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Non-streaming Music Sources?

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mbelanger

mbelanger

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Yeah, Rivian's definition of a Minimum Viable Product infotainment system and the consumer definition aren't quite the same.
That's a shame. I've found that as I've gotten older, the audio/navigation/text/mobile interface is maybe the most important part of the vehicle. I'm going to have to rethink my R1S lust...


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Autolycus

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ICE only :(
Random question about the current steaming options with Spotify and Tidal: do they store/buffer anything locally for extended periods away from cell service or are they pretty much only useful if you’re near a town or major highway (without any mountains in the way of cell towers)?

I’d love built-in interfaces for Amazon Music, including the premium offering, and Apple Music, including the new Classical. Don’t have my Rivian yet, so I’ll just keep hoping some of these are worked out before I get it!
 

SANZC02

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Random question about the current steaming options with Spotify and Tidal: do they store/buffer anything locally for extended periods away from cell service or are they pretty much only useful if you’re near a town or major highway (without any mountains in the way of cell towers)?

I’d love built-in interfaces for Amazon Music, including the premium offering, and Apple Music, including the new Classical. Don’t have my Rivian yet, so I’ll just keep hoping some of these are worked out before I get it!
Mine buffers but not for extended time. If I park and get back in, it will play for 10 minutes, maybe a little more have not timed it, before it skips to the new stream. Works for spotty cell areas but for longer breaks in cell service you would want another source to play.
 

CommodoreAmiga

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Random question about the current steaming options with Spotify and Tidal: do they store/buffer anything locally for extended periods away from cell service or are they pretty much only useful if you’re near a town or major highway (without any mountains in the way of cell towers)?
They only buffer for a few seconds. Even in town I get drop-outs with the native Rivian streaming apps. The R1T being locked to Fail-T&T doesn't help.
 

the_mace

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They only buffer for a few seconds. Even in town I get drop-outs with the native Rivian streaming apps. The R1T being locked to Fail-T&T doesn't help.
TBH Tesla does the same thing so its not unique to Rivian
 

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Autolycus

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They only buffer for a few seconds. Even in town I get drop-outs with the native Rivian streaming apps. The R1T being locked to Fail-T&T doesn't help.
That's a total shame. There really should be some way to have it download a chunk of a playlist for offline availability.
 

the_mace

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That's a total shame. There really should be some way to have it download a chunk of a playlist for offline availability.
It took Tesla many years to add USB stick support for music playback. Rivian may be able to do that s00n...
 

madgrey

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STRONG disagreement, from me. Spotify is a massive disappointment. It sounds terrible. Apple Music streamed over bluetooth beats it by a country mile. And that really drives home how disappointing Spotify is, to me, because Bluetooth shouldn't beat a native stream... But Spotify is THAT bad.
Are you using downloaded Spotify content or streaming over cellular? If downloading, what is your download quality set to in the app? If streaming over cellular, are you using "auto" quality or setting to a specific value?

I've been using downloaded Spotify content, using "high" quality (there's a very high also)
 

CommodoreAmiga

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Are you using downloaded Spotify content or streaming over cellular? If downloading, what is your download quality set to in the app? If streaming over cellular, are you using "auto" quality or setting to a specific value?

I've been using downloaded Spotify content, using "high" quality (there's a very high also)
There is no way to "download" Spotify content in the R1T. It can only be streamed over cellular. I have the app set to the highest quality setting. It's garbage. Bluetooth sources sound better. Tidal sounds infinitely better.
 

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madgrey

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There is no way to "download" Spotify content in the R1T. It can only be streamed over cellular. I have the app set to the highest quality setting. It's garbage. Bluetooth sources sound better. Tidal sounds infinitely better.
Yes, you are correct about not being able to download to the R1T as far as I can tell. I download my Spotify content to my phone and then play over bluetooth, so it's roughly equivalent (save possible codec differences) to any other bluetooth source. My cell reception isn't that strong in many areas I travel so I switch between the Spotify Rivian app and my phone app. When the cell reception is good, the quality is roughly equivalent.
 

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I download my Spotify content to my phone and then play over bluetooth, so it's roughly equivalent (save possible codec differences) to any other bluetooth source.
Except Spotify bitrate is among the worst of any streaming provider and is objectively worse than competitors.
 

Tony R1S

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Last I checked, the only controls were pause, back, next, and volume. That's it. And that is not good enough, imo.

My Volvo let's me browse playlists/artists/albums/songs and request artist/album/song/whatever -- all over bluetooth.

It's all possible without CarPlay. Rivian just needs to actually invest some dev effort into their system.
Wow, didn't know bluetooth gave option to browse as well. That option would solve it for me as well. I don't stream, and really miss the option to just plug in a USB drive.
 

usofrob

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At first I thought the idea that bluetooth would sound better than direct streaming of spotiy silly. But, I guess the default BT codec (SBC) can do over 300kbps. So, there's enough potential bandwidth for decent audio.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/learn/sbc-aptx-which-bluetooth-codec-is-the-best
https://www.soundguys.com/understanding-bluetooth-codecs-15352/

It's also possible that Rivian supports a better BT codec that would also depend on phone support which could explain different people's opinions on BT sound quality,
 

shift4

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If you are interested in sourcing from your own music library and okay with using bluetooth as the connection method, I would really recommend Plex/Plexamp. You can pick whatever bitrate you wish to stream at and download any playlists/songs/albums you wish to use without a data connection. There is also a neat feature that will cache up to 40 tracks in advance so that your music will stay seamless even if the data/wifi connection is spotty.
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