Bluetooth can't find songs on the phone? Any ideas?

Canonite

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I linked my phone to my new 2016 Civic EX during my test drive. At that time I didn't have any music on my new Galaxy S6. Bluetooth audio found one song, "Over the Horizon", which is some sort of stock Samsung tune that came on the phone.

A few days ago I added 55 songs to my phone, to see if there was more voice control with a BT music library than there is with a USB library (I've been vocal on here in other threads about my dissatisfaction with the lack of USB audio library control).

After I added all the music and I selected Bluetooth, the car still only showed the one song. So I figured maybe I put the MP3 files in the wrong folder on the phone.

So I hooked my phone up to my computer and found where "Over the Horizon" was and moved all the music into that same folder.

The first time I tried, it still only saw the one song. Then later it saw the rest of my songs, but unfortunately all the music search options were grayed out. Then the next two times I got in the car it was back to only showing the one single stock Samsung tune... any ideas why the stereo doesn't see any of the music on my phone? Could it be that it doesn't see it because there was no music on it when I first connected the phone?

By the way, Android Auto plays my music library just fine. I just don't like to plug the phone in.

So far I give the new Civic's infotainment system a D-.
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markhu

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I had a similar problem with my 2016 Civic LX, where Bluetooth only operated the phone for calls, but didn't seem to detect any music. On a whim, I decided to try pairing my wife's phone, and her's worked fine with the music! Then, after re-connecting mine, I was happily surprised that mine started working also.

Try again, and let us know if you make any progress. I know it is very frustrating. I was about to march down to the local aftermarket shop and have them install a Jensen or something. Still might in order to get AUX-in and CD disc.
 

TinSnips

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Not sure if this will help (and I have an iPhone so it may be different for you), but when pairing a phone you can set it up as a phone, music device, or both. So make sure it's both which can be changed in the settings.

In addition I think Bluetooth was disabled while in CarPlay mode. My guess would it would be the same for Android Auto. So it might only work if your phone isn't plugged in?
 
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Canonite

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Not sure if this will help (and I have an iPhone so it may be different for you), but when pairing a phone you can set it up as a phone, music device, or both. So make sure it's both which can be changed in the settings.

In addition I think Bluetooth was disabled while in CarPlay mode. My guess would it would be the same for Android Auto. So it might only work if your phone isn't plugged in?
Thanks. Mine is paired for both phone and audio, and I never plug it in. The system just stinks. There's precious little control over BT. I actually like it a lot less than USB, which has almost no sorting or searching of the library. The only way it's even halfway decent is by plugging in the phone and using Android Auto, which I'll almost never use because I refuse to fill up my phone with music, and I don't like to plug it in. That's why we have fancy keyless and wireless systems these days. I can say one thing, I'll never buy another Honda again without thoroughly testing the functions first. I may have just strayed and gone to another brand had I known the infotainment system was this bad. I trusted Honda because I'm a loyal Honda fan, and I just did a quick drive and signed up because it drove really nice.
 

t3hub3rk1tten

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The issue with the different songs and only one song showing up is almost certainly your phone. All the car can see over Bluetooth is a few fields of metadata (song name, artist, etc). It can send commands like play, pause, next song. Most devices with Bluetooth AVRCP do not support searching or any sort of advanced control. If the car is only showing you one song, that's because your phone is sending the name of that one song.
The stock Samsung music player app on my S4 was terrible. You may want to try disabling it and using a different one to play local files.

For your USB library problems, you can get some of the functionality with folders. Create a folder "By Genre" and then use a tool like ReNamer to put your song files in there by Genre. So you would have several folders under Genre each containing the files. You can do the same for "By Artist", "By Album", etc. The USB audio interface lets you look through the folder interface and shuffle a folder.

USB audio is a niche feature. If it's so important you would have bought another car, you really should have tested it thoroughly.
 


dick w

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USB audio is a niche feature. If it's so important you would have bought another car, you really should have tested it thoroughly.
USB audio is a niche feature? Really? So niche that functionality that's been considered basic, kinda like next track, previous track, for years for these kinds of devices can be freely omitted? (My '07 CR-V can do this stuff from a PCCard…) I'd think more people use USB than BT audio since it doesn't use phone battery and is capable of playing a much larger library at higher quality. (And I bet more people use it than, say, Aha.) But maybe I'm missing something? And just how much should we test the car pre-purchase? I might like to use AM radio someday. Do I need to test AM radio pre-purchase to make sure it actually works? Or maybe it omits the change station features since, well, AM is a niche feature anyway.
 

t3hub3rk1tten

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Yes, I would say it is pretty niche. Everyone I know, of different tech levels, uses the built in radio (both FM and AM), aux cord, or Bluetooth and plays music from their phone, iPod, or iPad. I don't think I know anyone who uses USB audio.

If I asked my mother, who has songs on iTunes, how to play music in her car, she would say plug in her iPod with aux. Or use Bluetooth with her iPhone. That's the definition of mainstream for me.

By next track and previous track, do you mean within the same album? Because I use USB audio occasionally with shuffling all folders and the next/previous buttons work fine for me.
 
