimate the power in preparation before you leave for a trip. Pick what you want to listen to, and suck it up if a song comes up that you don't like. Before internet everywhere, you had to load up the CD, or you were stuck with the radio. We all still survived. The convenience of all this crap seems to just enable people to start driving before they think about their trip. This goes for navigation too. You should review your route before you leave, and at the very least have it plugged into your nav unit before you drive off. There's no excuse for fucking with all this stuff while you drive. If you really need to change something, just pull off for for a minute.
easton 6y ago
Is Spotify car mode still too much in your opinion? I don't look at my phone when driving as much as possible (except for directions, honestly), but it's pretty good for limiting distraction. https://spotify-everywhere.com/pages/drive https://spotify-everywhere.com/pages/drive
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  > Access Car View > This simplified Spotify dashboard appears automatically when your phone is connected using Bluetooth. Oh. Nice. Looks better than the "main" UI. I guess I'll have to dig up a BLE module and try to make it pretend it's a car.
  - thomaslord 6y ago
    You can enable car mode manually! Just go to Settings > Car > Switch to car mode and change it to Always.
- bartread 6y ago
  This looks pretty good, although of course lacking Bluetooth I've never seen it. Looks like you have to go into Settings to enable it manually when you're connecting with a cable but, yes, seems like an improvement. Thank you!
jim-jim-jim 6y ago
How old fashioned is the CD player? My Civic from the (past (past decade)) supported MP3/WMA CDs and it ruled. I'd burn a couple hundred tracks of whatever I was obsessed with atm, put it on shuffle, then be set for a few months. No screens and no disc swapping either.
- rblatz 6y ago
  I guess I still have my mp3s from 2008, but what about new music?
  - cfraenkel 6y ago
    Buy CDs of the stuff you like?
    - bartread 6y ago
      I do this where I can. Unfortunately lots of newer music increasingly doesn't offer the option of a physical copy, or physical copies are produced only in limited numbers. The other trend I've seen a bit is digital and streaming releases, with a vinyl physical release, but no CD version. I mean, fine, whatever, if that's what the market wants I suppose. I don't tend to mind too much if FLAC is an option (usually the case if available on Bandcamp), but it's pretty annoying when the only options are MP3s or streaming, which tends to be the case with albums only available through more mainstream distribution channels such as Amazon (I'm looking at you Dark Country album series).
    - rblatz 6y ago
      The only thing I have that can play cds are video game consoles. I did the whole binders of cds and the giant cd towers to hold my music, that was a giant pain. I jumped on mp3s as soon as I could, and then once Spotify launched in the US I joined and never looked back.
  - willcipriano 6y ago
    I like bandcamp.
  - 6y ago
TeMPOraL 6y ago
Holy hell, Spotify. I've been using it a lot up to about 4-5 years go, both desktop and mobile. It was a fine app, I used it a lot to listen to music during commute. I curated some 20 personal playlists, and a bunch of shared ones too. But after I didn't need to commute anymore, I stopped using it. Fast forward to January, my wife learned there are some good nursery rhymes on Spotify, and she installed the app on a spare phone. Few days ago, she was busy and asked me to play the Spotify playlist she usually plays to our kid. I couldn't do it. The current UI is completely inscrutable to me. All I could do is find a few album covers that, upon tapping, led to something that perhaps was a playlist, perhaps a "radio", perhaps something else. In 5 minutes of focused attempt, I couldn't find a way to list what songs are a part of the playlist I selected. So I ultimately played something that looked like the right playlist, it played a song I recognized, then it played an ad, then it turned out to be a "radio". It's rare that bad UX triggers a strong emotional reaction in me these days, but that did it. What the fuck, Spotify?
- tpxl 6y ago
  There is no way to list every single song by an artist. What the fuck Spotify, indeed.
TheRealSteel 6y ago
Spotify... Isn't meant to be used while driving. Nothing on your phone is. It's illegal. You're not supposed to be doing it at all, ever... I do think that it's ridiculous that Spotify hasn't improved their app in the 5 years I've been using it and is still missing really basic playback features, but when the competition is Apple Music, they're still by far the best music service that exists. But I don't see the complaint that it's not got to be used while driving. Phones aren't supposed to be used while driving altogether.
- vulcan01 6y ago
  > It's illegal Not everywhere... only in some jurisdictions.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  I don't know about the apple equivalent, but Spotify is available as a music app in android auto. The interface is intentionally trimmed down such that your touch interactions are limited. Instead, it wants you to do as much as possible by voice. It almost works, but is frustrating enough I learned to just get the songs and albums i want lined up in advance and can get to in 2-3 touches. Not quite the same as tactile controls, but pretty close.
- bartread 6y ago
  > Nothing on your phone is. It's illegal. Wrong. In the UK it is legal to use a phone in your car handsfree as long as the phone is in a cradle/bracket. Since, I think, last year the gov closed a loophole so you can't have the phone in your hand for any reason whilst driving. Might vary in other countries/jurisdictions of course.
ummonk 6y ago
Have you tried using voice controls? Not perfect but they work well enough in my experience.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  Some songs and artists I like it is so bad at recognizing that I learned to just preload everything in advance. Honestly, it is vetter that way- voice controls are frustrating enough to soak up too much attention, even though your eyes don't leave the road.
  - bartread 6y ago
    Yeah, the error rate is too high such that the voice controls become a distraction in themselves. Not a fan.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> So in order to avoid dying or killing anybody else I plug the phone in to the aux socket on the car stereo (no Bluetooth in my car), select a playlist before I set off, and then let it do its thing. I'd switch back to CDs but they're a pain in the ass to carry in bulk. Way back when, I had a Zen Stone to play music in the car. It was everything I wanted; it stored music and was operated purely by touch, not even having a display. It was tiny and easy to carry (though mostly I just left it in the car). Since that worked so well, I now have a SanDisk Clip Sport which appears to channel the same ideas. Sadly, I've never really had occasion to use it -- I don't do much driving anymore, and I've never had a car with an audio in port. (I plugged the Zen Stone into a cassette tape adapter...) But if you really think CDs would be better than your phone except for the bulkiness (and I would agree), that's probably the way to go.

