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Playing Music/podcasts via iPhone

27K views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  San Pedro Bob 
#1 ·
Is there anyway I can configure my iPhone 4 and Crosstour so I can play music and Podcasts via the bluetooth. When I plug in the iPhone to the USB in the car, I get a message saying the two are not compatible. I can use the bluetooth for handsfree phone with no problems.

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Nope unfortunately not. . .there are a couple popular Bluetooth protocols or modes:

AVDTP - Streaming stereo music for headphones

AVRCP - Remote control of music playback (play, pause, ffwd, rev, etc)

*PBAP - Phonebook access profile

HSP - Headset profile (for the mono headsets you wear in your ear)

*HFP - Handsfree profile: similar to above but tailored for cars because it allows voice dialing and some other tricks like displaying incoming phone #

A2DP - Advanced audio streaming (AVDTP is a sub-component of this): allows for stereo or mono streaming of audio

There are at least 15 other Bluetooth profiles that exist but aren't popular. . .the Crosstour supports only the * ones above. That's for a couple reasons, two devices with the same profile doesn't guarantee compatibility, Bluetooth is very finicky that way. Also I have a hunch that car manufacturers think if you're going to be using your phone for a sustained amount of time, just plug it in so you're not depleting the phone's battery. Besides being able to charge your phone via the iphone cable plugged into your USB port, it also guarantees better access to your playlists and album information, etc., than Bluetooth can reliably provide.

And not that it matters a lot for low bit-rate mono podcasts, but transmitting over A2DP compresses the audio again that has already been compressed by the MP3/MPEG-2. So you have a lossy audio file being constrained again and having yet more information taken out of it. Usually the difference isn't extremely conspicuous on average headphones, but moving up to a decent quality car stereo, if you knew what you were looking for - you'd hear some funkiness in well recorded music that wouldn't be there via USB. This is also why really high end Bluetooth headphones usually include a cord to give you a wired option.

-ace
 
#5 ·
I say try rebooting your iphone4 and making sure it has all the respective software updates.

I routinely listen to music and podcasts via my iphone4 through the USB cable.

The trick is that when the phone is plugged into the car, it disables the music interface on the phone. I will often navigate to what I want to listen to, start playing it, then plug my phone in.

Works like a champ.

(just recently I got an incompatibility error, but unplugging my phone and rebooting cleared things up)
 
#6 · (Edited)
I totally missed the part that said the OP couldn't listen to music from his iPhone via USB. . . whoops! Xaque is right, make sure your iOS is the latest and that you're using a real Apple iPhone USB cable, do a full power cycle on your phone and the one or two times I've had the head unit on the CT sort of lockup and give me an error cycling the car on/off brought it back.

The USB thumb drive music thing is a cool capability and would work well for someone that had a big old library of music in MP3, AAC, or WMA format, however there are some things I personally rely on my iPhone to organize for me, like the 10-15 podcast subscriptions that I listen to are in their own playlist/s and will fall out of that playlist automatically once they are played to completion. And anyone that listens to podcasts knows how nice it is to have them synced and up to date on whatever your main listening device is. And the ability to resume where you left off automatically in a 2hr podcast is something I'm not sure that a flash drive would be able to do. But ya, for a big library of music, it's great if your stuff is in the right format and won't hog up room on an iPhone/iPod.

And for music, I've been ripping my CDs as ALAC (apple lossless) format for several years because it's the highest quality format I could beam around my house to AirportExpresses, AppleTVs, other macs, etc. A lot of audiophiles use FLAC or ALAC and I haven't seen anything straight USB that can decode them, Honda definitely can't.

And I actually had a flashback, I remember the top of the line Venza does have A2DP, it's sorta cool - but if your phone is visible it's distracting because the album art and controls pop up on the phone (at least they did in my one trial experience), and if I'm in the car for more than 15min I usually want to plug in my iPhone to charge anyway. FYI - for lithium batteries, "top offs" that you might get in the car during the day that don't charge it to 100% don't count as full cycles against the battery. . .I still charge mine overnight, but don't feel like you'll be hurting your battery by topping it off a lot. . .this according to tech expert Steve Gibson @ GRC (Security Now podcast).

