Spotify and Bluetooth Car Kits

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networkn

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Topic # 171938 6-May-2015 12:18

Anyone here using BT to stream Spotify to their car (Ideally recent BMW) stereo? Ideally for me it would be able to do this and handle phone calls and intelligently switch between them as required.

Also with Spotify Premium, how much music and for how long, can you have stored offline?

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Reply # 1298982 6-May-2015 12:24

I don't think there's a limit to how long the file can remain offline, but spotify needs to connect every 30 days to validate your subscription and count track plays etc.

As for bluetooth if your phone rings it should pause playback then resume when you've finished, I think this is more handled by the phone software that tells the bluetooth stereo what's happening rather than the other way round. This is how it works on my VW.

ajobbins

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Reply # 1298984 6-May-2015 12:27

I use Spotify on my android with a number of bluetooth devices (My car only does Bluetooth for calls tho).

On devices like BT headphones, it works nicely, and when a call comes in the music pauses and resumes once the call ends.

Not sure on Spotify limits, but I have a couple of GB of music offline and some of it has been offline for a year or more. Doesn't seem to 'expire'

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networkn

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Reply # 1298985 6-May-2015 12:29

ajobbins: I use Spotify on my android with a number of bluetooth devices (My car only does Bluetooth for calls tho).

On devices like BT headphones, it works nicely, and when a call comes in the music pauses and resumes once the call ends.

Not sure on Spotify limits, but I have a couple of GB of music offline and some of it has been offline for a year or more. Doesn't seem to 'expire'

Excellent, thanks.

I just wish Amazon would get Universal Music onboard to fill out their Spotify competitor. I don't know why but I just have a problem with paying Spotify $13 a month!

tripp

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Reply # 1298989 6-May-2015 12:33

I do this every day, my phone has spotify and connects via bluetooth to my car sound system. Works great, I keep spotify online but use play list to store music on my phone.

I do find i have to manually press play on spotify when I first get into the car each morning but if I stop for petrol etc then it starts back up by itself :)

Andib

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Reply # 1298997 6-May-2015 12:46

I use a mixture of Spotify and Pandora.
I have roughly 300 songs offline on spotify and have never had any of it "expire", I believe it will only expire if your phone cannot to the internet to check if your subscription is valid (this will happen every 30days)

I have an aftermarket Pioneer headunit which will pause my call and let me use the handsfree when I get a call / want to make a call and then resume when I end the call.

Edit: Should probably add I'm using an iPhone

richms

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Reply # 1298999 6-May-2015 12:46

When I was with spark and had it free I tried it.

Problems I have is that it will sometimes open spotify and start playing when the car connects. Sometimes it will open the stock music player and start playing that obnoxious samsung song that comes on the phone, but most often it will connect and not open a damn thing.

Then it will just get to the end of a song and the stereo will just say "Paused" and the app is closed.

The only buttons on the stereo that do anything are pause/play, next and previous track. Things like random or the ones to choose disks/folders do nothing, so forget trying to operate it from the stereos controls. Also you have 2 volume controls, since the ones on the stereo do not change the phone and vice versa, so its as hopeless as a 3.5mm cable from that perspective - got to turn the phone up really loud or its quite noisy sounding, and remember to turn it down before pairing your headphones back up.

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Reply # 1299119 6-May-2015 14:29

mrtoken: I do this every day, my phone has spotify and connects via bluetooth to my car sound system. Works great, I keep spotify online but use play list to store music on my phone.

I do find i have to manually press play on spotify when I first get into the car each morning but if I stop for petrol etc then it starts back up by itself :)

You didn't mention the OS of your phone, but I also had this problem on both my current and previous phones (both Android - a Sony and now a G3); I found a solution in a free app called Bluetooth connect and Play, which enables the user to set a particular app to start when the phone connects to Bluetooth; also allows you to set the volume on connect (and disconnect), turn off wifi on connect etc.

I have had (and currently continue to have) problems with the app not always starting when connecting to the car, and going by what I've read this is a well-known app fault*, where it gets stuck on the initial screen (basically all black); the 'solution' I've read is a clean install, but I've avoided that thus far as I have many tens of GBs synced to the phone.

$13 a month for such a huge range of music, the ability to sync it offline on up to three devices etc - it's a damn bargain in my book! We made it even cheaper by my wife moving to the music package from Spark - $19 including Spotify premium (just transferred our existing account across). Especially great for those with kids who get to find the latest and greatest (and most annoying) music around - in our house at the moment it's Big Hero 6, Ninjago and Minecraft music.

And earlier posts are right about the Spotify app on the phone only needing to check in once every 30 days - I never use phone data for playing music, but simply have the phone automatically sync any adjusted/new playlists from the home wifi.