Spooky23 6y ago

Even better is Pandora. I switched to Apple Music mostly because my car forced me to use some shitshow built in Pandora mode that works poorly and locks out the Pandora interface on the phone! I hate driving and fill the navigator/DJ role in the car. Assuming I’m driving in a 7 passenger car is dumb.

jacobr1 6y ago
That is another good point - having a passenger. Our Toyota has safety features prevent bringing up a keyboard (mainly for the gps to search for new locations while driving). The car needs to be stopped. For a solo driver this makes sense ... but I know my local area ... the only time I ever need this is when I'm on a roadtrip and usually the passenger is the one making the change. I want _more_ powerful interfaces and touch is fine for a passenger coordinating with the driver, even though a physical interface for the driver with better integration into apps would work better for that use case. One-size doesn't fit all.

olyjohn 6y ago

Exactly! People seem to underestimate the power in preparation before you leave for a trip. Pick what you want to listen to, and suck it up if a song comes up that you don't like. Before internet everywhere, you had to load up the CD, or you were stuck with the radio. We all still survived. The convenience of all this crap seems to just enable people to start driving before they think about their trip. This goes for navigation too. You should review your route before you leave, and at the very least have it plugged into your nav unit before you drive off. There's no excuse for fucking with all this stuff while you drive. If you really need to change something, just pull off for for a minute.

easton 6y ago

Is Spotify car mode still too much in your opinion? I don't look at my phone when driving as much as possible (except for directions, honestly), but it's pretty good for limiting distraction. https://spotify-everywhere.com/pages/drive https://spotify-everywhere.com/pages/drive

TeMPOraL 6y ago
> Access Car View > This simplified Spotify dashboard appears automatically when your phone is connected using Bluetooth. Oh. Nice. Looks better than the "main" UI. I guess I'll have to dig up a BLE module and try to make it pretend it's a car.
- thomaslord 6y ago
  You can enable car mode manually! Just go to Settings > Car > Switch to car mode and change it to Always.
bartread 6y ago
This looks pretty good, although of course lacking Bluetooth I've never seen it. Looks like you have to go into Settings to enable it manually when you're connecting with a cable but, yes, seems like an improvement. Thank you!

jim-jim-jim 6y ago

How old fashioned is the CD player? My Civic from the (past (past decade)) supported MP3/WMA CDs and it ruled. I'd burn a couple hundred tracks of whatever I was obsessed with atm, put it on shuffle, then be set for a few months. No screens and no disc swapping either.