-ace
 
#8 ·
Thanks everyone. I'm now using the iPhone 4 connected to the USB cable to listen to music and Podcasts on the stereo. Interestingly, the iTunes was on for some reason and unconnected to the USB cable when I made a phone call. Throughout the call, the song on the iPhone played over the bluetooth. So the connection is there! Perhaps there will be a future software update either via Honda or Apple so the car can play Bluetooth from the phone directly.
 
#9 ·
That sounds just like my issue! When my iPhone4 is connected to the handsfree link, it starts playing music when I answer a call. Really annoying. I travel a lot for work and I've had 2 rental cars with Ford Synch now where it doesn't happen. Last week I had a Camry, though, and it behaved exactly like it does in my CT. So at least it's not (just) a Honda problem.
I started a thread on this topic already.
 
#10 ·
Ya bluetooth is straight-up funky. It never works 100% correctly 100% of the time and is plagued by gremlins that very smart minds at phone manufacturers and automobile manufacturers can never fully track down. I wouldn't be surprised if someday my car tried to take an incoming fax.

I do totally realize it's a convenience to have as few cords going to your phone as possible, but I think bluetooth is easily tripped up on "multitasking." Like asking it to answer a call handsfree while something else is going on on the phone, or a million other common scenarios, really freak it out.

I use a bluetooth headset (Motorola S9-HD) for 2-3 hours a day 5-6 days a week when I'm exercising, walking my dog, working on cars or projects, etc., and it makes a pretty decent set of wireless headphones - but I'll be damned if almost every time I get a phone call I was either forced to answer on the handset, or my music wouldn't resume when I was done with the call. And they aren't any better switching between headphones & headset on my Macbook either.

The reason I plug my iPhone in my car almost every time I drive it is the same reason I wired my house with 2mi of Cat 5e ethernet cable. . .less wirelessness, less problems! :)

-ace
 
#11 ·
USB pause

On a similar topic, has anyone been able to pause music when playing from a USB drive? I just bought my 2013 Crosstour (manufactured in February of that year) yesterday and noticed that a Play/Pause button is missing from the interface. The only alternative I have right now is to turn the audio off. Anyone else face this "dilemma" and have a solution?
 
#12 ·
Don't think it was mentioned above, but if you have issues streaming music from your iPhone 5, make sure you have a least one mp3 on it before plugging it in. I restored my phone and cleared all the music off to make room, and for days couldn't figure out how to get Pandora/Spotify/Google Music, etc. to work, trying all the "known" methods to fix. Then I read somewhere about the mp3 trick. Synched up a single track via iTunes, and music streaming works perfectly fine now.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for that! :p Unfortunately, my USB connected iPhone continues to play silently and I lose my place in the audiobook. Simple fix is that I bought a Kinivo BTC455 and its on its way. The will let me stream music sans cord and the big button on this device will pause/play. Fortunately, the AUX and 12V power supply are right next to each other in the storage bin between the seats. I just need to figure out where to put the button and where to hide the wire.
 
#16 ·
Too bad the power off option won't do the trick for you. I have my iPod Touch plugged into the USB in the center console, it pauses when the power is turned off (Ignition Off) or when I change the input source on the radio...

A pause/mute button would be nice for the iPod and for the CD player....
 
#17 ·
I had my iPhone 4s working fine with my 2013 Crosstour V6 EX. I had an iPod plugged into the iPod interface was able to stream Aha and Pandora no problem. I was also able to stream downloaded podcasts, voice directions from Google maps, TuneIn radio, and basically anything else that played over the phone speakers when selecting Bluetooth as the source. Everyone is correct that you need the latest updates to the phone, but there was also an update for the Crosstour entertainment center back in mid 2013.

Should all else fail, you can by a Bluetooth dongle for the iPhone, disable the internal iPhone Bluetooth, and stream from the iPhone to the Crosstour via that dongle. This also works for the iPod and iPad. See http://www.amazon.com/KOKKIA-MULTI-STREAM-multi-stream-authentication-Capabilities/dp/B004I408OW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407875827&sr=8-1&keywords=bluetooth+ipod+adaptor

I got one of these to stream music from an iPod to a Bluetooth speaker, but it works in the car too! Note that because you selected the Bluetooth source, any pause, play, repeat functions have to be controlled by the device as the data stream is one way - device to the car. In addition, how can the car know what type of Bluetooth device is sending the signal.
 
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