When I switch media sources on the Columbus the new source tends to start at volume 0 (i.e. muted). Also happens when starting the car. Does anyone know if this can be changed in the settings?

Try this?

 

Mystery solved.

What I did not say in my earlier post is that it was not happening every single time I switched media or started the car, just often enough to be annoying. I had already tried the "maximum switch on volume" setting and it hadn't helped. I did some experimenting just now and have found out the exact scenario that causes the "problem".  What I now realise is that if you pause a track you are playing from the sd card  it also sets the volume to mute. So if you then switch to the radio it is still muted. It appears I am in the habit of pausing playback before switching off the ignition, and sometimes before turning over to the radio. I think this is a hangover from an older car which tended to trash the contents of sd cards if they were still playing when you switched off the ignition.

So now the question becomes - can you stop the pause function also setting the volume to mute?

11 minutes ago, gojoholo said:

can you stop the pause function also setting the volume to mute?

 

No. But don't think in terms of pause/mute. Just think of it in terms of sound on/off that applies across all sources.

7 minutes ago, WiggosSideburns said:

 

No. But don't think in terms of pause/mute. Just think of it in terms of sound on/off that applies across all sources.

Perhaps, but its not very intuitive is it? If I get in the car today and "switch on" the radio, I don't expect to get silence just because I paused a track sometime yesterday!

That's because you're still thinking in terms of pausing the track and the radio being muted.

 

Think of it as muting the sound output, and it will stay muted until you unmute it, no matter what input/source you select. I'm not trying to claim it is perfect, but it does mean that the one button does the same thing all the time, and you don't need to make the steering wheel or other controls more complicated by having separate mute/unmute and pause/play buttons.

 

Of course, you then get the pause/play symbols on the screen when listening to media... as I said, it's not perfect!

Feedback for any audio unit UI designers that happen to be reading:

If the user selects the radio from the menu, then they will certainly be expecting to hear the radio, so automatically unmute the unit if it is in a muted state.

On 07/08/2018 at 10:04, gojoholo said:

Feedback for any audio unit UI designers that happen to be reading:

If the user selects the radio from the menu, then they will certainly be expecting to hear the radio, so automatically unmute the unit if it is in a muted state.

Agreed. Some software designers have VERY odd ideas about UIs.