Sync 3 iPod indexing

[Sil3nt611]

I've been messaging with the IVT Team about an iPod issue I've been having on my new Sync 3 system from a different forum. But I thought I might as well ask here as well.

I have both a 3rd and 4th gen iPod nano. I had the 3rd gen in there and it froze once and has since continued to shut off every now and then. It is also likely indexed incorrectly because I can try and speak the name of a song and it says the right song and jumps to a completely different song. I can try the same song again and the song it jumps to is different than before. I had been using this iPod in my old car on a Pioneer HU just fine for about 2 years.

The 4th gen I've had more luck with. It was working solid at first so I was just going to use that instead. And then I added some music to it and it doesn't see those new songs. It also started playing a song once and gave me the name and other info of a different song. So I did a reset of the iPod and resynced the songs but it still doesn't see the new songs. Is there a way to force a reindex? From what I read it's supposed to do it automatically when it's plugged in, but it has not.

 

[gronktired]

I've been having trouble with my ipod too. At the end of every song it plays a half second blast from another song. It's also got several seconds worth of pause between tracks. Neither of these happen when listening to the ipod through headphones. It's an ipod classic 7th gen.

 

[Sil3nt611]

The IVT Team is working on the problems I've told them.

But all my problems are...

3rd gen iPod nano froze on day 1 of car ownership on the second startup of the car. When I did get it unfrozen later I tried to play a certain genre or playlist and it would play songs not on said playlist. Using voice commands to play songs got me a completely different song every time even though it said the right song. However it did stay on the correct playlist when I restarted the car. But after awhile it would end up disconnecting between song changes. Either when it changes songs automatically or when I skipped a song.

4th gen iPod nano... When I started using that regularly it seemed to work for a bit. Then I added songs to it and it wouldn't automatically index said songs and of course wouldn't play them. IVT Team said to hold the power button and right arrow to reset. That didn't seem to do anything. So I ended up having to do a master reset on the Sync 3 system. At that point it did reindex. However I had to reset several other settings on the system as well because of that so that's not a good long term solution. After that some startups on the car would disconnect the iPod and I'd have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it to detect. When playing through a playlist on random it would play a split second of song not in that playlist. Sometimes it would start playing a song not on the playlist but it was labeled on the screen as something completely different also not on the playlist.

I got an old iPhone 4 from someone so I decided to try that because it's listed as a supported device. It doesn't disconnect, however I'm stuck playing all songs. If I play just a certain genre/playlist/album/artist and then turn off the car and turn it on later it starts playing all songs from the first alphabetical song on the iPod. If I just leave it on all songs then it will start playing where I left off...however if I had it set on random when I turned off the car I have to turn random back on or it starts playing alphabetically from that song on. A lot of times I like listening to a certain playlist or genre and I want to to start from where I left off the next time I start the car and stay on random if I tell it to once. So for now I'm keeping the iPhone on all songs and I just have to go and tell it to play random if I remember.

If it was just one device...ok, but I'm 3 for 3 and one of them is listed as supported. I never had any of these issues when playing songs on my iPods through my Pioneer head unit on my old car. It would play songs just fine in a certain playlist and start exactly where I left off when I start the car. It would also stay on random and wouldn't ever disconnect on me. While I don't know how much this Sync 3 system would cost individually, with how much I paid for the navigation alone I can only imagine it wasn't cheap and I kinda consider wanting some basic playability of some of the most popular music playing devices on the market to come standard. As much as I understand the Sync 3 system is new, iPods and iPhones have been around for some time now.

 

[NJBooST]

Or if you have Spotify try using Siri while listening to music. Once Siri is done, Sync 3 will lose connection with Spotify and then be unable to reconnect. Only way to get it working again is to close the app on the iPhone, unplug from the system, and reconnect.
Ford told me this is due to the limitation of the iPhone. Which is bs. It's a limitation of Applink. If they can't get it right with infotainment, and they haven't in 5 years, get out of the way and give us Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

 

[gronktired]

...give us Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

This is the real solution but I can understand why there would be resistance to it. Depending on how the infotainment system is connected to the rest of the vehicle electronics there could be security and safety issues. Limiting it to approved apps only makes it easier to catch security holes that would let hackers get at the engine or braking controls.

My short list of bugs I've found, or features I can't figure out how to enable:
The issue I mentioned above with the split second blast of other audio and a several second pause between tracks on an ipod classic.
When the ipod reaches the end of a playlist or album and repeat isn't turned on, it disconnects and I have to switch to another device and back to enable it again.
When I turn the car off and back on the ipod loses my place in the track, and often loses the current playlist entirely, defaulting to "play all."
If I'm listening to spotify or pandora from my phone, my bluetooth audio is piped over correctly. I can hear map directions and email alerts and everything I would expect. If I am listening to AM/FM, sirius, or a USB device I only get notifications for phone calls and texts from my phone.

Is there a way to get it to read back a text message without sender, senders phone number, time and date, listing every recipient by phone number, etc.? It's annoying to listen to 30 seconds of this for a message that says "ok."

Overall, for a system that's been out in the public for only a couple months and still on v1.0, it works really well. Just minor bugs and UI issues. For the most part everything works.

 

[NJBooST]

[MENTION=3325]gronktired[/MENTION] I agree with everything you've said. And hopefully Ford issues updates way more frequently than they did with MFT. Sync 3 is already a 1,000% improvement from MFT.
For text messages I have it set to not read messages automatically, for 2 reasons. I don't need my music being interrupted by a text message that can wait. And if I have people in the car I can decide if it's something they should hear or not.
If you set the system to only display an alert on the screen, you tap "Hear" and it will only read back the content of the message without all the details.

 

[Sil3nt611]

I have an Android phone (Motorola Moto X 1st gen through Republic Wireless) I use and have connected to bluetooth that has only had one glitch which happened at the same time the 3rd gen nano froze on me. I was placing a call and no ringing through the speakers and when my friend answered I didn't hear him until I sent the call to the phone and just talked that way. I don't place calls often so the only other time I have it worked fine and receiving calls has always worked.

The iPods and iPhone I have are just for music to stay velcroed in the armrest cubby. The iPhone is deactivated but still works fine for music...or should anyway. I have tested out Spotify and it seemed to work, but I don't like using phone data when I pay for what I use and I prefer a low phone bill so locally stored music is the best option for me.

 

[Sil3nt611]

My latest issue is that my phone doesn't like to auto connect through bluetooth anymore when I turn on the car. I'm sure repairing it would fix it, but I haven't gotten around to it. If I really want to I can manually pair it by selecting Sync on my phone.