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Entertainment system baffles me
- Thread starter PhilRogers
- Start date
CyberGus
Not Just a Member
One time I was screaming at Siri in the car, perplexed as to why she didn’t answer. Then I realized I was saying “Alexa”.
Man, that was an awkward drive home.
After test driving the Tesla 3 and S yesterday, I was really surprised there is no AM, SiriusXM and Apple CarPlay available. My wife and I use those all the time on trips and are big short comings. Can’t figure out how none of them are available. I am a Waze user and use it for the alerts, which no one else can touch. Crazy that is also not available.
For all the tech the Tesla has those are huge shortcomings when you do mostly trip travel. Seem like no brainers.
For all the tech the Tesla has those are huge shortcomings when you do mostly trip travel. Seem like no brainers.
Zcd1
Active Member
TuneIn and Spotify could be considered as offsetting the lack of Sirius XM, IMO, plus they offer better sound quality and much lower pricing.
Re: Waze: Tesla's NAV with Google Maps does a nice job routing around traffic issues in my experience.
Yes, but SiriusXM work even when no cell phone coverage and there are stations that are only available on SiriusXM. Tesla NAV does seem nice, but the great thing about Waze and why it is the only thing I use is for the police alerts, hazard alerts, object in road, etc... I don’t think any other map provider can touch that. When you do mostly freeway travel, that information is invaluable.
I also use Apple Music and forgot to test if Album Art appears. Some say it does and others say it does not. Have to have album art too. LOL.
Yes, but SiriusXM work even when no cell phone coverage and there are stations that are only available on SiriusXM. Tesla NAV does seem nice, but the great thing about Waze and why it is the only thing I use is for the police alerts, hazard alerts, object in road, etc... I don’t think any other map provider can touch that. When you do mostly freeway travel, that information is invaluable.
I also use Apple Music and forgot to test if Album Art appears. Some say it does and others say it does not. Have to have album art too. LOL.
Album art shows up from Apple Music when I play music from my iPhone via bluetooth.
Really wish that they would allow us to replace the Spotify icon with Apple Music and do what Ford did on my 2015 Fusion, which was to allow Siri to be brought up with a long steering wheel press instead of their voice help. I used CarPlay in the last car I had and texted people all the time. It is terrible in the Model 3.
sduck
Mr. Duck
Threads like this always remind me of those great discussions you have with your wife about how great your previous girlfriend was and all the things she did that you don't. Really improves everything, amiright?
Got in the M3 to go to the shops today - no radio at all, either DAB or FM. Tried manual tuning etc and nothing. Just a little rotating 'wait' icon at the top. Spotify and TuneIn working OK.
Had a minute at the shops so did a two button reset. Bingo - radio works again.
Weird software.
Had a minute at the shops so did a two button reset. Bingo - radio works again.
Weird software.
this is a known issue that they apparently have no desire to fix. i've reported it multiple times and had the antenna amplifier replaced, has not resolved. i have service scheduled for them to look at it, but i keep pushing it back due to the pandemic (plus i have no faith they will actually fix it, based on my own personal experience as well as others here).
If equipped with premium connectivity, internet radio and music streaming services are available over a data connection.
Here's a few links explaining each service:
Slacker - In Your Car - LiveXLive - Premium Live Music
Tunein - sports, music, news and podcasts, includes some local radio stations as well. Also has a Premium service for sports and commercial free programming. Tesla provides the basic. Home | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
Spotify - Tesla added availability to this subscription service to our car's infotainment area after many owners requested it. Europe had it on their cars first. Music and podcasts, create playlists. Requires a Premium account and may depend on your data plan. The site lists a Spotify Free but not sure if that works in the car. Here's a link to the car audio section of their webpage. Spotify Everywhere and specifically for Tesla Spotify Everywhere
Here's a few links explaining each service:
Slacker - In Your Car - LiveXLive - Premium Live Music
Tunein - sports, music, news and podcasts, includes some local radio stations as well. Also has a Premium service for sports and commercial free programming. Tesla provides the basic. Home | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn
Spotify - Tesla added availability to this subscription service to our car's infotainment area after many owners requested it. Europe had it on their cars first. Music and podcasts, create playlists. Requires a Premium account and may depend on your data plan. The site lists a Spotify Free but not sure if that works in the car. Here's a link to the car audio section of their webpage. Spotify Everywhere and specifically for Tesla Spotify Everywhere
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If I'm not mistaken SiriusXM was only available on the older Model S and X's that have a roof bar where the antenna was placed. With the all glass roofs I think it effectively eliminated it. Our Model S (early 2017) has AM but the reception is terrible (understand it's the electric motor that causes interference) so we never listen to it.
