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[Media Mistake - False] No FM, Bluetooth, or USB Audio either?

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Re 3: over here, cell service coverage is quite bad in many areas, even along major Autobahn routes, and in rural areas anyway. It's frustrating any time I want to phone someone while driving somewhere. And that is the case in large parts of Germany. And LTE coverage is even worse than 3G. Radio otoh is perfect, even in the most remote rural areas.

For me it's the exact opposite. I drive across a mountain range to work. FM reception varies, and half way through my commute I have to switch stations. Internet streaming is higher quality and rock solid. Even if I listen to an FM station, I always listen to the Tune-In internet streaming version rather than actually using FM.
 
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Re 1: we have stations that have almost no commercials
Re 2: we can choose a station based on what kind of music we want to hear
Re 3: over here, cell service coverage is quite bad in many areas, even along major Autobahn routes, and in rural areas anyway. It's frustrating any time I want to phone someone while driving somewhere. And that is the case in large parts of Germany. And LTE coverage is even worse than 3G. Radio otoh is perfect, even in the most remote rural areas.

And this folks is why it is great we will have the choice. With FM, Streaming, and BT audio, we can pick what works best for us. :)
 
For me it's the exact opposite. I drive across a mountain range to work. FM reception varies, and half way through my commute I have to switch stations. Internet streaming is higher quality and rock solid. Even if I listen to an FM station, I always listen to the Tune-In internet streaming version rather than actually using FM.

Interesting excerpt from an article from two weeks ago:

Deutschland auf einem Stand wie Tunesien

Auch im internationalen Vergleich der LTE-Verfügbarkeit und Geschwindigkeit ist es um Deutschland nicht gut gestellt. Wie Daten des britischen Unternehmens OpenSignal zeigen, kommt die Bundesrepublik nur auf eine Geschwindigkeit von 20,46 Megabits pro Sekunde (Mbps) bei einer Verfügbarkeit von unter 60 Prozent - etwa vergleichbar mit Tunesien. Ähnlich schlecht ist die Verfügbarkeit in Frankreich und Irland. Dass es auch schneller geht zeigt etwa Ungarn, wo das Netz mit 42,61 Mbps fast doppelt so fix wie hierzulande ist. Die LTE-Verfügbarkeit liegt in Ungarn bei über 80 Prozent, wie auch in Schweden, Lettland, Norwegen oder den Niederlanden.


The gist of it: when it comes to LTE, Germany is on par with Tunisia (!) currently, with in average speed of 20.46 megabits/s and an availability of less than 60%. France and Ireland are similarly bad, whereas Hungary, Sweden, Norway, the Netherland etc. offer twice the speed and over 80% availability.
Shame on the German service providers. :mad:
 
Mr @AustinPowers the state of commercial FM radio in the US is pretty sad. There is typically at least a minute of commercials and or other random chatter for each 3 minutes of music. Most of the commercials are created for maximum "annoyance effect" so you can't mentally tune them out. They put klaxon sounds and horns and sirens, etc just to get your attention so you can listen to the man yelling about the new cars you MUST BUY NOW!!!! It all makes my blood pressure go up. My wife listens to FM radio and I have to beg her to turn it off after she's done driving my car so it won't assault my ears when I get in and turn the car back on.

We do have public radio and it's more pleasant, but the genres are usually very limited an center around classical and jazz. It sounds like you have much better radio choices in Germany.

I have very eclectic music tastes and I'm really not a collector of music and often I'm not picky about the particular song I'm listening to. I prefer nicely curated genre stations or even sometimes a very random selection so a USB is not good for me. I'm very happy with my Apple Music and look forward to playing it in my 3.
 
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Another question for S and X owners. I listen to audio books a lot during my commute, currently using an old iPod shuffle and an aux cord. When I pause it and then restart it, it picks up right where I left off in the book. No going back to the beginning of the current track/chapter or anything like that. If I use a USB stick to do this does anyone know of it picks up right where you left off or if it goes back to the beginning of the current track?
When starting up again the car goes to the beginning of the current track on the USB drive — it does not resume from where you left off. This is something that we have complained about for years!

