Having just upgraded to a MIB2 unit I was most looking forward to accessing music via Amazon Music (or Google Play) via the screen but i've now found out that is not possible, all I can get to is playlists. I can't navigate my artist/album. Am I missing something here?

 

I have managed to access some music via the Plex app, which accesses my home CD collection on my Plex server, but that only goes so far as I don't buy as many CD's anymore.

This appears to be a safety thing as it happens on iOS also.  I've found the best way to do this, is setup a "Car" play list and add songs to it before you plug into the System.  You could also put it in Offline Mode which allows you to access your Owned Amazon Music but doesn't allow access to online features.

CarPlay / Android Auto isn't designed for you to access every feature of the Native phone app, rather to allow you access to a subset of features suitable for the car.  Eg.  they don't want you travelling down the M62 staring at your ICE screen trying to choose music

Ah, I haven't seen the offline mode option yet, that would be useful as I tend to download a few albums to the phone for long journeys.

 

The safety thing doesn't make sense, you can browse music from SD card/Jukebox so why is this any different.

1 minute ago, Dave77 said:

Ah, I haven't seen the offline mode option yet, that would be useful as I tend to download a few albums to the phone for long journeys.

 

The safety thing doesn't make sense, you can browse music from SD card/Jukebox so why is this any different.

 

SD Card browsing is Skoda, Android Auto is Google - they are obviously more safety conscious

1 minute ago, Mr Statto said:

 

SD Card browsing is Skoda, Android Auto is Google - they are obviously more safety conscious

 

But Google have allowed the Plex app to do it, I can browse by Artist > Album.

 

The Amazon offline music mode should be fine for me, i'll give that a go.

I use Amazon Music and browse through the music I have saved on my phone. It works, but Alexa or Siri integration within third party apps would be great. I can ask Siri to play certain music, but only through Apple Music, not through Amazon. That’s annoying, but otherwise I find CarPlay very good and can’t wait for iOS12 beta to hit beta accounts so I can try Google Maps and Waze on CarPlay without a jailbroken phone

I haven't tried Google Assistant with Amazon yet, but it works with Plex so maybe it will work on Amazon too.

 

Google Maps is great. The sat nav on the Amundsen MIB1 is terrible but the built-in nav on the Columbus MIB2 is far superior. Has some neat touches like allowing you to choose your favourite petrol brand for when it needs to find your nearest station

1 hour ago, SashaGrace said:

can’t wait for iOS12 beta to hit beta accounts so I can try Google Maps and Waze on CarPlay without a jailbroken phone

 

Nice, hadn't caught up with the WWDC announcements yet but glad to hear that. I'd guess ultimately the wait will be  for the apps to be updated for CarPlay and available via the App Store? I like the Apple Maps design and UI but sometimes its routing isn't the best.

 

Prior to getting the Octy I used the TomTom app on iOS just with my phone in a mount which I loved, would be nice to see that on CarPlay too so I could make the choice between Apple/Google/Waze/TomTom. 

Edited 5 June, 20188 yr by uchuff

I don’t know which third party apps will be available, certainly Waze and Google Maps have been discussed. I still have my spare iPhone 6, so will update to the iOS12 beta when it comes around to see how it may be. Can’t wait for the gestures on iPad, they should give the phones the choice of gesture options too IMO, would be brill to swipe from the bottom to close apps on my 7 Plus because sometimes stretching to the home button is a bit far!

2 hours ago, Dave77 said:

I haven't tried Google Assistant with Amazon yet, but it works with Plex so maybe it will work on Amazon too.

 

 

Just tried and GA voice control works on Amazon Music and Google Play also. You can also switch between the 2 by saying "Play [artist] on Amazon Music".

 

I couldn't find any settings for Amaon Music offline mode though, maybe it's an CarPlay only feature. The only option I have was to shuffle offline music, not select it.

5 minutes ago, Dave77 said:

 

Just tried and GA voice control works on Amazon Music and Google Play also. You can also switch between the 2 by saying "Play [artist] on Amazon Music".

 

I couldn't find any settings for Amaon Music offline mode though, maybe it's an CarPlay only feature. The only option I have was to shuffle offline music, not select it.

 

You have to turn on Offline Mode on your actual Phone before you connect to Android Auto I believe (or thats how it works on my iPhone for CarPlay)

1 hour ago, SashaGrace said:

I don’t know which third party apps will be available, certainly Waze and Google Maps have been discussed.

 

Looks like Siri "shortcuts" might be able to help things like Spotify voice commands, fingers crossed at least.

 

Every time I get close to jumping ship Apple close off some of the main pain points, I should really have faith. 

I feel the same. So glad they have bought gestures onto the iPad, shame they haven’t on the phones! Shame about a lot of stuff but I still love my iPhone. That said, the competition from Huawei in the P20 Pro, OnePus with the 6 and Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is hard to ignore...

Yup, was OnePlus 6 I nearly jumped to, decided to hold fire until the next round of iPhones.

 

Agreed on the gestures, I had a go on an X in the Apple Store recently and found the new interaction model on that nice, I even commented to the genius that I'd probably hate using my iPad after a few weeks with one. For now I've pinched an old Moto phone from my parents for ODBEleven, makes a change as tech castoffs usually go the other way.

Edited 5 June, 20188 yr by uchuff

3 hours ago, hwr1983 said:

 

You have to turn on Offline Mode on your actual Phone before you connect to Android Auto I believe (or thats how it works on my iPhone for CarPlay)

 

Amazon Music on my phone was already in Offline Mode. Maybe it only works on CarPlay.

That’d be annoying if so! I know it works lovely on CarPlay and I haven’t had to change any settings. It is a cut down version of the app which is annoying seeing as Alexa support could see it achieve a really smooth user experience. As Alexa is coming to Skoda infotainment shortly, it’d be an oversight to exclude it from the CarPlay app IMO.

On the iPhone, do you set Offline Music under My Music?

Have you looked into Poweramp? It's about £3 from Play Store.

2 minutes ago, TheWanderer said:

Have you looked into Poweramp? It's about £3 from Play Store.

 

Nope, does it work with Android Auto?

10 minutes ago, Dave77 said:

On the iPhone, do you set Offline Music under My Music?

On my phone I did nothing, I just plugged it in and it works. It finds everything I have on my Amazon Music, saved to the phone or just added to stream. If I press the offline music button it takes me back to Apple Music.

7 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

can’t wait for iOS12 beta to hit beta accounts so I can try Google Maps and Waze on CarPlay without a jailbroken phone

I wouldn't rush too fast into installing the iOS12 developer beta - there are lots of reports of broken phones having to revert back to iOS11.4

 

Definitely worth waiting for the public beta and then waiting to see what early adopters say...

I don’t have a dev account, would be waiting for the public beta anyway. I’ll try it on my spare phone first in any case

20 minutes ago, Dave77 said:

 

Nope, does it work with Android Auto?

 

Dunno, I chucked AA off because it's rubbish.

2 hours ago, Dave77 said:

 

Nope, does it work with Android Auto?

 

No, it to doesn't. I often use AA, but mostly Waze and Spotify, sometimes TuneIn radio so that I get my Portuguese radios here in Finland.

I read the thread sideways, so can you sum up what you are trying to achieve?

Also, if there is something you want me to crosscheck for you, I am a techy guy and as a reference AA has been working pretty fine for me so far.