Tune in integration is a disaster

[srram]

I love everything about my MS. I absolutely detest the integration with Tunein, which is an unmitigated disaster IMO.

Here's what happens with me:

I like listening to talk radio (plug for radiolab - amazing show). My commute is about 20 minutes. Most of the podcasts I listed to are 30min to 1 hr long.

The first problem is that almost invariably, about 15-20 minutes into any podcast, the console will skip to the next track.

Dang. Ok, maybe I can fast forward to where I had reached. Sorry, no can do. I CANNOT Fast Forward to the right position - the only way to get there is by listening to the podcast again, and hoping it does not skip again.

Having listened to 20 min of the podcast, I park my car. When I get back after work, it has FORGOTTEN that I had already listened to 20 minutes (pause does not work - it gets ignored). It seems like this is a function of time. If I get back within an hour, it is likely to have remembered my spot.

So I have about 60 half amazing podcasts that I have heard about half of. This just drives me nuts.

I spoke with Tesla about it. Their answer? A shrug and "Why don't you use your phone?" An answer that p**sed me off. Indeed. Why not drive a PT Cruiser? I do not like using the phone in the car. It is distracting and hard to deal with.

Have others had the same problem? How do you deal with it?

 

[ckessel]

Yep, same here. There's a whole thread on it somewhere.

Tesla's answer disappoints and I can understand being pissed off, I feel that too. Why don't I use my phone? First, I shouldn't have to. Second, because I don't have a *!$)(!@# smart phone.

 

[Seattle]

Until tesla opens their app store, we won't be able to fix problems like this by writing our own apps. The nice thing about phones is that their software is continually updated. Tesla or any other vendor just won't be able to keep up with advances in the large groups of programmers behind apple or google or whatever. I know you don't want to use you phone, but it is the best alternative we have right now. I have tried tunein, but using my phone is so much better. Just start your phone playing before you drive off (connected via bluetooth) and you should be good to go, right?

 

[GSP]

For people without smartphones, an iPod touch or a USB memory stick are options. It would be great if Tesla could fix this quickly, but they are a small outfit and need to get the Model X and Gen III vehicles in production.

GSP

 

[jerry33]

The best option is a USB memory stick. Works great. Use FLAC for compression and the sound quality is far better than any streaming service.

 

[meloccom]

Haven't got my Model S yet but I frequently listen to Rachel Maddow through Tune In on my iPhone. Many times it will reset and go back to the beginning of a podcast or it will mysteriously go quiet for up to a minute at a time. So I don't think all the Tune In problems are unique to the Tesla integration.

 

[BobtheV]

Try RssRadio for Rachel and others. Works great.

 

[robatbeach]

Yes, definite issue and the skip to the next podcast during the middle of the podcast happens frequently. It's odd that unlike other companies, Tesla usually doesn't throw in features just to be able to mark a checkbox and say "yeah, we also do this." Many features (maybe with other exception of GPS/mapping integration) are never afterthoughts and are well thought through.

Anyway, given up on Tunein and just use Sticher on the smartphone; I usually use my smartphone anyway, since I listen to more library books on Overdrive than podcasts.

PS: yep, Radiolab is great; enjoy Freakanomics as well.

 

[ckessel]

For people without smartphones, an iPod touch or a USB memory stick are options. It would be great if Tesla could fix this quickly, but they are a small outfit and need to get the Model X and Gen III vehicles in production.

GSP

Some small portion of what I paid for the car included this feature, just like I paid for functional Nav, slacker, speakers, wipers, etc. It's really not excusable and certainly not acceptable to wait another 5 or 6 years (your after Gen3 comment) to get it fixed...I feel I've already been pretty patient at 1.5 years.

Take some of the software guys and allocate them to fixing stuff that was supposed to work over 18 months ago.

 

[donv]

TuneIn doesn't work well for podcasts. I use it for streaming radio all the time (way more than Slacker), and it works pretty well for that. It works better if you pause it for a few seconds so it can build up it's buffer a bit more.

 

[Kraken]

Man... I love TunedIn in the car. So easy to find anything. Police radio for info on what's going on based on my location. Any broadcast sporting event. I haven't done a podcast ever, but so far I've been impressed by it. It makes life sooo much better.

Good luck getting a fix on this. I hope they come around for you.

 

[larmor]

I also love tunein, but how can i search and save shows or channel that has shows, for example: search for radiolab comes up with a list of episodes, but really just want to select the channel which it is on, save it as a favorite and then cycle through the shows-- are these steps possible? I'm new to tunein and slacker...

 

[jdjeff88]

Mine has worked great so far. No issues even when the signal is poor. Like the way it is all organized. I don't do podcasts though and your situation would certainly be frustrating. Otherwise pretty happy with how the entertainment works. Definitely better (for me) than Android Auto and Car Play, which can both be very clunky.

 

[DDotJ]

Yep, same here. Really wanted to use TuneIn to listen to podcasts because I didn't want to use my mobile data. OH MY GOD I wanted to rip out all my hair every time the hour long podcast would restart 30 minutes in while driving or when I park my car and return. Even if I went into an area with no connectivity, it would freeze and restart the podcast. Finding the podcast was also a huge pain in the butt. Couldn't do it from the car, so I had to log into my account on the computer and save it as a favorite.

Thank goodness Google Play Music added podcast support, now I have my podcasts download automatically on WiFi.

And don't even get me started on Slacker

But as others have said, streaming internet radio on TuneIn is pretty good.

 

[Ryan MF]

I use tunein all the time and also listen to radiolab. Trick-- when you are getting out of the car PAUSE the show. This usually prevents it from starting over.

I don't understand why you can't fast forward by dragging the place indicator. That's what I usually do.

 

[DDotJ]

I don't understand why you can't fast forward by dragging the place indicator. That's what I usually do.

A good chunk of the time I would drag the place indicator and it would fail to load and would buffer indefinitely. It was highly inconsistent so I just said screw it and used a third party solution from my phone. This was a while back ago, maybe if it has improved since then I can give it another shot.