Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

My holy grail right now is an iOS music app that meets these two criteria

  1. Supports iTunes Match
  2. Works with my car's Made for iPod radio

Currently, I am using "Track 8", which supports iTunes Match but doesn't play nice with my car's radio. The app doesn't send any information to the radio about artist or song name. (Pandora on iOS does do this. Docked with my car, when Pandora is playing, the artist and track info appears on the radio LCD screen)

I need suggestions!

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

You could email/tweet to the makers of Track 8 and tell them to use the MPNowPlayingInfoCenter API, which is what Pandora and all music apps use to report track metadata.

share|improve this answer
I've contacted a couple devs. The answer I was provided is that Pandora and other similar apps have the option of "rolling their own" audio player. You can see this by looking in the multitasking tray with the play controls. What icon is shown? Apps which access iTunes Match are required to use the iOS music player. When using these apps the Music.app icon is next to the play controls. So, my holy grail does not exist. – JustinXXVII Dec 11 '12 at 19:54
So, over the weekend I downloaded my entire iTunes match library and uploaded it to Google music. Still can't control my library from my car radio, but I can browse and select songs on my device instead of being locked out, and get metadata on the radio display. – JustinXXVII Dec 11 '12 at 19:57
Last comment: apps that use the iOS music player are finicky when they're docked to my radio. They refuse to play any audio. My radio hijacks the music app. The radio wants to take control of the "iPod". The music app refuses to play any audio unless instructed to by the radio interface. Apps that roll their own music player like "Melodies" for Google music don't have this issue. This is a 2012 Camaro, using the same radio from 2010. I plugged my wife's iPod in and it works fine. Music stored locally on the device works fine as well. iTunes Match is not easy to work with. – JustinXXVII Dec 11 '12 at 19:59

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.