Rockbox Technical Forums

Support and General Use => Audio Playback, Database and Playlists => Topic started by: amsm on June 24, 2017, 08:40:05 AM

Title: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: amsm on June 24, 2017, 08:40:05 AM
Hi I am finding that car mode doesn't seem to be behaving the same between these two iPod versions.

I use both in the car, generally playing a playlist in shuffle mode and have both set to Car Adaptor Mode.

On the 3G, when the car ignition is turned off, the iPod shuts down and the ignition is turned on, it restarts in the same position of the same track it was playing.  This is good.  With the 5G, when the ignition is shut off, the player shuts down and when the ignition is turned on, the player starts up, but it always goes back to the beginning of the first song in the playlist and restarts there.  As you can imagine, after a few stops and starts you get mighty sick of hearing the same tracks over and over.

I can't find any obvious settings that are different between the two.  Have I missed something ?

This has become particularly urgent since the old hard drive in the 3G died today and I head off on a road trip on Monday !
Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: cereal_killer on June 24, 2017, 09:20:24 AM
I think, there must be a difference in the settings. I found a thread with a similar problem:

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=50951.0

You could back up your config file of the 5G and copy the one from the 3G. Since the HD died maybe you have a backup of the .rockbox folder. Better just copy all settings but not the theme settings.
Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: saratoga on June 24, 2017, 10:38:11 AM
If you turn the player off manually is the position remembered?
Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: amsm on June 24, 2017, 07:44:20 PM
If you turn the player off manually is the position remembered?

Yep, it seems to be.
I think, there must be a difference in the settings. I found a thread with a similar problem:

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=50951.0

You could back up your config file of the 5G and copy the one from the 3G. Since the HD died maybe you have a backup of the .rockbox folder. Better just copy all settings but not the theme settings.

Sadly, I didn't back it up  :(   Lesson learnt
Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: saratoga on June 24, 2017, 08:06:48 PM
If you turn the player off manually is the position remembered?

Yep, it seems to be.

Then the resume feature is working, but something is going wrong when the device powers off in car mode. 

Next test:  If you start and play to a point in a new track, then pause playback, and then leave the device on until the idle power off kicks in, does it resume in the correct position the next time you power it back on?  car adapter mode depends on the idle time out, so if it fails in car adapter mode, it should also fail here...
Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: amsm on June 25, 2017, 01:34:49 AM
If you turn the player off manually is the position remembered?

Yep, it seems to be.

Then the resume feature is working, but something is going wrong when the device powers off in car mode. 

Next test:  If you start and play to a point in a new track, then pause playback, and then leave the device on until the idle power off kicks in, does it resume in the correct position the next time you power it back on?  car adapter mode depends on the idle time out, so if it fails in car adapter mode, it should also fail here...

Just tried this and it behaves the same, ie goes back to the start of the first song on the playlist.

Just to make sure I have not missed a setting somewhere, do I need to do more than just enable car adaptor mode ?  I have poked around in all the menus I can find and there's nothing I can see that would obviously cause this behaviour.

I have intialised the database and also updated it since adding the new tracks. There are ~1200 songs in the playlist.  I'm running the iClassic theme, in case that has any bearing.

Title: Re: iPod 3G vs 5G Car mode
Post by: amsm on January 19, 2019, 06:29:47 PM

Sorry to dig up this old thread, but I think I have found out what was happening.  Not sure if it's a bug, or intended behaviour, but it's certainly not mentioned anywhere. 

Just recording what I found and the workaround for any future users who may unearth this thread in a search.

Hi I am finding that car mode doesn't seem to be behaving the same between these two iPod versions.

I use both in the car, generally playing a playlist in shuffle mode and have both set to Car Adaptor Mode.

On the 3G, when the car ignition is turned off, the iPod shuts down and the ignition is turned on, it restarts in the same position of the same track it was playing.  This is good.  With the 5G, when the ignition is shut off, the player shuts down and when the ignition is turned on, the player starts up, but it always goes back to the beginning of the first song in the playlist and restarts there.  As you can imagine, after a few stops and starts you get mighty sick of hearing the same tracks over and over.


I have obtained a second 5G iPod and experienced the same issue.

However, while experimenting, I think I found a workaround.  When I have the iPod in Car mode, if I have configured an idle timeout, I see the behaviour above, with it always returning to the start of the playlist.  Even if I select another song, that then becomes the "start" of the playlist until I pick another track to play, when it becomes the "start" and so on.

However, if the idle timeout is set to zero, then the player seems to work as expected, picking up again exactly where it left off.

I am pretty sure (but not 100%), that it did not behave this way on the 3G, but I am happy to have figure out the issue now on the 5G, so I don't hear the same 3 tracks every time I get in the car to head to the shops !