How do you listen to your music while you drive

Started by roadman65, August 04, 2018, 11:27:02 AM

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Just how do you obtain your music while you drive

From your phone via Aux Port/Bluetooth/USB (CarPlay/Android Auto) into your car's speaker system
15 (28.8%)
CD/Cassettes
7 (13.5%)
Typical Radio
15 (28.8%)
Satellite Radio (Sirius XM)
12 (23.1%)
Like AM Talk or other
3 (5.8%)

Total Members Voted: 52

mgk920

Quote from: D-Dey65 on August 05, 2018, 03:00:07 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on August 05, 2018, 11:41:17 AM
Make sure you buy all the music you need/want from iTunes before they stop selling it (I believe) in the summer of 2019.
Wait a minute; Apple is killing off iTunes in 2019?
:crazy: :confused:

Doing a quick Duck Duck Go check, it looks to be 'fake news'.  Apple has been 'tweaking' the offerings and services, like any business would for their product lines over time, but the company reports that there are no plans to drop it.  Digital download sales are still fairly strong.

Mike


Buck87

FM Radio. I have a bunch of presets and bounce back and forth between them a lot picking and choosing songs/avoiding commercials.

Being about halfway between Cleveland and Toledo I'm able to pick up several stations from both of them plus the local stations in between, so there's usually a lot to pick from.

mgk920

I normally use an 160Gb iPod Classic that is plugged into a set of external computer speakers (they sound GREAT, BTW) that are on the back seat floor for music and often games, news or talk chatter on the broadcast radio at the same time, adjusting the volumes between the two depending on what they are playing at any given time.

I like having a high(er?)-capacity .mp3 player (no subscription fees to keep the 17K+ files that I now have).  Does anyone make new ones anymore?

Mike

briantroutman

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 04, 2018, 08:02:13 PM
The problem I noticed with the Chevy MyLink system is that essentially every function of the radio is only available on the touch screen.

I've had several Sonics and Sparks as rentals in the years around 2013-16, and though I liked the cars overall–and certainly preferred them over the dreadful Versas that Hertz was fond of stocking in the compact class–I never warmed to the MyLink system. The software itself wasn't the best design (though it was usable) and the system's performance was a bit laggy, but the lack of any kind of a physical volume knob and jog wheel to cycle through menus and options was a perpetual annoyance. At least the cars did have a physical volume up/down rocker on the steering wheel, but I still like having a knob for doing a quick volume up or down when needed.

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on August 04, 2018, 08:02:13 PM
Incidentally who else despises touch screens? ...I get the feeling it was meant to attract younger buyers.

As Duke87 said, touch screens are basically a necessity to handle the complexity of today's in-car audio landscape.

At one time, car radios simply had to allow drivers to tune in a station on AM and adjust the volume. But by the time that in-dash MP3 player integration first started making its way into cars in the early 2000s, many head units that relied solely on physical buttons were already becoming overburdened. Buttons were frequently doing double and triple duty, performing one function in radio mode, a different function in satellite mode, and a third function in CD mode. Then on top of this complexity, car makers were adding an additional layer of MP3 functions on buttons for things like "Playlist"  and "Artist" –and that's before we get into the smartphone era and the need to integrate third-party apps like Pandora.

Just imagine Pandora integration on a stereo with only physical controls: You'd have to scrutinize the 4-point type on a tiny physical button to figure out that the same button that's SCAN in radio mode is also SKIP TRACK in the CD mode, NEXT ARTIST in MP3 mode and finally THUMBS DOWN in Pandora mode. With a touchscreen, you're presented a simplified interface that's optimized specifically for Pandora, and you can easily tap the big thumbs down button on the screen.

But again, as I said in my comment about the Sonic and Spark above, it's still much better to have some basic and frequently used functions–like volume, jog forward/back, and power on/off–always available via a physical button or knob.

Quote from: AsphaltPlanet on August 04, 2018, 12:18:22 PM
Sometimes I'll just drive in complete silence for hours actually.  Often I'll do this with the window down.

Though I frequently listen to music or talk of some kind in the car, I occasionally like to take a break from it: A warm day, windows down, sunroof open, and no sound except the buffeting of wind throughout the car. There's something relaxing about it.

