Some Tidal interface questions

[AutomaticMan]

Ok, break this to me gently as I feel a blood pressure increasing rant about the idiocy of user interface engineers coming on...

But, is there any way in Tidal to list your favourite artists in alphabetical order? Also, is there any way to tell it to repeat an album rather than just playing some random other song when it gets to the end of the album?

The answer is going to be <in voice of stroppy teenager> "God! You're so embarrassing!! No one listens to albums anymore grandad! You're supposed to listen to playlists" isn't it?

 

[DM206433]

You can’t even put the current playlist on shuffle… so I suspect you already know the answer.

 

[AutomaticMan]

You can’t even put the current playlist on shuffle… so I suspect you already know the answer.

 

[DM206433]

Yep, me too. It might sound great (at least when you download the tracks to the car and get the ‘HiFi’ quality versions playing) but annoyingly it’s just another half baked piece of software.

Spotify with a premium account has better functionality/usability but doesn’t sound as good and it’s just as angering when you update your playlists on the pc/phone and it doesn’t update in the car - I’ve had to log out and back in a number of times now to get them to pick up any updates.

I’m actually getting to the point where I’m going to just use Apple Music via Bluetooth and control it with Siri voice commands.

 

[AutomaticMan]

Yep, me too. It might sound great (at least when you download the tracks to the car and get the ‘HiFi’ quality versions playing) but annoyingly it’s just another half baked piece of software.

Spotify with a premium account has better functionality/usability but doesn’t sound as good and it’s just as angering when you update your playlists on the pc/phone and it doesn’t update in the car - I’ve had to log out and back in a number of times now to get them to pick up any updates.

I’m actually getting to the point where I’m going to just use Apple Music via Bluetooth and control it with Siri voice commands.

Well that was plan A for me. But I've discovered another annoying bug (and there are threads on this going back years, so it's not just me, and it seems like they're in no rush to fix it) that means you can't set the volume properly using bluetooth from an iPhone. If you try to set the volume to anything between like 70% and 90% it automatically reduces it back to 70%. 90%-100% sticks at the level you leave it at, but that's too loud.

So that prompted me to try out Tidal, but I now see that comes with its own set of annoyances. I guess maybe I'll try Spotify, but I expect the drop in sound quality will bug me.

 

[Horatio Alger]

And, for me at least, USB *still* doesn't work properly - it *still* won't continue playback from the point where it left off when I return to the car more than a half hour after leaving it, because the USB drive isn't ready in time and the car thinks it's no longer there.

Great sound, hopeless software.

 

[vanhtu1987]

So that prompted me to try out Tidal, but I now see that comes with its own set of annoyances. I guess maybe I'll try Spotify, but I expect the drop in sound quality will bug me.

Spotify used to stream at a fairly low bitrate as early as last November, but after that (possibly around the release of Tidal) I have been unable to distinguish the audio quality between Tidal (including HiFi) & Spotify.

Some sources (unable to find the original link now) said that Spotify now streams at 320kbps and that has matched my experienced. I'll need to monitor the bandwidth usage from the car using a PC so haven't been bothered, but my ears are now quite satisfied.

If you've been shying away from using Spotify due to the alleged low-quality streaming then it might be worth a try again.

 

[DM206433]

If you try to set the volume to anything between like 70% and 90% it automatically reduces it back to 70%. 90%-100% sticks at the level you leave it at, but that's too loud.

Which software version are you running in the Tesla? I’m not currently getting volume issues with Bluetooth on 2022.4 - the iPhone doesn’t let me change the Bluetooth volume at all any more when connected to the car which is interesting.

 

[vanhtu1987]

Which software version are you running in the Tesla? I’m not currently getting volume issues with Bluetooth on 2022.4 - the iPhone doesn’t let me change the Bluetooth volume at all any more when connected to the car which is interesting.

I'm running 2022.4.5 (2017 Model S 75D with MCU2). I don't listen to music via Bluetooth a whole lot though due to the degraded audio quality. Bluetooth used to sound better compared to in-car Spotify but that is also no longer the case, since Bluetooth in the Tesla is limited to 250Kbps.

I can give Bluetooth a try tomorrow but there are too many factors involved (least of which is that my phone runs Android) so I'm not sure if it'll be of much help.

