Apple Music - "Choose Media Source" every time entering the car

[f-stop]

After Tesla added support for Apple Music, I signed up for a 4 month free trial of Music to see how it stacks up with Spotify which I now normally listen to in the car.

After experiencing many years of bugs with Tesla's USB/media player, I guess I wasn't too shocked to run into problems almost right away with the new Apple Music app. Specifically:

- after playing Apple Music, if I leave the car and come back some time later, the media player shows "Choose Media Source" instead of playing where it left off. Seems to happen almost every time.
- often it takes several minutes before I can successfully pick an Apple Music playlist/song/radio station to start playing successfully - instead all the while continuing to display "Choose Media Source" and spinning a progress icon. The Spotify app doesn't have this problem.

Is "Choose Media Source" the new "Loading error..." USB listeners spent years dealing with? And why oh why can't Tesla engineers build a half decent media player?

 

[DerbyDave]

In my 2020, I have no connection to the car's LTE cell service for several minutes after I leave my house and lose the WiFi connection. Is your car connecting to LTE immediately, or do you also have this delay?

 

[f-stop]

Usually I seem to have good LTE connection. I will observe more closely next time I head out. But problem isn't just when leaving home and switching from WiFi to LTE - happens out around town when solely connected to LTE, no switching involved.

I'll also add that when I see the Choose Media Source screen I can usually switch to Spotify and it plays fine, but often even trying to switch back to Apple Music at that point still fails. So when that occurs it's not the LTE connection that's the problem

 

[WilliamG]

Usually I seem to have good LTE connection. I will observe more closely next time I head out. But problem isn't just when leaving home and switching from WiFi to LTE - happens out around town when solely connected to LTE, no switching involved.

I'll also add that when I see the Choose Media Source screen I can usually switch to Spotify and it plays fine, but often even trying to switch back to Apple Music at that point still fails. So when that occurs it's not the LTE connection that's the problem

Everyone with Apple Music has this same issue. It’s something Tesla needs to address with software updates, as right now Apple Music in the car is seriously half baked in terms of resuming when you get back in. @Muzzman1

 

[DerbyDave]

I have been waiting for updates to fix the SiriusXM problem since early 2021. Good luck.

 

[Muzzman1]

Yes, @f-stop I'm having the exact same experience. When spotify was initially released it did similar crap as well. Hopefully they will resolve it soon, it drives me bonkers.

 

[vcor]

Do you have Sentry mode on? At least for music from a USB, if Sentry is on when you get out of the car and return later, the USB starts immediately. With Sentry off, you must reactivate it (the voice command "USB" works best). Perhaps Apple Music is the same way: leaving the car powered up with Sentry mode will resume Apple music when you return.

 

[WilliamG]

Do you have Sentry mode on? At least for music from a USB, if Sentry is on when you get out of the car and return later, the USB starts immediately. With Sentry off, you must reactivate it (the voice command "USB" works best). Perhaps Apple Music is the same way: leaving the car powered up with Sentry mode will resume Apple music when you return.

That's not my experience, at all. I don't have Sentry on at home, and it's really hit or miss if it will resume music. When I'm out, with Sentry always on, it's also hit or miss, - usually miss.

 

[f-stop]

Do you have Sentry mode on? At least for music from a USB, if Sentry is on when you get out of the car and return later, the USB starts immediately. With Sentry off, you must reactivate it (the voice command "USB" works best). Perhaps Apple Music is the same way: leaving the car powered up with Sentry mode will resume Apple music when you return.

No. My 2015 MS pre-dates the inclusion of the Sentry Mode feature so that’s not at play here

 

[bburk00]

Ok, just wanted to make sure I'm not the only one having this issue. The other thing that is annoying and hopefully it's not something I'm doing wrong. But if I choose an artist in Apple Music to listen to, the app will only play one song by that artist then will randomly start choosing different artist that I have no desire to listen to. It's like the app thinks I want it to DJ the genre and not just play the artist that I specifically typed (or voiced commanded) into the search to listen to.

 

[djjimgreen]

I've got a MY and am having the sameee issues. Haven't been able to listen to music in 2 days now, "choose media source" is the culprit. Just spinning and not playing anything.

 

[brooklyn]

I'll have to see if I'm having this issue in my MSP, but what I am definitely experiencing is the asspain of having to link my account repeatedly by scanning the QR code thing. Someone mentioned SXM - having a separate issue there where after setting 5 "Favorite" stations, it doesn't seem to allow me to save any more beyond that. This am I tried to fave the Sirius FC (soccer) channel and it did it for maybe a hot second and then dropped it as a face. Audio sounds miles better in Apple Music vs Sirius as well.

 

[bburk00]

I'll have to see if I'm having this issue in my MSP, but what I am definitely experiencing is the asspain of having to link my account repeatedly by scanning the QR code thing. Someone mentioned SXM - having a separate issue there where after setting 5 "Favorite" stations, it doesn't seem to allow me to save any more beyond that. This am I tried to fave the Sirius FC (soccer) channel and it did it for maybe a hot second and then dropped it as a face. Audio sounds miles better in Apple Music vs Sirius as well.

I don't have the issue of needing to relink.

 

[krsgio]

I have the lost source after I return back to the car since apple music came out. I usually have to skip track or hit play/pause scroll wheel to get it to play again.

 

[Muzzman1]

I have the lost source after I return back to the car since apple music came out. I usually have to skip track or hit play/pause scroll wheel to get it to play again.

This works for me as well, but only 1/10 times.

 

[djjimgreen]

This works for me as well, but only 1/10 times.

This. Works for me sometimes.. but other times I'm just stuck with no response from apple music.

 

[WilliamG]

This. Works for me sometimes.. but other times I'm just stuck with no response from apple music.

Same. The whole thing is pretty broken unless you're on a long trip, and even then the fact that there's no buffering of even one next song is a travesty.

 

[Tdriver]

Don't forget Slacker, it works really well. For 30 bucks a year you can get 320 bit quality.

 

[pookguy]

I’ve been having this problem too in a ‘21 MY. sometimes skipping track fixes it or I have to completely log out and reconnect the QR code. Frustrating.

 

[WilliamG]

I’ve been having this problem too in a ‘21 MY. sometimes skipping track fixes it or I have to completely log out and reconnect the QR code. Frustrating.

Yep, it's a pretty rubbish implementation. Amazing Tesla released it without obvious testing. I guess it works if you sign in with the QR code, and go for a drive, and do nothing else. Perhaps Tesla's testing department didn't try the whole... stop car, get out of car, leave car, come back to car, get in car - procedure, to see if it continues to work.