Love Tesla. Love my car. Wish Tesla would please fix the USB Audio Player.

[P100D_Me]

I hold little hope Tesla will (can/has any interest to) fix this or other music player issues.

I think you are right, it'll be pretty low on the 'to do' list, if at all.

 

[Dithermaster]

One tiny thing got better in my USB playback. Now when the display is blank and I re-select USB playback, it remembers Shuffle mode most all of the time. It used to forget and I'd have to re-enable it.

 

[PhilDavid]

At the least I wish they'd add a voice command to "Play USB Audio"

Usually after 3 minute sof driving, the USB drive is initialized an dit can play music. I'd just rather not navigate menus while driving. Being able to resume USB music with a voice commans would be so awesome.

Why we are at it, how about Voice commands for:

"Play Slacker"
"Play Spotify"
"Play USB Audio"

With each audio source resuming where it last left off?

What a shame we used to be able to switch and resume audio sources with long pressing a steering wheel button and this super useful feature was discontinued.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

The USB music not resuming is caused by the USB drive not initializing quickly enough when you open the door.

If I keep Sentry on, presumably keeping the USB subsystem alive, the USB music resumes immediately and always but the car is parked in my garage over 90% of the time so I don;t want to keep the car on for Sentry when it is in a locked garage.

If they would just add a time to try to play music again 5 second later if the initial try does not work because the drive takes a couple of second to initialize, it would fix this bug once and for all.

The other option is to power on the USB subsystem the moment you unlock the car manually. Then by the time you get in the car, the USB drive would have initialized.

So many easy ways to fix this issue...

Only if you've never had to write software to deal with the crazy edge cases associated with removable USB sticks (and similar)...

Its not impossible, but it is extraordinarily difficult to get it working correctly and safely.
The main problems derive from the risks of assuming that the USB stick (et al) hasn't been swapped or modified while the car (or phone or TV) was in a deep sleep, and therefore the need to determine that it hadn't been and that the car (or phone or TV) can't simply rely on its knowledge of its prior state.

Having worked in that problem on unrelated consumer devices (but not on cars), I do have a lot of sympathy for the software engineers. But it is a bit frustrating that Tesla seemed to have had it working a high percent of the time for a few months in 2019, and then regressed. My most charitable view is they had a possible security vulnerability which had to be fixed and that caused the usability regression.

 

[aesculus]

Tesla seemed to have had it working a high percent of the time for a few months in 2019

I don't know about that. For me the sweat spot was a few months in the fall of 2016. It resumed, knew about Album Artists, and could access USB music via the voice interface. Then when the end of the year release came out with the Model X Christmas show, it was all over.

 

[PhilDavid]

Only if you've never had to write software to deal with the crazy edge cases associated with removable USB sticks (and similar)...

Its not impossible, but it is extraordinarily difficult to get it working correctly and safely.
The main problems derive from the risks of assuming that the USB stick (et al) hasn't been swapped or modified while the car (or phone or TV) was in a deep sleep, and therefore the need to determine that it hadn't been and that the car (or phone or TV) can't simply rely on its knowledge of its prior state.

Having worked in that problem on unrelated consumer devices (but not on cars), I do have a lot of sympathy for the software engineers. But it is a bit frustrating that Tesla seemed to have had it working a high percent of the time for a few months in 2019, and then regressed. My most charitable view is they had a possible security vulnerability which had to be fixed and that caused the usability regression.

Please. I'm a software developer too.

Every car I've ever had has been able to resumes music playback when I get back in the car.

So does every $50 Android tablet with the music in an SD card.

In fact I'm not aware of any other car made by any other carmaker that can't reliably resume USB music.

I've tracked this issue to a matter of initializing the USB drive. If they literally add a 2-5 seconds of delay before trying to play music after the car has been asleep and was just woken up, it will work every time. It has nothing to do with "tracking changes" on the USB ddrive. This is why some people are able to get the USB music playback to work properly just by opening and closing the driver's side door multiple times. That does not give the software enough time to scan the drive but it sometimes allows the drive to be initialized properly.

They can fix this in half a day but for whatever reason they have not prioritized fixing this long standing bug that makes things unpleasant for so many of us whose primary source of music is USB Audio.

Whenever I get in the car in the morning, I start the day with the thought "Sh!t. No music again." The car then needlessly starts scanning the entire USB drive for 3 minutes before I can listen to any music.

I'm then navigating audio menus while driving to get music to start again.

 

[Sparrow]

Although my 2012 Nissan Leaf played USB music flawlessly, my 2017 Nissan Leaf would not resume USB music properly. Fortunately it had a built in interface for an Apple Ipod so I put all my music on the Ipod plugged the Ipod into the USB port and stuffed it under the passenger seat. The Apple interface was pretty primitive, but at least it worked.

My Chevy Bolt USB player works very well.

My best experience so far is with my after market Kenwood stereo I installed in my Tesla Roadster. Not only does it resume where it left off everytime, but once one folder is done playing it just moves on to the next folder.

 

[Azathoth]

Please. I'm a software developer too.

Every car I've ever had has been able to resumes music playback when I get back in the car.

So does every $50 Android tablet with the music in an SD card.

In fact I'm not aware of any other car made by any other carmaker that can't reliably resume USB music.

I've tracked this issue to a matter of initializing the USB drive. If they literally add a 2-5 seconds of delay before trying to play music after the car has been asleep and was just woken up, it will work every time. It has nothing to do with "tracking changes" on the USB ddrive. This is why some people are able to get the USB music playback to work properly just by opening and closing the driver's side door multiple times. That does not give the software enough time to scan the drive but it sometimes allows the drive to be initialized properly.

