Hey, I was wondering if what I'm seeing is normal behavior. I tried using an old USB stick for music, one of the things I hated the most is that sometimes, when starting the car, the console was showing a QR code for Tidal instead of the USB music. Going back to USB music meant navigating from zero to the album/playlist I was playing. This happened only when walking away from the car, but only about 50% of the time and not correlated with how long I was away. Sometimes a few mins stop would trigger it, other times I could leave the car overnight and when I got back the music was still in USB where I left it. Is this normal, or could it be because my USB stick is malfunctioning and getting disconnected (even though I don't pull it out)?
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USB music getting disconnected
- Thread starter josemaldu
- Start date
I'm experiencing similar behavior. I've rebooted the car multiple times in the last few days, but it doesn't change anything (ditto reseating the usb in both jacks.) I *did* notice something interesting: There is a pipe character ( | ) between the Tidal and Settings icons I never noticed before. Is this meant to differentiate between source choices (radio, spotify, etc.) and music settings - or are there more music options than the screen can display. If the latter, is there a way to prioritize source options so the USB (when connected) is more likely to show?
I started seeing that USB music play gets turned off after parking the car, leaving, and returning to the car. This started after installing 2022.4.5. The previous 2021.39.104 would continue playing where it left off when returning to the car and opening the door. With 2022.4.5, I need to press the USB button and then select a song to start playing at.
With the same USB in other cars, the audio system would continue playing where it left off.
With the same USB in other cars, the audio system would continue playing where it left off.
It used to be that before 2022.4.5, if you turned on your car remotely before going to it (I always turn on the environment), it would ALWAYS pick up USB playback position*. But that was broken in 2022.4.5 and I am not happy about it since the only time I am not listening to USB is when I had removed the drive to add tracks and it needs to re-index (13K+ tracks).
The USB music control in this car sucks hard. Way too many basic functions aren't there (no 10-15 second skip forward or back, searching is horrible, organization is horrible) and it has zero memory.
*Some people have claimed that they don't need to turn on the car in advance, but they are few and far between and I suspect have a limited number of tracks on their drives
The USB music control in this car sucks hard. Way too many basic functions aren't there (no 10-15 second skip forward or back, searching is horrible, organization is horrible) and it has zero memory.
*Some people have claimed that they don't need to turn on the car in advance, but they are few and far between and I suspect have a limited number of tracks on their drives
Transformer
Do the math. Save the world. — Mark Leon
"Settings" is distinct from the sources, and if you tap on Settings, you can turn off choices that you don't use -- like Tidal which you haven't logged in to -- although there's a limit to how many you can turn off.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. Surprising that a tech forward company like Tesla has a common function like USB music so poorly supported and no plans to bring Car Play or Android Auto, more so considering how much emphasis there is in using a smartphone to access the car. I guess I'm stuck with Bluetooth music as the least crappy option for me, hope they don't start breaking it to push people into streaming.
Their USB playback control is atrocious.
The best QUALITY for music remains solely USB files (assuming you are starting with quality files: a 64kb MP3). BT Streaming is far from the best quality due to compression from the codec they use.
This possibility frightens me
heavyD
Member
They may be a tech forward company in some aspects (batteries, motors, etc) but their UI is designed like it was sourced from small startup company of programmers that haven't spent a lot of time driving cars and don't listen to a lot of music.
JMc2018M3
Member
New member here and I've only had my Model 3 for a few weeks. Questions I kept searching kept leading me back to these forums, so I decided I should probably join. Sadly, my search for an answer to my USB music frustration brought me to this thread, specifically. I prefer to listen to my own music off USB over any of the streaming services. But after the car has been left for a while, it doesn't return to USB as the default. Always goes back to the streaming. I can see that little to no progress has been made with Tesla regarding this issue. I add my voice to the chorus asking Tesla to please rectify this, so USB music can be the default, if so desired. Cheers.
heavyD
Member
I think there's a lot of issues in general with these cars forgetting what the last music source was.
Welcome to TMC and welcome to the Tesla cult.
A workaround that shouldn't be needed, but what I have found works is if you leave Sentry on all the time (even at home and/or work, regardless of whether you actually need Sentry at those locations), it will prevent your car from going into a deep sleep and your call will remember where you left off on USB playback. You will take an energy hit, but if you are willing to make that sacrifice, it should work most every time. Really stupid that it would require this, but at least it works.
(Except in my case, my car won't keep Sentry on: it kicks it off every time I put it in gear and I have to manually start Sentry EVERY time I park my car. I am currently working with Service to find the root cause and getting this corrected.)
For background, it USED to be that as long as I woke my car up (such as by turning on environment) before going out to the car, it would remember the USB playback position. But starting with 2022.4.X, this "functionality" disappeared.
JMc2018M3
Member
Thanks for the welcome. Yes, I came to realize that it's the USB ports going to sleep that kept it from returning to USB as the default and left in in Sentry
Mode, even in my own garage, for a couple of days to see if my USB music would be preserved. Unfortunately, I fear that preventing the Tesla from ever going "to sleep" may have it's own set of disadvantages besides reduced range by the next morning.
Mode, even in my own garage, for a couple of days to see if my USB music would be preserved. Unfortunately, I fear that preventing the Tesla from ever going "to sleep" may have it's own set of disadvantages besides reduced range by the next morning.
JMc2018M3
Member
Okay, this is interesting. I was reading another thread about this in the Model X forum and someone said they were able to return to their USB music where they left off, by saying "USB" as a voice command after the USB port shows up on the tray. I just tried it, and it worked! There was no music on at all when I got in the car, but I pressed the button, said "USB" and it started playing the song that I was last listening to, right where it left off. This could be significant! While I would prefer the USB music to start playing automatically as soon as I got in the car, this is a reasonable compromise without having to leave Sentry Mode on all the time. I'm going to try it again in the morning.
Transformer
Do the math. Save the world. — Mark Leon
If the "USB" voice command doesn't always work, try "Switch to USB."
"Switch to <input>" seems to be more comprehensive (e.g. TuneIn) and it might more reliable.
"Switch to <input>" seems to be more comprehensive (e.g. TuneIn) and it might more reliable.
cat7
Member
It appears to not just be USB, but other sources too - there's a whole other thread for this issue, it really sucks they can't fix it. Will try the USB voice command next time...
Every time I get into my new M3 music doesn’t autoplay and it tells me to “Choose Media Source”
Every time I get into my new M3 music doesn’t autoplay and it tells me to “Choose Media Source”
cat7
Member
Yes, works here for me too (just saying "USB" has worked twice now)! Thanks, this has vastly improved the situation.
The one downside to doing this is that while it recalls the playback position, it doesn't recall the on-screen album (or whatever) listings. If I want to look at the group I am in or select the next album*, I have to navigate back to the folder hierarchy from the beginning.
*I have two drives (long story) and I catalog a lot of my music by putting full albums into folders and then those folders into a folder for the artist and then classified into various folders for organization.
cat7
Member
Yes good point, I noticed that it forgot which folder to show after resuming.
Luckily I have always just manually made a playlist on my PC by copying a large number of mp3 files into a single folder, then just leave that on continuous repeat in the car. But I can see it would be annoying if you want to go back to which folder you were in.
I guess everyone has slightly different use cases for the media system, but it does seem like the whole system has just not had very much thought put in to it.
Luckily I have always just manually made a playlist on my PC by copying a large number of mp3 files into a single folder, then just leave that on continuous repeat in the car. But I can see it would be annoying if you want to go back to which folder you were in.
I guess everyone has slightly different use cases for the media system, but it does seem like the whole system has just not had very much thought put in to it.
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