Quote from: DTComposer on August 05, 2018, 12:58:38 PM
Something I've wondered about: the number of presets on the radio. I am locked into 12 from Sirius XM, 12 on FM, and 6 on AM. I was in someone's car recently and they had 24 presets, and you could assign any of them to anywhere. 24 AM presets? Done.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recall my dad's '83 Datsun/Nissan Sentra (it had both marques on the back of the car). It had an AM/FM radio with five physical preset buttons below the dial. Three were labeled "FM"  and two were unlabeled (but usable for AM only). Talk about choice! The preset buttons were also how you switched between bands...press an FM preset first, jump to that band and preset, then tune to another station.

Here's a photo of a nearly identical radio

Quote from: D-Dey65 on August 05, 2018, 03:00:07 PM
Wait a minute; Apple is killing off iTunes in 2019?

No, Apple isn't killing off iTunes. There was a flurry of clickbait news stories about four months ago claiming that "leaked"  or "insider"  information indicates that Apple will cease the pay-once-and-download model of selling music tracks in April of 2019. However, Apple has repeatedly denied that any of these stories is correct.

Even if Apple is lying and the stories are correct, that would just mean that in the future, Apple wouldn't be offering tracks for purchase, rather, you would have to subscribe to the Apple Music service to get new music. But any music that you've already purchased will continue to be playable even if you don't subscribe.

hbelkins

Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2018, 03:27:25 PM
I like having a high(er?)-capacity .mp3 player (no subscription fees to keep the 17K+ files that I now have).  Does anyone make new ones anymore?

I'm in the market for an Android phone or tablet that will take a high-capacity micro SD card. I have one, but it has a slide-out physical keyboard that makes it a bit awkward to handle because it's so thick. The advantage there would be the ability to drag and drop files onto the card and avoid the iTunes sync process, which I dislike. Dragging and dropping means you can pull files from all sorts of external sources, such as data CDs and DVDs, and don't have to have them available every time you do an iTunes sync or else they are removed from the device.

I have the 256 GB micro SD card, I just need the device.

As I've often said, the problem with data-based services is there's so much territory around here that has poor cell service.


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1995hoo

Bear in mind that even if Apple were to discontinue selling music for download, there are still other sources out there, depending on what sort of music you like. I've found HDTracks.com to be a good source, although I don't generally buy much from new artists these days.




Regarding players, there are a number of player-only devices out there, depending on your budget. I've had my eye on some Astell & Kern units because they offer high capacity and high-rez capability, but they're rather pricey and that's why I don't have one yet. Their KANN can store almost a terabyte of data via two card slots. I believe Onkyo makes one as well (and it can decode MQA), but again it's around $799. Check out Crutchfield, Music Direct, Audio Advisor, and maybe Acoustic Sounds to see what sorts of players there are.




Touchscreens can be very frustrating if they require taking your eyes off the road for more than a second. If there's voice control, that can help a lot, but it can still be maddening. My wife's TLX supposedly lets your search your iPod using the voice control, and in theory that should be a lot better than twirling the big dial on the dashboard to scroll through the list, but the voice control sometimes seems to be hit or miss. Maybe I need to spend more time playing with it, but I don't have the patience to do that in DC-arena traffic.
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US71

Quote from: hbelkins on August 05, 2018, 04:10:22 PM
Quote from: mgk920 on August 05, 2018, 03:27:25 PM
I like having a high(er?)-capacity .mp3 player (no subscription fees to keep the 17K+ files that I now have).  Does anyone make new ones anymore?

I'm in the market for an Android phone or tablet that will take a high-capacity micro SD card. I have one, but it has a slide-out physical keyboard that makes it a bit awkward to handle because it's so thick. The advantage there would be the ability to drag and drop files onto the card and avoid the iTunes sync process, which I dislike. Dragging and dropping means you can pull files from all sorts of external sources, such as data CDs and DVDs, and don't have to have them available every time you do an iTunes sync or else they are removed from the device.

I have the 256 GB micro SD card, I just need the device.

As I've often said, the problem with data-based services is there's so much territory around here that has poor cell service.

