I’ve noticed the following behavior attempting to use the Plex app on my Android phone through Android Auto (AA). My aim is simple - I want to listen to some music so shuffle play all of my music" with as few taps as required. I already have all of my music downloaded locally so I don’t have to worry about having an internet connection.
When using AA I bring up Plex. I see a screen that has two different buttons labeled Music. Why? Selecting one shows me “No Items”. The other Music button is for my downloaded music. I can tap Playlists and then All Music. Now on the Plex app on the actual phone, there is a button to shuffle play but not on the AA screen. So on AA I start playing my All Music playlist and the first song plays. It’s always the same song (which, by now, is really old!) and it’s not on shuffle. So I have to hit the 3 dot menu then tap on the shuffle button then tap on the next song button. Now I’ve finally achieved my goal - play some music from all of my music in a shuffle mode.
I would think a use case of "Just play some music from ‘My Music’ would be an extremely popular use case that should be like a 1 tap thing.
Also, if make a stop in my car and say take my phone, when I reenter my car Plex has totally lost its place! I should be able to get in the car, hook up AA and hit play to continue where I left off, somewhere in my music but still on shuffle play.
I play music in my car, but the system is an older model that only has a radio. So I must use a bluetooth radio transmitter and tune to a station I choose. I use the controls on my iphone PlexAmp app.
I tried to google some info on android auto. I’m unclear what it’s about or how its controlled.
I said nothing about “radio” though some may consider “Just play some music” as “I like using an old radio to just play some music”. The difference is “from ‘My Music’” which changes it from what the DJ picks to what I’ve already curated.
AA or for those iPeople, CarPlay are ways of using your car’s infotainment system to do things like navigate, play media, send texts and make/receive phone calls in a more handsfree and safer way. Plex’s app for Android (and probably for IOS too) integrates with AA (and probably CarPlay too) but as I state in the subject line - the Plex app has bad UX under Android Auto.
On the phone, the Plex app has a button to shuffle play yet it still takes a number of taps to get to that button. What I’m asking for is a reduction of the number of taps necessary to do this use case and perhaps a “just pick up where I left off” if you leave the car and then get back in it. I don’t want to listen to the radio - I want to listen to my music in a shuffled fashion without having to do too many taps to avoid driving off the road!
Well, I was chiming in (since nobody else seems to) to indicate that while I DO use Plex to stream music in my car, I am forced to use the actual FM radio to do so, as I do not have a modern one equipped with Android Auto. Thus, my ignorance with the device. Perhaps AA is so rare for the typical Plex user that is why nobody else chimed in. (Amazing then, that Plex supports it then, considering how other popular user-requests get ignored.)
I did find the AA article on Google’s site. I even found the Plex article on how to use it. But without actual hands-on use of such a device, I wouldn’t be able to help you troubleshoot whether the issues you have (Two music buttons with one list empty, and inability to pre-select shuffle of playlist) are a fault of Plex’s integration into AA, or just how AA uses music stream information from a participating service.
I thought you might appreciate a “sorry, I don’t have AA, but I sympathize” rather than complete silence. (yes, I didn’t exactly say that)
Ah well, that explains it. Yes, the interface on AA and under the Plex app on the phone is quite different. One of AA’s focuses (foci?) is to limit certain things so as not to cause driver distraction. I just think the UX of Plex on AA (or CarPlay) while driving hasn’t been optimized (or even thought out IMHO). My podcast player of choice (Podcast Addict) that I use more than 80% of the time while in my car interfaces nicely with AA and is very easy to use with a good UI and UX.
I suspect that most people don’t stream their music from Plex to their cars (I actually have downloaded all my music locally so I don’t have to worry if I have a signal but still, what music I play while out seems to be registered back on my server at home which is kinda neat) but instead just use a streaming service (often paid for) like Spotify probably under the guise of wanting to have an AI radio DJ like thing queuing up new content that they think you’ll like. I’ve seen so many people who I’ve offered my PMS who instead ignore the offer and waste tons of money on subscriptions instead. I suspect it’s the same for streaming music services.
I don’t operate that way. As a musician myself I usually play music instead of listening to it but on those occasions that I want to listen to something it’s my music I want to listen to. If somebody turns me on to some great new song or band then I’ll download it and put it on my server and it becomes part of my music.
Surely Plex can do as well as Podcast Addict WRT a good UX for playing already downloaded material. I had wanted to have Plex also do my podcasts but alas they dropped support for that…
Plexamp was a little better in the car and had an AA interface. But something about it was kinda clunky and I don’t remember what. Perhaps it’s time to take Plexamp for a spin again…
Re-installed Plexamp and I think it may work for my common use case. I think I was turned off to Plexamp because it didn’t support podcasts well. Well… Plex doesn’t support podcasts anymore anyway. I think I’ll use Plexamp while in the car from now on.
