Samsung S7 - Playing Music On Car

[SUMIMASN]

Ive always played my music on my iPhone 6s via USB on my BMW and it was great. Better sound than Bluetooth and accessibility to my playlists. After loading my Samsung via my iPhone 6s (I sold it now), my playlists are playing fine, but I noticed that the play lists and music its not actually playing on my car from the Google Play Music App, nor is it playing from the Rocket Mobile app (suggested when i tried insyncr). I can locate my playlist files and music (in "My Files"), but I have no idea who Im going to update my playlists and play list content subsequent to my initial loading of music from my iPhone 6s.

Does anyone have a method for loading music and playlists from their mac / iTunes going forward?

Thanks

 

[SpookDroid]

Music from Android and iPhones work differently because most car systems only support iPhone for 'deep integration' (unfortunately, although that is changing with Android Auto). That means that your iPhone is outputting audio directly to your system via USB, using the internal apps from the phone itself.

On Android (or any non-iDevice for that matter), unless your car system specifically supports it (there are a handful out there that do), the music is actually just the car system accessing your phone's music files directly; no apps, no direct audio from phone. To your car there's no difference between an Android phone or a USB memory stick loaded with MP3 files.

To get music there, just copy MP3 files from your computer directly as you would on an USB Drive. Same thing for Playlists, in which case you'd need an app or computer program that supports actual Playlist files created in the device, as those are the ones your car system will look for and read.

 

[SUMIMASN]

Thanks for that explanation. I use a MacBook pro / iTunes so hopefully I can copy those onto. USB or have to buy an iPod

 

[SpookDroid]

You can. Apple moved away from DRM-protected files a while ago, so as long as your files are not encrypted, you can copy those over. There are Samsung solutions to sync your iTunes library as well, and DoubleTwist seems to dub itself 'the iTunes of Android', so you might want to try those for easier library syncs.

 

[SUMIMASN]

I was able to sync my itunes with Google Play and Google Play somehow loads to my phone. The problem is that my BMW will not recognize Google Play for playing music at all. I have playlists (which I use exclusively and not just randomly play all music) that loaded when I did the original sync with my iphone, but after that, I have not been able to identify a way to update or load any actual Playlists from Itunes ao where the files were loaded from my iphone directly (which was sold long ago). Essentially, i can play music via Google Play on my S7, but it wont connect to my cars Multimedia system. Im back to having to buy an ipod if i wanna play updated or new playlists in my car. My car instantly connected to my iphone no problem and played my playlists and music as it was loaded from day 1. This coupled with the fact that ive been searching for an all in one solution to sync my macbook pro ical, contacts and schedule with my S7 and no luck. Almost ready to sell the S7

You can. Apple moved away from DRM-protected files a while ago, so as long as your files are not encrypted, you can copy those over. There are Samsung solutions to sync your iTunes library as well, and DoubleTwist seems to dub itself 'the iTunes of Android', so you might want to try those for easier library syncs.

 

[SpookDroid]

Sadly you seem to be very tied up to Apple's ecosystem, and iStuff doesn't like to play nice with other devices, especially Android ones. Not necessarily the S7's fault, but it might not be right for you if you are too locked into iThings.

First of all, your car. For better or worse, most car systems will work with iDevices because they are designed to do so. With Android devices, unless your audio system specifically supports it (like Android Auto or MirrorLink), it just won't work in the same way. For Playlists you can create them in Google Play (or import them from iTunes, although I'm not 100% sure this works) and play them through Play Music in your phone either via AUX or BlueTooth, and while music controls SHOULD work with your S7, you're probably used to seeing your music and playlists listed in your Audio System's screen, not the phone itself.

For iCal, Contacts, and Schedule you'll need 3rd party solutions. That's thanks to Apple's lockdown on their services. Should you choose to do so, you may import your calendar events and Contacts to Google Calendar/Contacts and that will not only play nice with your Android device, it will also be able to keep things in sync with an iPhone or Mac without the lockdown. If you're not ready/willing to spend the time importing stuff or getting extra apps to do the syncing, then I'm afraid an Android phone might not be your cup of tea if you heavily rely on iServices.