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D-Dey65

#57
Quote from: hbelkins on August 05, 2018, 04:10:22 PM
I have the 256 GB micro SD card, I just need the device.
This isn't a phone, but devices like these might be good for your SD card:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sunpak-72-in-1-High-Speed-Card-Reader/16641239


One thing I thought about getting recently was a tailgate speaker. They might not be so good for driving from Tampa Bay to NYC, but they're great for the Drive-In Movies. Which I was actually thinking about starting a thread asking if anyone else here lives near one.


mgk920

Quote from: 1995hoo on August 05, 2018, 04:31:27 PM
Bear in mind that even if Apple were to discontinue selling music for download, there are still other sources out there, depending on what sort of music you like. I've found HDTracks.com to be a good source, although I don't generally buy much from new artists these days.




Regarding players, there are a number of player-only devices out there, depending on your budget. I've had my eye on some Astell & Kern units because they offer high capacity and high-rez capability, but they're rather pricey and that's why I don't have one yet. Their KANN can store almost a terabyte of data via two card slots. I believe Onkyo makes one as well (and it can decode MQA), but again it's around $799. Check out Crutchfield, Music Direct, Audio Advisor, and maybe Acoustic Sounds to see what sorts of players there are.




Touchscreens can be very frustrating if they require taking your eyes off the road for more than a second. If there's voice control, that can help a lot, but it can still be maddening. My wife's TLX supposedly lets your search your iPod using the voice control, and in theory that should be a lot better than twirling the big dial on the dashboard to scroll through the list, but the voice control sometimes seems to be hit or miss. Maybe I need to spend more time playing with it, but I don't have the patience to do that in DC-arena traffic.

I do note that from what I could find, there are some Onkyo players that can go up to a bit over 500GB with SD cards in the $450-500 range.  I also note that they have separate mechanical buttons on the edge for pause/play and FF/RW.  This is a very useful thing, indeed, for someone who is in and out of his car all day long.

One thing that I do like about iPods is that they keep track of when and how many times individual files are played.  Their downside is that that their internal software apparently can't handle more than 30K files for playback, making massive (256GB+) SSD hard drive replacements a bit problematic.

I would assume that all of the higher-end players support playing files at random from their entire libraries, just like with the iPod's 'shuffle' mode (which is how I always use mine).

Mike

csw

My vehicle lacks an aux cord, unfortunately, so I alternate between CDs and hooking up my bluetooth speaker to my phone and putting it on the dash.

MNHighwayMan

I guess I'm one of the three weirdos who voted other. I prefer listening to news (NPR) while I'm driving.

abefroman329

Quote from: D-Dey65 on August 05, 2018, 10:01:42 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on August 05, 2018, 04:10:22 PM
I have the 256 GB micro SD card, I just need the device.
This isn't a phone, but devices like these might be good for your SD card:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sunpak-72-in-1-High-Speed-Card-Reader/16641239


One thing I thought about getting recently was a tailgate speaker. They might not be so good for driving from Tampa Bay to NYC, but they're great for the Drive-In Movies. Which I was actually thinking about starting a thread asking if anyone else here lives near one.
There are three drive-ins within an hour of me. Unfortunately we probably won't get to one this summer, as our newborn hates the car. He loves the L, though. Go figure. Anyway, to make a short story long, I would think a boom box tuned to the theater's FM transmitter would be cheaper and easier.

slorydn1

Once upon a time I couldn't move my car from one side of the driveway to the other without the radio on.
Now I very rarely turn it on. The last long road trip my wife and I did I don't think we turned it on at all.
Ever since I got my Mustang I find myself listening to it, or conversing with my wife when she is with me.