 

[Nick77]

And, for me at least, USB *still* doesn't work properly - it *still* won't continue playback from the point where it left off when I return to the car more than a half hour after leaving it, because the USB drive isn't ready in time and the car thinks it's no longer there.

Great sound, hopeless software.

Does the "pausing playback before you leave" trick work for this? No idea but just thought I'd throw it out there. Then when you get in again you wait for it to recognise the USB then unhit pause.

 

[AutomaticMan]

Spotify used to stream at a fairly low bitrate as early as last November, but after that (possibly around the release of Tidal) I have been unable to distinguish the audio quality between Tidal (including HiFi) & Spotify.

Some sources (unable to find the original link now) said that Spotify now streams at 320kbps and that has matched my experienced. I'll need to monitor the bandwidth usage from the car using a PC so haven't been bothered, but my ears are now quite satisfied.

If you've been shying away from using Spotify due to the alleged low-quality streaming then it might be worth a try again.

Thanks! That sounds like good news, is that true of the bundled Tesla account that comes with Premium Connectivity, or only with an actual premium Spotify account? If so, I might just try the bundled Spotify for a bit and see how I get on. Obviously, it has limited functionality, but it looks like there's a workaround you can do to publish playlists from a free Spotify account and still find/favourite them on the Tesla account.

 

[AutomaticMan]

Which software version are you running in the Tesla? I’m not currently getting volume issues with Bluetooth on 2022.4 - the iPhone doesn’t let me change the Bluetooth volume at all any more when connected to the car which is interesting.

I'm running the same software, and definitely a problem for me. Maybe it doesn't affect every car and/or every iPhone? The way I would describe it is if I set the volume to something like say 85% using the car's scroll wheel it would go to that volume and the volume bar on the screen would go to it too, but then within a second or so it (both the volume and the volume bar) will turn itself back down again to something like 70-75%. If I set the volume to 85% on the phone itself, it will stick. And anything above 90% when set on the car will stick too.

So in effect, when listening to music from my phone via bluetooth, I either have to listen to it a bit too quietly for my tastes, or a bit too loud for my tastes. Or I have to control the volume using the phone itself which is a safety and legal issue!

 

[DM206433]

Have you checked the Bluetooth connection setting on your iPhone? Set the device type to ‘Car Stereo’ and see if it helps?

 

[spdpsba]

Have you checked the Bluetooth connection setting on your iPhone? Set the device type to ‘Car Stereo’ and see if it helps?

View attachment 771163

Sounds a bit exotic name for the model 3 - may be symbolic- of shiva leaving everything to dust and ashes

 

[AutomaticMan]

Have you checked the Bluetooth connection setting on your iPhone? Set the device type to ‘Car Stereo’ and see if it helps?

View attachment 771163

Yep, first thing I checked. No change unfortunately

But I’m thinking the ‘free’ (well, free with Premium Connectivity anyway, so I guess ‘bundled’ is more accurate) Spotify account may be fine for me anyway, or at least no worse than Tidal, assuming my workaround to get to playlists works. And also assuming the audio quality isn’t throttled on the bundled account.

Going on a drive this afternoon so will try it out!

 

[DM206433]

Sounds a bit exotic name for the model 3 - may be symbolic- of shiva leaving everything to dust and ashes

More a nerd reference to Shiva in FFXIV

 

[DM206433]

And also assuming the audio quality isn’t throttled on the bundled account.

I haven't actually tried it personally, but from what I've read it seems to be that the bitrate is throttled to 96k unless you log in with a premium account. Worth testing though for sure. Let me know - I'm still considering all my options.

 

[AutomaticMan]

I haven't actually tried it personally, but from what I've read it seems to be that the bitrate is throttled to 96k unless you log in with a premium account. Worth testing though for sure. Let me know - I'm still considering all my options.

Hmm… if it is I can’t tell Seems better than the quality of music from my phone via Bluetooth anyway. Haven’t done a back to back comparison with Tidal though. But free Spotify doesn’t sound bad to my ear anyway

 

[Nick77]

More a nerd reference to Shiva in FFXIV

Not "Shivakamini Somakandarkram" then?

 

[DM206433]

Not "Shivakamini Somakandarkram" then?

Definitely works also.