Slacker Any Song only worked in the beginning [Confirmed - pending resolution]

[SigGuy]

5 of the 11 features listed are Premium only features. 4 of those appear to work correctly on Model S, and the other one doesn't seem applicable.
I mentioned this as well, it's a real issue. I would almost go as far as to say it's really the only issue.
I tested it specifically. "Listen to In Your Honor by Foo Fighters" followed by repeated track skips will only play songs from "In Your Honor" by "Foo Fighters".

I'm don't want to argue with you either, but if you're going to "bang the gong" about an issue and say things that are simply not true ("Slacker in the Tesla behaves as a standard account...", "NO premium feature will work.") I'm going to call you out.

"Call me out" all you want. The Tesla does not allow Premium features. If you don't believe that-- explain why there is no difference between what you get with the account that comes with the car (A Plus account according to all including Tesla) and what you get with your own Premium account.
Why is there a difference between that you can access on your smartphone or web vs what you can access in the car using the exact same account?
As for your facts-- 4 out of the 5 Premium features work in the Tesla-- absolutely false. As for your saying all features work except one and that one doesn't apply and then acknowledging one "real issue"-- I don't follow.
I'll leave it up to every owner who cares to check on the facts for themselves. You'll need a Premium account to do so but with that, it's easy to check.
Until people (especially at Tesla but starting with owners) acknowledge there's an issue, it's not going to be fixed.

 

[scriptacus]

"Call me out" all you want. The Tesla does not allow Premium features. If you don't believe that-- explain why there is no difference between what you get with the account that comes with the car (A Plus account according to all including Tesla) and what you get with your own Premium account.
Why is there a difference between that you can access on your smartphone or web vs what you can access in the car using the exact same account?
As for your facts-- 4 out of the 5 Premium features work in the Tesla-- absolutely false.

There is a difference... I know this because I made the effort to test it extensively. Just for you I even made a video so you can stop being misinformed.

1) Try "Listen to In Your Honor by Foo Fighters" on both account types and select the album from the search results. The Tesla account will play a random selection of Foo Fighters like music, including some Foo Fighters tracks. The Premium account will play the only songs from the album.
2) Try "Listen to Foo Fighters" on about account types and select the artist from the search results. The Tesla account will play a random selection of Foo Fighters like artists, including some Foo Fighters tracks. The Premium account will play only songs from Foo Fighters.
3) Make a Playlist on slacker.com and access it in Model S. The playlist will play as expected, including being able to start at the song of your choosing.

As for your saying all features work except one and that one doesn't apply and then acknowledging one "real issue"-- I don't follow.

The Tesla account works better than a Premium account with Song on Demand. Premium accounts on the Model S do not perform as well as the Tesla accounts or the Android/iOS/Desktop versions of the same Premium account. That is the one "real issue".

I'll leave it up to every owner who cares to check on the facts for themselves. You'll need a Premium account to do so but with that, it's easy to check.
Until people (especially at Tesla but starting with owners) acknowledge there's an issue, it's not going to be fixed.

A major point of forums like this is for owners to help each other out. I went and did specific testing to verify these facts, but for some reason that's not good enough for you. Instead you say that the things I verified are "absolutely false" and then ask all other owners to go try it themselves (when you clearly have not). Enjoy the video.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27585/IMG_0832.MOV (156 megs)
0:00 - Showing my own premium account logged in
0:09 - Playing a Custom Playlist (created on slacker.com), starting at the song of my choice
0:18 - Skipping through showing the other songs in the Custom Playlist playing
0:28-0:51 - Selecting my "Muse" Single Artist playlist and repeatedly skipping, showing nothing but "Muse" (and a 3 second "this is slacker radio" blurb) playing
1:08 - Selecting "Coldplay" to listen to in Single Artist mode, initiated via voice search
1:10-1:28 - Repeated skipping (8 tracks) showing nothing but "Coldplay" playing
1:43 - Selecting "In Your Honor" by "Foo Fighters" to listen to in Album on Demand mode, initiated via voice search
1:48-2:03 - Repeated skipping showing nothing but tracks from "In Your Honor" playing

 

[SigGuy]

Well my snarky friend, some of what you say appears to be correct. The album feature definitely partially works now. Still plays out of order and you can't rewind or play a song that you accidentally forwarded through (as you can on iPhone) but you can now play an album so I'll concede that I was wrong and there are SOME Premium features that work. However, to the main point that Premium is hobbled in song selection-- try playing Why Georgia by John Mayer or Slither by Velvet Revolver. Neither song can be called up directly in the car but both can be on iPhone Slacker. Tell me how many songs you want me to find that fall into this category and I'll find 'em. I'd film it for you to return the favor but have no way to film my iPhone.
So although you are correct (and I was wrong) that there are SOME Premium features that work in the car, the direct song search that Elon touted is hobbled for no discernible reason. Rewind is non-existent other than apparently on Playlists. Songs can only be played once (don't know how long they are banned once they've been played). Overall, having used Premium at home since December and having the Tesla the same amount of time, the Tesla Slacker experience is greatly diminished. Unlike in the home, I don't feel I can listen to whatever I want, whenever I want.

 

[unclfuzzy]

I was curious about the original Tesla entered account being better than a Premium account after reading this thread, so I emailed to ask for the original account information so I could compare. In the response:
"Slacker Premium is currently not support in Model S as we originally designed the app for Radio Plus. We hope to update the Slacker app in a future software update."

I don't have access to Slacker here, but I don't remember a subscription level called Radio Plus when I signed up for premium. Granted it was months ago and I'm a scatterbrain. Maybe it's an account type they specifically offer to device manufacturers?