rblatz 6y ago
I guess I still have my mp3s from 2008, but what about new music?
- cfraenkel 6y ago
  Buy CDs of the stuff you like?
  - bartread 6y ago
    I do this where I can. Unfortunately lots of newer music increasingly doesn't offer the option of a physical copy, or physical copies are produced only in limited numbers. The other trend I've seen a bit is digital and streaming releases, with a vinyl physical release, but no CD version. I mean, fine, whatever, if that's what the market wants I suppose. I don't tend to mind too much if FLAC is an option (usually the case if available on Bandcamp), but it's pretty annoying when the only options are MP3s or streaming, which tends to be the case with albums only available through more mainstream distribution channels such as Amazon (I'm looking at you Dark Country album series).
  - rblatz 6y ago
    The only thing I have that can play cds are video game consoles. I did the whole binders of cds and the giant cd towers to hold my music, that was a giant pain. I jumped on mp3s as soon as I could, and then once Spotify launched in the US I joined and never looked back.
- willcipriano 6y ago
  I like bandcamp.
- 6y ago

TeMPOraL 6y ago

Holy hell, Spotify. I've been using it a lot up to about 4-5 years go, both desktop and mobile. It was a fine app, I used it a lot to listen to music during commute. I curated some 20 personal playlists, and a bunch of shared ones too. But after I didn't need to commute anymore, I stopped using it. Fast forward to January, my wife learned there are some good nursery rhymes on Spotify, and she installed the app on a spare phone. Few days ago, she was busy and asked me to play the Spotify playlist she usually plays to our kid. I couldn't do it. The current UI is completely inscrutable to me. All I could do is find a few album covers that, upon tapping, led to something that perhaps was a playlist, perhaps a "radio", perhaps something else. In 5 minutes of focused attempt, I couldn't find a way to list what songs are a part of the playlist I selected. So I ultimately played something that looked like the right playlist, it played a song I recognized, then it played an ad, then it turned out to be a "radio". It's rare that bad UX triggers a strong emotional reaction in me these days, but that did it. What the fuck, Spotify?

tpxl 6y ago
There is no way to list every single song by an artist. What the fuck Spotify, indeed.

TheRealSteel 6y ago

Spotify... Isn't meant to be used while driving. Nothing on your phone is. It's illegal. You're not supposed to be doing it at all, ever... I do think that it's ridiculous that Spotify hasn't improved their app in the 5 years I've been using it and is still missing really basic playback features, but when the competition is Apple Music, they're still by far the best music service that exists. But I don't see the complaint that it's not got to be used while driving. Phones aren't supposed to be used while driving altogether.

vulcan01 6y ago
> It's illegal Not everywhere... only in some jurisdictions.
zdragnar 6y ago
I don't know about the apple equivalent, but Spotify is available as a music app in android auto. The interface is intentionally trimmed down such that your touch interactions are limited. Instead, it wants you to do as much as possible by voice. It almost works, but is frustrating enough I learned to just get the songs and albums i want lined up in advance and can get to in 2-3 touches. Not quite the same as tactile controls, but pretty close.
bartread 6y ago
> Nothing on your phone is. It's illegal. Wrong. In the UK it is legal to use a phone in your car handsfree as long as the phone is in a cradle/bracket. Since, I think, last year the gov closed a loophole so you can't have the phone in your hand for any reason whilst driving. Might vary in other countries/jurisdictions of course.

ummonk 6y ago

Have you tried using voice controls? Not perfect but they work well enough in my experience.

zdragnar 6y ago
Some songs and artists I like it is so bad at recognizing that I learned to just preload everything in advance. Honestly, it is vetter that way- voice controls are frustrating enough to soak up too much attention, even though your eyes don't leave the road.
- bartread 6y ago
  Yeah, the error rate is too high such that the voice controls become a distraction in themselves. Not a fan.

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> So in order to avoid dying or killing anybody else I plug the phone in to the aux socket on the car stereo (no Bluetooth in my car), select a playlist before I set off, and then let it do its thing. I'd switch back to CDs but they're a pain in the ass to carry in bulk. Way back when, I had a Zen Stone to play music in the car. It was everything I wanted; it stored music and was operated purely by touch, not even having a display. It was tiny and easy to carry (though mostly I just left it in the car). Since that worked so well, I now have a SanDisk Clip Sport which appears to channel the same ideas. Sadly, I've never really had occasion to use it -- I don't do much driving anymore, and I've never had a car with an audio in port. (I plugged the Zen Stone into a cassette tape adapter...) But if you really think CDs would be better than your phone except for the bulkiness (and I would agree), that's probably the way to go.