I chose Sirius in the poll, for the very few times a year I actually do turn the radio on. I'll scan through my presets 2 or 3 times  and if I don't hear a song I want to listen to I turn it right back off again.
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freebrickproductions

Mainly FM Radio for me (though classic rock stations seem to be getting less and less common these days, sadly) and CDs for when there isn't anything good on the radio.
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Henry

For me, it would be SiriusXM, because their stations have enough music to go around for hours on end, and they never fade away like traditional radio does. However, I'm planning to scour the used music stores for CDs of my favorite artists, who would be mainly 80s-90s stuff, in case I cancel my subscription down the road.
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ET21

Spotify/Podcasts on the phone via Bluetooth, but I'll occasionally pop a CD in when I'm low on phone data
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Doctor Whom

When I am alone in the car, I play audiobooks from my phone through one of the car's USB ports. My other half likes to listen to SiriusXM.

roadman

I have a mp3 player directly connected into my car's audio system via the USB port.  Audio system (Ford/Microsoft SYNC) has voice activation with controls on the steering wheel.  If I want to listen to a particular song or album, I only have to say "Play song (album) X."  However, most of the time I have the player on random shuffle.

Almost never listen to the radio unless I'm looking for a traffic report.  Only use the CD player if I have a new CD I haven't yet ripped on my computer and downloaded into the mp3 player.
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formulanone

#68
One drawback to USB-based iPod connectors are that they don't always read the library very quickly. Sometimes it takes a minute or so (longer on some models) with roughly 8000 songs. It might be because I remove it from my car every evening. Depends on what I'm renting; but the AUX cord seems to be disappearing from new cars, and Apple's abandonment of the 3.5 mm port will probably see it disappear from new models in another 10 years.

My own car (a Scion) just reads and charges it; weaving through the iPod library takes a long time if the song/album/artist doesn't begin with "A" or "9", so I'm apt to just let iTunes create mixes, shuffle by genre, or randomize it...sometimes it brings up stuff I've forgotten about. But that's because it's tech a decade old, since it still has a 30-pin connector.

abefroman329

Quote from: formulanone on August 06, 2018, 11:06:00 AMApple's abandonment of the 3.5 mm port will probably see it disappear from new models in another 10 years.
Not unless it also disappears from Android phones.

If I'm listening to music from my phone in the car, I usually locate the music using the phone's interface; I don't know if it's an option to navigate using my car's stereo anyway (I have a 2013 Camry).

inkyatari

I mostly listen to Skepical podcasts, like The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, or retro gaming podcasts like The Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast (or my own arcade retro gaming podcast, the Pie Factory Podcast )

When I listen to music, I listen to my downloads from the frustrating Amazon app
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DaBigE

USB stick 99.5% of the time; the rest is traditional radio. I don't think I've even tested the CD player in my new car yet.
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cahwyguy

Quote from: formulanone on August 06, 2018, 11:06:00 AM
One drawback to USB-based iPod connectors are that they don't always read the library very quickly. Sometimes it takes a minute or so (longer on some models) with roughly 8000 songs. It might be because I remove it from my car every evening. Depends on what I'm renting; but the AUX cord seems to be disappearing from new cars, and Apple's abandonment of the 3.5 mm port will probably see it disappear from new models in another 10 years.

My own car (a Scion) just reads and charges it; weaving through the iPod library takes a long time if the song/album/artist doesn't begin with "A" or "9", so I'm apt to just let iTunes create mixes, shuffle by genre, or randomize it...sometimes it brings up stuff I've forgotten about. But that's because it's tech a decade old, since it still has a 30-pin connector.

Just noting that I'm another iPod Classic person. My classic has over 45,000 songs on it. I just set up playlists and let things go on shuffle, but usually I'm listening to podcasts. Connect through the AUX port.
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doorknob60

SiriusXM almost all the time. I quickly grew tired of FM here (and the classic rock station plays a shitty talk show during my whole morning commute, no music). I have CDs and Music on my phone (Bluetooth) but I only use that on longer road trips (mostly in heavily forested areas or the Columbia Gorge, where SXM is spotty, but sometimes also when we want a change of pace). When I'm just driving around town, I like just turning on my car, and then having tons of music ready for me (I have 10 presets) without having to fuss about with my phone. Usually when we play anything else, my wife handles setting up the phone or switching CDs, etc.

abefroman329

Quote from: doorknob60 on August 06, 2018, 01:30:27 PMand the classic rock station plays a shitty talk show during my whole morning commute, no music
When I moved back to Chicago, WLUP-FM had a surprisingly non-shitty morning drive duo. They were quickly replaced by Mancow. Then the station changed formats to Christian contemporary.



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