They can fix this in half a day but for whatever reason they have not prioritized fixing this long standing bug that makes things unpleasant for so many of us whose primary source of music is USB Audio.

Whenever I get in the car in the morning, I start the day with the thought "Sh!t. No music again." The car then needlessly starts scanning the entire USB drive for 3 minutes before I can listen to any music.

I'm then navigating audio menus while driving to get music to start again.

You are spot on, PhilDavid.

I love my 2016 Model S, but it's simply inexcusable that Tesla hasn't fixed this USB audio issue since version 9 and 10 came out and turned the playback experience into a daily frustration fest. Any coder worth his/her salt could fix this in a few hours (ask me how I know...)

C'mon Elon, make it a priority - fix the freakin' USB music for us non-streamers! You'll have the gratitude of thousands (well at least a few of us).

 

[bob_p]

Tesla has had media player issues since 2013 - such as the inability to remember what source/file were playing when leaving the vehicle - still waiting for them to fix that obvious bug...

 

[PhilDavid]

You are spot on, PhilDavid.

I love my 2016 Model S, but it's simply inexcusable that Tesla hasn't fixed this USB audio issue since version 9 and 10 came out and turned the playback experience into a daily frustration fest. Any coder worth his/her salt could fix this in a few hours (ask me how I know...)

C'mon Elon, make it a priority - fix the freakin' USB music for us non-streamers! You'll have the gratitude of thousands (well at least a few of us).

Yup, for those who listen to USB audio, this bug really affects an otherwise flawless experience of getting in the car in the morning.

What I especially dislike is 3 minutes from my house I'm in heavy traffic with no music and I need to take my eyes off the road to navigate the USB music menus to get music to start again.

What a shame that you can;t switch audio sources that auto resume where it last left off with a voice command.

 

[PhilDavid]

I'm sad to report that 2020.8.1. still doe snot fix the USB audio not resuming bug

 

[PhilDavid]

Has anyone figured out a way to change audio sources with voice commands?

Wish there was a quick way to change audio sources and cycle through the designated favorites for each audio source.

 

[aesculus]

I'm sad to report that 2020.8.1. still doe snot fix the USB audio not resuming bug

I know it's a PITA but have you tried pausing it just before you get out of the car and then resuming when you are ready to drive again?

This seems to work for me but I rarely do it unless I am really into the song that is being played ATM and I remember to do it too.

 

[PhilDavid]

I know it's a PITA but have you tried pausing it just before you get out of the car and then resuming when you are ready to drive again?

This seems to work for me but I rarely do it unless I am really into the song that is being played ATM and I remember to do it too.

I've absolutely tried this. Unfortunately, no dice.

I feel the problem is when you get back in the car, the car tries to "initialize" or read the USB drive a second or two before it is active and when that happens, it assumes the USB drive does not work.

This has been a long standing bug. When this happens, you need to let the car index all the music for about 3 minutes before you can play any music

Would be so easy to fix but here we are.

At the least if we can switch and resume an audio source with voice, it would not be so awful as navigating music menus on the MCU while driving...

We need a way to switch audio sources like any normal media player and have the music for that audio source resume from what was last played. The thing is we used to be able to switch audio sources by long pressing the previous or next track button as well as cycle through the favorites for each favorite within the audio source. This super useful feature was removed/broken.

 

[aesculus]

This has been a long standing bug. When this happens, you need to let the car index all the music for about 3 minutes before you can play any music

My collection is fairly small (12 gb and ~3400 tracks) so this never happens to me. I see some pauses of 10-20 seconds while the USB drive becomes accessible again but never reindexing unless I pull the drive physically.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I know it's a PITA but have you tried pausing it just before you get out of the car and then resuming when you are ready to drive again?

This seems to work for me but I rarely do it unless I am really into the song that is being played ATM and I remember to do it too.

That doesn't work.

But switching on climate control before going to the car seems to work.

 

[PhilDavid]

My collection is fairly small (12 gb and ~3400 tracks) so this never happens to me. I see some pauses of 10-20 seconds while the USB drive becomes accessible again but never reindexing unless I pull the drive physically.

Do you have Sentry on? If you do this bug never manifests because Sentry keeps the USB subsystem alive.

This whole USB audio not resuming issue is caused by the media player trying to play music a second or two before the drive is initialized.

*sigh* I wish they would please fix this bug.

 

[aesculus]

Do you have Sentry on?

No sentry here. One of the first Model X's.

 

[RDoc]

Only if you've never had to write software to deal with the crazy edge cases associated with removable USB sticks (and similar)...

Its not impossible, but it is extraordinarily difficult to get it working correctly and safely.
The main problems derive from the risks of assuming that the USB stick (et al) hasn't been swapped or modified while the car (or phone or TV) was in a deep sleep, and therefore the need to determine that it hadn't been and that the car (or phone or TV) can't simply rely on its knowledge of its prior state.

Having worked in that problem on unrelated consumer devices (but not on cars), I do have a lot of sympathy for the software engineers. But it is a bit frustrating that Tesla seemed to have had it working a high percent of the time for a few months in 2019, and then regressed. My most charitable view is they had a possible security vulnerability which had to be fixed and that caused the usability regression.

Right, but only if you're a software engineer who doesn't understand finite state machines.

 

[PhilDavid]

No sentry here. One of the first Model X's.

My USB music collection is slightly over 200GB.

This really should not be an issue if the software is written properly though as I can plug the same USB drive into the cheapest Android tablet and it will instantly resume music from my 240GB drive.