I like to listen to KCBS radio in the morning. Plays fine in my area and up the SF bay peninsula but once I head south around Gilroy it tunes into another radio station. Frustrating I know. I think it just has to do with the range of the signal.
CyberGus
Not Just a Member
upkerry14
Member
I'm confused about the "favorites" feature. I click on the star when I want to choose a song as a favorite and then? It seems I can't just click on the star and all the favorites would pop up, like I expected. Anyone?
your favorites will show up in either a row if you have the radio system condensed to the bottom of the screen (not all the way at the bottom, but the "halfway" option), or under a list option in each category (spotify, streaming, tune in, etc).
Even before Spotify came to Tesla, the entertainment section was confusing, mainly because Slacker's functionality was very unintuitive. The free Slacker account that comes with the car does not let you search a song and listen to that song (although it does sometimes if you've never searched that song before). Instead it starts to play songs it thinks are related to the song you searched for. If you want to be able to play the song you searched for, you have to have your own account.
And if you use the Slacker genres to play what it chooses to add to the playlist, you'll find that it does a really poor job randomizing songs. You'll sometimes hear the same song again within 10 songs. And sometimes it will get stuck with only 5-10 songs in its playlist and it won't give you anything new. Inexplicably in a few weeks (or months) suddenly different songs appear in the rotation.
The thumbs up/down functionality is terrible. When you thumbs down a song, that song will never ever play again. So if you accidentally thumbs down a song you like, which I have done, tough sh*t. It's gone. Thumbs up is a bit trickier to assess, but after 2 years of usage, I concluded that it doesn't do anything. It doesn't increase the frequency of play, nor does it influence what Slacker offers in its playlist. I can't tell if this is just Slacker sucking, or Tesla's incomplete integration with Slacker features.
Spotify added more complexity to an already unintuitive UI. I was never a heavy Spotify user to begin with, but after the introduction of Spotify to the firmware, I ended up getting a family account. That was when I realized that the phone app and the web player have a lot more control than Tesla's integration. Took me forever to figure out how to get Family Mix to show up as a playlist on the car's interface, for example (afaik you can't add it from the car; you have to do it on phone/web).
Overall, it seems like the integrations are a bit shallow and can be improved quite a bit. The overall information architecture and UX of the UI could use an overhaul too. I remember having a hard time finding how to get to the standard FM tuner to pick a specific frequency. Once you figure it out and can remember how to do things, it should be fine. But a good interface is one you can navigate with minimal instruction, and this section of the UI will require some RTFM. And even then it might not help much.
And if you use the Slacker genres to play what it chooses to add to the playlist, you'll find that it does a really poor job randomizing songs. You'll sometimes hear the same song again within 10 songs. And sometimes it will get stuck with only 5-10 songs in its playlist and it won't give you anything new. Inexplicably in a few weeks (or months) suddenly different songs appear in the rotation.
The thumbs up/down functionality is terrible. When you thumbs down a song, that song will never ever play again. So if you accidentally thumbs down a song you like, which I have done, tough sh*t. It's gone. Thumbs up is a bit trickier to assess, but after 2 years of usage, I concluded that it doesn't do anything. It doesn't increase the frequency of play, nor does it influence what Slacker offers in its playlist. I can't tell if this is just Slacker sucking, or Tesla's incomplete integration with Slacker features.
Spotify added more complexity to an already unintuitive UI. I was never a heavy Spotify user to begin with, but after the introduction of Spotify to the firmware, I ended up getting a family account. That was when I realized that the phone app and the web player have a lot more control than Tesla's integration. Took me forever to figure out how to get Family Mix to show up as a playlist on the car's interface, for example (afaik you can't add it from the car; you have to do it on phone/web).
Overall, it seems like the integrations are a bit shallow and can be improved quite a bit. The overall information architecture and UX of the UI could use an overhaul too. I remember having a hard time finding how to get to the standard FM tuner to pick a specific frequency. Once you figure it out and can remember how to do things, it should be fine. But a good interface is one you can navigate with minimal instruction, and this section of the UI will require some RTFM. And even then it might not help much.
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