* That said, my car - a current Mazda 6 - is known as having dodgy audio connections, to the point they've released a new Bluetooth module - I had the local dealer order this for me, and I'm just trying to find the time to get it installed; this may, I hope, help with the problem.

jonathan18

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Reply # 1299150 6-May-2015 15:07

richms: When I was with spark and had it free I tried it.

Problems I have is that it will sometimes open spotify and start playing when the car connects. Sometimes it will open the stock music player and start playing that obnoxious samsung song that comes on the phone, but most often it will connect and not open a damn thing.

Then it will just get to the end of a song and the stereo will just say "Paused" and the app is closed.

The only buttons on the stereo that do anything are pause/play, next and previous track. Things like random or the ones to choose disks/folders do nothing, so forget trying to operate it from the stereos controls. Also you have 2 volume controls, since the ones on the stereo do not change the phone and vice versa, so its as hopeless as a 3.5mm cable from that perspective - got to turn the phone up really loud or its quite noisy sounding, and remember to turn it down before pairing your headphones back up.

Many of these problems can be solved by using the app I discussed in the post directly above this, including ensuring the correct music app starts (the app allows different music apps to start depending on the bluetooth device it's connected to), and controlling the volume upon connection and disconnection.

Re volume control - as far as I know, it's standard advice to ensure the volume of your source device is as high as possible (without distortion, of course), to ensure as little amplification is required at the other end (ie, avoids having to turn the volume on the car stereo right up, which increases the background noise floor). And, as mentioned above, that bluetooth app ensures this occurs by turning up the phone volume to max on connection and returning it to the original setting on disconnection - this aspect works perfectly for me.

mdooher

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Reply # 1299153 6-May-2015 15:16

networkn: Anyone here using BT to stream Spotify to their car (Ideally recent BMW) stereo? Ideally for me it would be able to do this and handle phone calls and intelligently switch between them as required.

Also with Spotify Premium, how much music and for how long, can you have stored offline?

works fine on the wife's BMW with iPhone. the only issue I have noticed is that if the account is in use in the house, instead of stopping the house music and then playing on the iPhone it turns the iPhone into a remote for the house.. and nothing comes through the speakers (seems to be since the latest update)

Matthew

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Reply # 1299154 6-May-2015 15:16

Yeah, I will give that app a shot sometime.

I dont see why when you are transfering audio digitally to a power amplifier there needs to be any volume control done on the source device. Its just one of the absurd things that bluetooth does to let you turn it down lossily on the phone and the bring it back up again on the stereo. It sounds bad enough without apt-x even before you start to discard bits by digitally attenuating it.

Biggest issue I have with all 3 streaming services I have tried (spotify, rdio and googl eplay) is the app just closing. Play controls disappear from the lock screen and its not running when I unlock the phone. At least the note 4 fixed not having other apps show on the sview cover, but they still close randomly.

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jarledb

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Reply # 1299156 6-May-2015 15:19

You are limited to streaming from one place with Spotify (well, if you do it from somewhere else, it will stop streams other places). So to be able to use Spotify at home and in the car at the same time, you would need two accounts.

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richms

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Reply # 1299157 6-May-2015 15:19

mdooher:

works fine on the wife's BMW with iPhone. the only issue I have noticed is that if the account is in use in the house, instead of stopping the house music and then playing on the iPhone it turns the iPhone into a remote for the house.. and nothing comes through the speakers (seems to be since the latest update)

I used that a lot with it and the outside speakers to control the music. Great featuer and I like how it doesnt force you to be on the same network like spotify connect does.

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mdooher

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Reply # 1299160 6-May-2015 15:24

richms:
mdooher:

works fine on the wife's BMW with iPhone. the only issue I have noticed is that if the account is in use in the house, instead of stopping the house music and then playing on the iPhone it turns the iPhone into a remote for the house.. and nothing comes through the speakers (seems to be since the latest update)

I used that a lot with it and the outside speakers to control the music. Great featuer and I like how it doesnt force you to be on the same network like spotify connect does.

My wife's reaction tends to be "bloody computer, stop telling me what I want, I'm supposed to tell you!" I did mention that maybe it was a age thing.... apparently not...

Matthew

networkn

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Reply # 1299162 6-May-2015 15:32

jarledb: You are limited to streaming from one place with Spotify (well, if you do it from somewhere else, it will stop streams other places). So to be able to use Spotify at home and in the car at the same time, you would need two accounts.

Hmm probably a deal breaker. Anyone know if the same applies with Pandora? Any other service equivalent to Spotify?

richms

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Reply # 1299164 6-May-2015 15:33

It only affects streaming playback. Offline it will let you play anything downloaded just fine. And you dont want to stream too much on 4/3g because its pretty data hungry.

Richard rich.ms

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