 

[lightly]

I too upgraded to a Slacker premium account and am unhappy with the functionality. Does anyone know if we can log back into the Tesla account? Will Tesla give us the ID & Password?

 

[scriptacus]

I too upgraded to a Slacker premium account and am unhappy with the functionality. Does anyone know if we can log back into the Tesla account? Will Tesla give us the ID & Password?

To log back in with your Tesla account:
1) Log out
2) Close the window (maybe optional)
3) Tap the T logo at the top of the screen and wait a few seconds

When you go back to the Slacker app config screen the Tesla credentials should be entered and you can hit "Log in"

 

[v12 to 12v]

I just updated to 4.4 and I am now having trouble with the "Any Song" call up feature a majority of the time. It worked great after my last update.
I don't know if this is associated with the update or not. Anyone else experience this or is it just me?

 

[Aussie]

I am still surprised about the temporary nature of some of those services. As far as I am concerned I can't see anything in the communication that I would a) ever have to pay for mobile connectivity and b) Slacker service. Until I have looked here I had never heard about this.

 

[gregincal]

I am still surprised about the temporary nature of some of those services. As far as I am concerned I can't see anything in the communication that I would a) ever have to pay for mobile connectivity and b) Slacker service. Until I have looked here I had never heard about this.

In the owners manual it says:

1. If your Model S is equipped with the Connectivity package, internet radioservices (such as Slacker and TuneIn) have been set up for you and canbe selected using Media Player.
   
   

It's just that up to now they haven't released details of the connectivity package.

 

[Aussie]

In the owners manual it says:

2. If your Model S is equipped with the Connectivity package, internet radioservices (such as Slacker and TuneIn) have been set up for you and canbe selected using Media Player.
   
   
   It's just that up to now they haven't released details of the connectivity package.

1. 
   
   But this states that my car is equipped (!) with the connectivity package which for me clearly means that it already has it as this feature, not something I will need to subscribe to. Everything which was shown to me as a feature of the car I expect to still be there in the future without having to pay a monthly subscription. Unless they specifically mentioned it, like Sirius Radio for which I was told need to pay for.

 

[StephenM]

So much for any song, any time

The first month, I could play anything on Slacker radio and when looking in my favorites, I could select this same song again anytime in the future to hear it again.
Starting from yesterday, I can't play the song I'm requesting anymore. It will just play the next song in that song's "radio" list. I've tried re-searching these songs and it just picks up where it left off on the list and I can't hear the original song again. Ever.
Anyone else getting this problem?

 

[AnOutsider]

similar issue? Slacker Any Song only worked in the beginning

 

[StephenM]

My Slacker radio is also no longer working the way it used to for the first 5 weeks of ownership
I can't get it to play the song I search. It just keeps playing other songs. What the heck gives?!

 

[jweinstein]

My Slacker radio is also no longer working the way it used to for the first 5 weeks of ownership
I can't get it to play the song I search. It just keeps playing other songs. What the heck gives?!

I just experienced this for the first time, as well.

 

[StephenM]

I had to read through the bitch fight that ensued, but yes, it seems like the same problem. Still no solutions were found with that thread though. I loved showing off the "any song (almost), any time" feature of my car, and sadly now it's just a radio station with no commercials. Not happy.

 

[SigGuy]

Ha, I think I just got called a bitch. 'eh, so be it.
I'll still update you that I have since had confirmation from Tesla that the car indeed does NOT offer Slacker Premium features including an expanded list of songs that are available on demand (even if pay for a Premium account). They say that they hope to upgrade that capability in the future. If you care about this lack of functionality (again, including a significant increase in the songs you can call up directly), you might let Tesla know as customer feedback is part of how they prioritize.

 

[dflye]

Even though I've been working in the tech field for 25 years, I must be from an older, less web-dependent generation when it comes to listening to music in the car.

While I prefer having my music collection of a few thousand albums always availably locally via USB without any skips, delays or pauses, I can certainly see the appeal of being able to search for (in theory) any track and have it streamed to your car.

Haven't tried it with any real esoteric music (thinking that searching for "Miss Mercury" from "Harm Farm" wouldn't find a match, at least it is out of the bounds of the iTunes store), but the main problem I've had when searching for some random song using the audio commands; after it plays the one track I requested, not sure how it selects what track to play next, but I'd much rather be dropped into an album oriented playlist from where the searched track was originally from.

 

[ModelS8794]

I just experienced this for the first time, as well.

I hit my 3 month window and my slacker started behaving differently as well. I suspect but cannot confirm that slacker is reverting to some basic features for non paying subscriptions. Once i input my own login/pwd for my new premium subscription, I found all the features returned to normal (plus some extra stuff too).

 

[pb32]

Having the same issues also

I just experienced this for the first time, as well.

Only had the car for about 5 weeks also and noticed it yesterday. It's not working as well as before, specifically on-demand song selection. Contacted Ownership Experience and they had me rebooting the screens, resetting the slacker account, and even telling me to let the car sit overnight and not use it and see if that works. It didn't.

I also installed 4.4 about a week ago, but it did work for about a week, so I'm thinking it's not because of the SW upgrade, but maybe Tesla's deal with Slacker ended.

 

[JerryNycom]

Ha, I think I just got called a bitch. 'eh, so be it.
I'll still update you that I have since had confirmation from Tesla that the car indeed does NOT offer Slacker Premium features including an expanded list of songs that are available on demand (even if pay for a Premium account). They say that they hope to upgrade that capability in the future. If you care about this lack of functionality (again, including a significant increase in the songs you can call up directly), you might let Tesla know as customer feedback is part of how they prioritize.

Wait, so if you ask to play a song now in your MS it doesn't anymore, or never did? It changed when? After the 3 month trial?