[rant]
I was very annoyed that Tesla can't be bothered to include a 3.5 mm aux jack on the car. I use my MP3 player (Sandisk Clip Sport) that is the size of a matchbook for all my audio books. I had to go old-school and get an FM transmitter to listen to audio books in my Model S. When driving though multiple states I have to change the frequency from time to time when I get interference from local radio stations (if there is one dead space frequency for the western USA I haven't found it). An FM transmitter is a kludgy workaround but it does work. [Apparently there are also bluetooth transmitters but when I researched them I read that they used a version of bluetooth that Tesla didn't support, so I didn't try it.]

The usual response to my ire about the lack of a 3.5 mm aux jack is that I should just listen to audio books on my phone and stream them via bluetooth like any modern person, so it is my own fault. I have zero desire to use my relatively large phone to listen to audio books, rather than my tiny, light, MP3 player that clips to my pocket when I am on long walks, bicycle rides, or doing chores.
[/rant]

FWIW.
 
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I had to go old-school and get an FM transmitter to listen to audio books in my Model S. When driving though multiple states I have to change the frequency from time to time when I get interference from local radio stations (if there is one dead space frequency for the western USA I haven't found it). An FM transmitter is a kludgy workaround but it does work.

this is why i was holding out hope that somewhere in the car's wiring there's an antenna wire you can tap into in order to install something like this instead... https://www.amazon.com/SiriusXM-FMD...=1506724556&sr=1-1&keywords=fm+direct+adapter

basically (as i understand it) it cuts your FM antenna off when you're using the transmitter, so you're always the strongest signal broadcasting on whatever station you set the output to. when you turn the device off, it reconnects your FM antenna so you can again tune any external stations.
 
[rant]
I was very annoyed that Tesla can't be bothered to include a 3.5 mm aux jack on the car. I use my MP3 player (Sandisk Clip Sport) that is the size of a matchbook for all my audio books. I had to go old-school and get an FM transmitter to listen to audio books in my Model S. When driving though multiple states I have to change the frequency from time to time when I get interference from local radio stations (if there is one dead space frequency for the western USA I haven't found it). An FM transmitter is a kludgy workaround but it does work. [Apparently there are also bluetooth transmitters but when I researched them I read that they used a version of bluetooth that Tesla didn't support, so I didn't try it.]

The usual response to my ire about the lack of a 3.5 mm aux jack is that I should just listen to audio books on my phone and stream them via bluetooth like any modern person, so it is my own fault. I have zero desire to use my relatively large phone to listen to audio books, rather than my tiny, light, MP3 player that clips to my pocket when I am on long walks, bicycle rides, or doing chores.
[/rant]

FWIW.

Could
TROND AC2 Aluminum External USB Sound Card Stereo Audio Adapter with 3.5mm Stereo Headphone/Speaker and Mono Microphone Jacks (Black, C-Media HS-100 Chip, Compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux)
help you?

Happy Friday!

(OMG! This troglodyte just figured out how to make a descriptive link instead of a URL!!!)
 
Hard to know if that device would be supported or not. It isn't a flash memory drive full of songs, rather a direct DAC/ADC that the host OS (in the screen) would need to support. Someone could try plugging it in and see if the screen offers "audio capture" from that device or not. I give it less than 50/50 chance of being supported. They would have had to plan for it. On the other hand, I saw a video where someone plugged a USB mouse into a model S and that worked, which I thought was interesting and surprising. I suppose people can experiment with various USB "doo-dads" and see what Tesla decided to support.
 
Hard to know if that device would be supported or not. It isn't a flash memory drive full of songs, rather a direct DAC/ADC that the host OS (in the screen) would need to support. Someone could try plugging it in and see if the screen offers "audio capture" from that device or not. I give it less than 50/50 chance of being supported. They would have had to plan for it. On the other hand, I saw a video where someone plugged a USB mouse into a model S and that worked, which I thought was interesting and surprising. I suppose people can experiment with various USB "doo-dads" and see what Tesla decided to support.

Well, I AM a troglodyte, so I'll have to wait to experiment until I have my Model 3, and some sort of portable music source (that uses a 3.5mm jack)... I'm still trying to decide what sort of cellphone I'm going to want............ heh.

Happy Friday!
 