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I guess I'm pretty old-school. My phone is a PHONE. It's for making calls. It's also great for getting on the web and navigating, but I do not use it for music. I have a 1 TERABYTE audio library. I have a brand new 32 GB Samsung Galaxy S6 phone that does not have expandable memory. I am not going to fill up my $600 phone with audio files when a 64 GB USB drive can be bought for under $15 including shipping. I don't want to run my phone battery down or deal with the limitations of Bluetooth for my music listening. Also, both my home theater system and the aftermarket stereos in my other two cars have USB ports for my audio library. USB is the standard around my house for music. Everyone has their own stick.

If USB is so niche, then why does my dad's two year old Chevy truck have 4 USB ports and an SD card slot? What's that SD card slot for? Oh yeah, it's for music. Chryslers have SD slots also.

Here's what options everyone should have with a touchscreen stereo and USB audio. You should have options to view by artist, album, genre, etc.. and you should be able to give a simple voice command to play by that criteria.
 

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Canonite

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. (And I bet more people use it than, say, Aha.) But maybe I'm missing something? And just how much should we test the car pre-purchase? I might like to use AM radio someday. Do I need to test AM radio pre-purchase to make sure it actually works? Or maybe it omits the change station features since, well, AM is a niche feature anyway.
Right. I was in a hurry the day I bought my car. I had researched and had my heart set on the 2016 Civic for two months before it hit the lot. I sold my daily driver on a Saturday and my 3rd car broke on the way to work on that Monday. That Monday I was buying a car come hell or high water. It just so happened that the Civics had finally come in a couple days before (my salesman neglected to call me and tell me this after I had hounded him for weeks). Anyway, I forgot my USB stick at work when I rushed out early to go buy a car. I figured the salesman would have one, like any good car salesman should. He didn't.

So I went through the menus before I bought the car and I saw "enable Song by Voice". I also saw a ton of commands like "play artist [name]", etc in the help menus, so I figured my car would have these features. I wouldn't have thought in a million years that the help menus would show me voice commands that it didn't have. I sold cars for three years, so I know the ins and outs pretty well. This is basic stuff that even basic cars have. For instance, I didn't fold the rear seats down because I saw that it was 60/40 split so I knew that the rear seat backs would fold. In this same manner, I saw a color touchscreen stereo and two USB ports, with options such as "song by voice", "show album art", a voice recognition button, and all the voice commands that were shown listed on the screen in another thread (the ones that only work in Navi models). I thought that was enough to assume it had standard USB audio features. I was wrong.

I still stand by my statement that this is an EPIC failure by Honda.
 

markhu

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I agree the Civic audio is a fail. Even the HR-V stereo seems to have a couple more practical features.
 


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Yes, I would say it is pretty niche. Everyone I know, of different tech levels, uses the built in radio (both FM and AM), aux cord, or Bluetooth and plays music from their phone, iPod, or iPad. I don't think I know anyone who uses USB audio.

If I asked my mother, who has songs on iTunes, how to play music in her car, she would say plug in her iPod with aux. Or use Bluetooth with her iPhone. That's the definition of mainstream for me.

By next track and previous track, do you mean within the same album? Because I use USB audio occasionally with shuffling all folders and the next/previous buttons work fine for me.
I use USB all the time and don't think it's niche at all.
Audio quality is superior to Bluetooth and you don't have to worry about leaving it in the car all the time.
The only reason I've been slowly moving away from it is finding new music on on demand streaming services.

I think the kind of car you have dictates a lot about how you use it.
When you have a car with two usb slots why not keep a thumb drive in one?
 

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That said my previous car had no ability to organize usb files other than recognizing the folders it put it in, so I just put it on random.

As far as I can tell voice commands are documented but don't work.
Screen shots in the manual show being able to choose by genre or artist visually but those options don't show in reality.
Maybe with an iPod, but mine is long dead.
 

t3hub3rk1tten

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Just because you use USB audio all the time does not make it a mainstream feature. Canonite, you treat your terabyte music collection as a point of pride. Most people don't have that. Again, almost everyone I know (most of them in the Civic target demographic) wouldn't even consider the possibility of it. Sorry to hear about the rush you had when buying, I hope you can work it out.

Did you try out my suggestions?
The issue with the different songs and only one song showing up is almost certainly your phone. All the car can see over Bluetooth is a few fields of metadata (song name, artist, etc). It can send commands like play, pause, next song. Most devices with Bluetooth AVRCP do not support searching or any sort of advanced control. If the car is only showing you one song, that's because your phone is sending the name of that one song.
The stock Samsung music player app on my S4 was terrible. You may want to try disabling it and using a different one to play local files.

For your USB library problems, you can get some of the functionality with folders. Create a folder "By Genre" and then use a tool like ReNamer to put your song files in there by Genre. So you would have several folders under Genre each containing the files. You can do the same for "By Artist", "By Album", etc. The USB audio interface lets you look through the folder interface and shuffle a folder.
To clarify, for Bluetooth, you should try something other than the stock Samsung app. If the songs aren't showing up, it's the phone's problem, and more specifically the app that is playing music. The car acts as a dumb interface to the car by sending button inputs, it won't select different songs or cause some songs to not play.
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