Playing media via bluetooth (android)

[iainfm]

Hi all,

Quick question about the above, if I may...

I've got my phone (Pixel 4a 5G / Android 12) paired to my car no problem. However, until I open a music app on the phone (eg YouTube Music) and start playing it, the infotainment centre doesn't seem to know how to start music playing. It just says 'not provided'.

Is there a way or a setting somewhere to make the music app autostart on connection, or does anyone have a suggestion which alternative app to use? (The constant nagging to sign up for the subscription service is p*****g me off anyway )

Thanks,
Iain

 

[Jomarkh]

Have you tried it with s good quality cable in the left usb port

 

[iainfm]

Have you tried it with s good quality cable in the left usb port

Hi,

It was specifically the bluetooth connectivity I was wondering about. I've (usually) got a separate memory stick in the other front USB port that I've got my music on. It's really only for when I forget that or want to play something on my phone's storage.

 

[Jomarkh]

My wife uses AA and Spotify and has no issues.

 

[rogerco]

Hi,

It was specifically the bluetooth connectivity I was wondering about. I've (usually) got a separate memory stick in the other front USB port that I've got my music on. It's really only for when I forget that or want to play something on my phone's storage.

Has the bluetooth icon on the car screen gone green. If it is still white then it has not connected. You might need to explicitly tell your phone to connect to the MG bluetooth the first time you use it after pairing, and tell it to remember the connection.

If the icon is green then have you selected "Music" on on car screen - it should appear on the left as a selectable option under DAB, FM, AM or simply press the music button until you get it. You should then have control from the car screen of play/pause/next/prev.

Is the music actually playing on the phone speaker. Maybe whatever music player you are using is not compatible with Bluetooth. I use RocketPlayer and it works just fine.

[edit] re-reading your OP you seem to be complaining that the car screen doesn't play anything if you haven't opened the music app - well why would it? It has no knowledge of what music app you have or whether a playlist is open or not. If you are just using bluetooth then you need to start the music playing on the phone, the car will then be able to control it.

The alternative is to use Android Auto and enter a world of pain with a very restricted range of apps that work with it and having to use a cable connection as well as the bluetooth - stupid waste of time IMHO.

 

[iainfm]

[edit] re-reading your OP you seem to be complaining that the car screen doesn't play anything if you haven't opened the music app - well why would it? It has no knowledge of what music app you have or whether a playlist is open or not. If you are just using bluetooth then you need to start the music playing on the phone, the car will then be able to control it.

Yes, on thinking about it maybe I'm expecting it to do something it shouldn't. I've never had a car stereo with bluetooth before

 

[AdamMGEV]

Yes, on thinking about it maybe I'm expecting it to do something it shouldn't. I've never had a car stereo with bluetooth before

You've clicked the source on your steering wheel right?

If I play say Spotify I will click source until I get to the little icon that says the name of the song or something on the cars infotainment screen.

 

[iainfm]

Yep, clicked source and BT icon green on the display. All works fine once I go into the music app and choose something to play. I just expected that to happen automatically I guess.

It's no biggy as I usually play music from a USB memory stick anyway

 

[AdamMGEV]

Yep, clicked source and BT icon green on the display. All works fine once I go into the music app and choose something to play. I just expected that to happen automatically I guess.

It's no biggy as I usually play music from a USB memory stick anyway

I always personally plug it into USB so that it charges my phone and I get to use android auto. But I do use Spotify which you control via the cars screen and buttons.

 

[Beamer1001]

[edit] re-reading your OP you seem to be complaining that the car screen doesn't play anything if you haven't opened the music app - well why would it? It has no knowledge of what music app you have or whether a playlist is open or not. If you are just using bluetooth then you need to start the music playing on the phone, the car will then be able to control it.

You say why would it know but it doesn't need to. I've been playing audio via bluetooth on my Android phones in every car I've had for about 10 years and it always just continues with whatever was the last audio app I was using. It just tells the phone to continue audio, the phone is what knows what it was playing last.

 

[Beamer1001]

Hi all,

Quick question about the above, if I may...

I've got my phone (Pixel 4a 5G / Android 12) paired to my car no problem. However, until I open a music app on the phone (eg YouTube Music) and start playing it, the infotainment centre doesn't seem to know how to start music playing. It just says 'not provided'.

Is there a way or a setting somewhere to make the music app autostart on connection, or does anyone have a suggestion which alternative app to use? (The constant nagging to sign up for the subscription service is p*****g me off anyway )

Thanks,
Iain

When Google ditched Google Music in favour of the Youtube Music subscription model I ditched them. I installed a great free app called Musicolet which is local only, no internet required. It does mean you have to copy your mp3 library on to your phone but once you've done that it works brilliantly and no forking out on monthly subscriptions.

 

[gary69er]

So so miss my cd player..bring cd players back into cars.

 

[Grriff]

So so miss my cd player..bring cd players back into cars.

No thanks. I'd rather use the space to hold my phone (or a USB stick) which can store my entire CD collection and easily find tracks, albums and artists.