When starting up again the car goes to the beginning of the current track on the USB drive — it does not resume from where you left off. This is something that we have complained about for years!

[rant]
I was very annoyed that Tesla can't be bothered to include a 3.5 mm aux jack on the car. I use my MP3 player (Sandisk Clip Sport) that is the size of a matchbook for all my audio books. I had to go old-school and get an FM transmitter to listen to audio books in my Model S. When driving though multiple states I have to change the frequency from time to time when I get interference from local radio stations (if there is one dead space frequency for the western USA I haven't found it). An FM transmitter is a kludgy workaround but it does work. [Apparently there are also bluetooth transmitters but when I researched them I read that they used a version of bluetooth that Tesla didn't support, so I didn't try it.]

The usual response to my ire about the lack of a 3.5 mm aux jack is that I should just listen to audio books on my phone and stream them via bluetooth like any modern person, so it is my own fault. I have zero desire to use my relatively large phone to listen to audio books, rather than my tiny, light, MP3 player that clips to my pocket when I am on long walks, bicycle rides, or doing chores.
[/rant]

FWIW.

Thanks for the info. I only listen when driving so I'll probably go the phone route. Anyone want to buy a 10 year old iPod shuffle...?
 
I have very eclectic music tastes and I'm really not a collector of music and often I'm not picky about the particular song I'm listening to. I prefer nicely curated genre stations or even sometimes a very random selection so a USB is not good for me. I'm very happy with my Apple Music and look forward to playing it in my 3.

This is precisely why I like SXM. I'm hoping BT or USB streaming is enabled at some point, so I can at least stream it through the mobile app.
 
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When starting up again the car goes to the beginning of the current track on the USB drive — it does not resume from where you left off. This is something that we have complained about for years!

I sure hope they "fix" that in the Model 3.

I basically have music playing all the time I drive, and play just from USB flash. In my other cars, I appreciate that it just pauses when I shut the car off and resumes when I get back in again.
 
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this is why i was holding out hope that somewhere in the car's wiring there's an antenna wire you can tap into in order to install something like this instead... https://www.amazon.com/SiriusXM-FMD...=1506724556&sr=1-1&keywords=fm+direct+adapter

basically (as i understand it) it cuts your FM antenna off when you're using the transmitter, so you're always the strongest signal broadcasting on whatever station you set the output to. when you turn the device off, it reconnects your FM antenna so you can again tune any external stations.
I think it would be difficult to get at the antenna since the audio system is likely sealed in the dash somewhere (I don't even know where the antenna is located on the car). It isn't as if there is a radio in a slot that can be pulled out, as in some older cars. If someone really wanted to do surgery on their car I expect that they could get at the audio system, wherever it is, and figure out which wire leads to an antenna. However, the car also receives data signals from the cell phone network and WiFi signals so I wonder if either of those share an external antenna with the FM radio receiver? I'm sure there are folks here who know, although they might not see this thread.
Sure would be nice if something like that would work but, like @TEG, I think that it is unlikely. Might try the experiment though.
 
I think it would be difficult to get at the antenna since the audio system is likely sealed in the dash somewhere (I don't even know where the antenna is located on the car). It isn't as if there is a radio in a slot that can be pulled out, as in some older cars. If someone really wanted to do surgery on their car I expect that they could get at the audio system, wherever it is, and figure out which wire leads to an antenna. However, the car also receives data signals from the cell phone network and WiFi signals so I wonder if either of those share an external antenna with the FM radio receiver? I'm sure there are folks here who know, although they might not see this thread.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Worst case I can use bluetooth, but that brings up the problem of not being able to connect both my phone and satellite radio at the same time...

Might be at the mercy of a cheap FM transmitter on this one unless someone can figure out a better way - and no, "just stream it from your phone" doesn't qualify. That doesn't solve the specific problem I'm looking at, which is "what do you do when there's no cell coverage?"
 
And we found out there is also no AUX input. Though who really uses the AUX jack anymore,

What??? You're kidding, right? The aux jack in the cars I've been in for the last 10 years or so have been in constant use. Obviously you don't have teenage kids. And personally I'm very depressed at the lack of an aux jack - I've been using a rockboxed DAP for some 15 years, and have gotten spoiled by the sound and usability.