 

[SUMIMASN]

I spent a lot of tune importing my music into Google Play, but because I cant even play the music in my car I'm really hoping to find 1 app (even 3rd party) that will at least sync my ical and contacts between my mac and my S7. I prefer to sync daily and not too motivated to use a different app each day to perform the tasks that was so streamlined within the Apple ecosystem. Thnx for your feedback

 

[SpookDroid]

If you choose to import to Google's services, sync would be streamlined as well (not so sure how it works on a Mac, but at least on iPhone, it still syncs OK with Contacts and Calendar automagically).

As for your car problem, you can't play the music even through BlueTooth? Like I said, your car probably won't show it up in your audio system's screen or allow you to choose songs/playlists from there, but if you initiate the music playback in your phone, audio should come through BT and media controls in your audio system should still work to control playback on your phone. If you're trying to get the music to play via USB, then you'd need to copy the actual MP3 files into your phone, which your car system would find as if it was using a normal thumbdrive (definitely not as 'nice' as the interface with an iDevice, however).

This might help with iCal sync.
How to easily sync your iCloud calendar to Android | Android Central

 

[SUMIMASN]

Thru Bluetooth, my BMW will only recognize my phone and phone book. It won't even recognize that a Multimedia device of any type its connected. Via USB, I can only get Playlists and Music to play via the BMW that was loaded originally when I loaded my S7 directly from my iPhone 6s (and back up restore method which I tried both for various reasons to solve data continuity issues I tried to correct). I can see where the Playlist and Music went (2 separate folders). I have no idea how I can update or replace those Play Lists and music. I solely rely on my Playlists to play music as I have so much music purchased originally on iTunes. Would you happen to know how to copy updated Playlists and New Music from my Mac into the same folders I see on the S7 that contain the original load from my iPhone? Thanks so much

 

[SpookDroid]

You should be able to connect the phone to your computer and just copy the music files like you were using a thumb drive (though the file explorer; forgive me if that's not what it's called on a Mac). As for the Playlists, any music program that creates PL Files should do the trick.

 

[S7AndroidUser]

I recently replaced my Iphone with a Samsung S7!
I need to find a cable to link the S7 to my BMW!
Previously, my Iphone was linked through a dual 3.5mm jack and USB port to the car stereo.
BMW dealer advised that nothing exists for Samsung!
I find this hard to believe!
Any help appreciated! Similar cables on Amazon state not compatible to BMW/Audi
Thanks

 

[sirCLD]

In looking for answers to problems with my Note5, I came across your issue. My son and daughter both have an S7, and when their phone is connected to my BMW via bluetooth, tracks and playlists are all visible and I can scroll thru their music and in turn select what song I want to hear, using the steering wheel or the iDrive. My problem is that using my Note 5 I can only see the current song playing and cannot scroll ahead or back to see other songs in the playlist. I can go to next track or previous track using the physical buttons on the stereo, NOT the steering wheel. I have checked to see what difference there is in their settings compared ot mine and I found nothing. Nonetheless their S7 works flawlessly thru bluetooth...I hope that helps.

 

[chanchan05]

I recently replaced my Iphone with a Samsung S7!
I need to find a cable to link the S7 to my BMW!
Previously, my Iphone was linked through a dual 3.5mm jack and USB port to the car stereo.
BMW dealer advised that nothing exists for Samsung!
I find this hard to believe!
Any help appreciated! Similar cables on Amazon state not compatible to BMW/Audi
Thanks

You mean a 3.5mm plug goes to the iPhone, and the USB port goes to the car? If it's that, then the same cable should work with the Samsung. The iPhone and Samsung phones export the same analog format when going out via the 3.5mm port.