Can I get my car's head-unit to play audio, via USB, from my Galaxy S3?

Question

I've just moved from iOS to Android, purchasing the new Galaxy S3. Lovely phone; I'm impressed thus far.

The only thing that I'm struggling with is playing audio, via USB, to my car's head-unit.

I've got a 2012 Nissan Juke which worked fairly seamlessly with my iPhone 4. I'd plug the USB cable in, and my music would start playing through the car's speakers - with names/album/length etc. displayed on the head-unit's display. This worked with music I'd loaded on to the phone and the Spotify app.

When I plug my S3 in, the phone detects the connection and asks what mode I want to use - Media mode, or Camera mode. Regardless of which mode I use, the head-unit is unable to play either stored or Spotify music.

I've read up a little, and I'm wondering if this is to do with the S3's inability to render itself in Mass Storage mode.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a workaround, or an app which might resolve the problem? I can play audio via Bluetooth, but its interface isn't as seamless and I will forget to turn Bluetooth on/off; don't want to drain the battery excessively.

Thanks in advance,

Answer 1

Yes and no. The fact that your Galaxy S3 does not support mass storage mode means that you cannot play audio files stored on the S3 with the radio, like you could with a USB stick. (If your car's radio supports mass storage, that is.)

However, the other type of USB connection, allowing your iPhone to be controlled by your car's radio is an Apple Accessory connection. This is a protocol for communication between Apple devices such as the iPod and iPhone and accessories like your car's radio. Android currently does not support the Apple Accessory connection, but has it's own protocol for communication with USB accessories. It might be technically possible to create a solution for Android to allow it to speak with Apple Accessories, but currently (as far as I'm aware) no such solution exists.

Answer 2

As both eldarerathis and Paul Redert have mentioned, it seems that the USB port on your Juke is designed to support two types of USB connection: 1) mass storage mode, where it reads an attached USB peripheral as a logical drive and searches for compatible media files, and 2) iDevice Accessory mode, where it attempts to communicate with and Apple device over a proprietary protocol.

CNET has an article from 2010 describing the different ways Android phones can connect to a vehicle (as of 2010, of course). While most of it will tell you what you already know, I thought their compromise solution might be applicable:

...during our testing of the 2010 Acura TSX V-6, we were able to pair our Motorola Droid via Bluetooth for phone calls and Pandora Radio while using the USB port for charging. When we wanted to listen to locally stored audio, we simply mounted the USB connection and used the AcuraLink receiver to browse our folders. Likewise, a user could do the same thing with a vehicle that has an auxiliary input and a USB connection, but no Bluetooth.

It's sounding like mass storage mode might not be an option for your SGSIII, but using the Juke's USB connection for power to offset the use of Bluetooth for media might be a way to accomplish what you want. If you're worried about forgetting to turn off Bluetooth, you could look at ways to instruct the phone to remember for you. My personal favorite is Tasker, and setting up simple profiles for turning on and off Bluetooth under specific conditions could be as simple as two one-line tasks.

Answer 3

I had a HTC Desire HD and no problem connecting to my car radio (Sony XPlod) via the front USB port, provided the HTC was set up to connect via 'disk drive'. The problem I see with the S3 is that this (or similar) option does not exist. The radio sees the connection and tries to load but nothing happens. I could (untried yet) connect via the Aux jack, but then I'd need to cables instead of one. One step forward and 2 steps back.

Answer 4

I developed an app named SoundAbout to route audio is different scenarios. It has a media audio setting called "Aux Digital" that may help your situation.

Answer 5

Maybe your memory can't access by your music system -- so try like this:

When you plug in please check notification, may be your cell phone got in charging mode and mass storage is used by some other resource. So from notification disconnect logically your cell and then try to start play music with music play from mobile itself with connected music player system.

Hope it works.