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Podcasts, audio books, and music from iphone

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by MericanMade, Mar 25, 2020.

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  1. Mar 25, 2020 #1
    MericanMade

    MericanMade Heavy Load Member

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    I can fiddle-fart around with the radio all I want trying to find a good talk radio station or classic rock station, but we’re only allowed one finger press on a smartphone that must be on a holder. Hands-free and one touch dialing/answering. Company leaves it to me to decide when it’s safe to change radio stations, adjust my seat, change a/c or fan settings, etc, but has a very strict smartphone policy.

    I understand why they have a strict policy and won’t dare risk it. But I can find any podcast or audiobook in three or four touches from a locked screen, and when I drive my POV, these touches are done one at a time spaced apart at safe intervals, and always when there are no other vehicles around me. Phone is up on my dash in my line of sight. I think it is no more distracting than looking over to adjust the a/c or changing radio stations...but, alas, I don’t make the rules.

    Having to unlock the screen precludes playing specific music, audiobooks, or podcasts on my iphone. I can pull into a rest area and park each time I want to switch from Dennis Prager to Mark Levin or Tale of Two Cities to Brave New World (audiobooks), but that’s no good. I could just start a series of podcasts or an audiobook before getting on the road, then just let them play nonstop until the next break, but no pausing.

    With Siri I can say, “Hey Siri, play some Rush,” and random Rush songs start playing. That’s fine. I have all the albums and plenty of time to get to Tom Sawyer. :)

    Not so much with audiobooks or podcasts. Siri is very limited and very dumb. Does anyone know about miracle third party app that might solve this problem?

    I had hoped that the 11 hours a day spent driving would give me the opportunity to listen to some of the classics as well as more contemporary books in audio format.

    Anyone other company drivers out there with this problem and have found a solution? Hands-free voice activated technology is lacking in my opinion.
     
    MericanMade, Mar 25, 2020
    MericanMade, Mar 25, 2020
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  3. Mar 25, 2020 #2
    MericanMade

    MericanMade Heavy Load Member

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    I got to the terminal early and talked to Siri. I got it to open, play, pause, and restart audiobooks in “Books”. That’s great!

    But I can’t get her to play specific songs or specific albums that are in “Music,” only random songs by bands I specify.

    I can get it to open specific apps, but after that it requires fingers.

    I don’t think Apple supports Audible or vice versa because they’re competitors.
     
    MericanMade, Mar 25, 2020
    MericanMade, Mar 25, 2020
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  4. Mar 25, 2020 #3
    Wasted Thyme

    Wasted Thyme Road Train Member

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    If you were using android yes. What you might try is setting up some playlist. And having her play those playlist. Preload the audio books or podcast and name them. Then try hey Siri play prepping podcast
     
    Wasted Thyme, Mar 25, 2020
    Wasted Thyme, Mar 25, 2020
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  5. Mar 25, 2020 #4
    theSoz

    theSoz Light Load Member

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    Siri will play a song for you as long as it has the proper meta data to support your request. If you've purchased your music from iTunes, you'll have no problems. If you're download your music from YouTube or taken song from a CD chances are you lost all the meta data and just have a file name with the song title. That might sound confusing but it's fixable from a computer, you'd just need to edit that data and add the missing information back in.

    I also suggest creating a playlist. You can drop all the songs you want to listen to into a playlist and then just tell Siri to play the name of your playlist. If you created a playlist, you wouldn't have to edit the meta data as before, it would just play whatever is listed.

    You can create playlist for music, podcast and I believe audio books as well.
     
    theSoz, Mar 25, 2020
    theSoz, Mar 25, 2020
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  7. Mar 25, 2020 #5
    Lonestar87

    Lonestar87 Light Load Member

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    I have an iPhone. “Hey Siri. Open Audible.” One click from there to start playing an audiobook. Great for long stretches of open road. If you like it, go for the yearly subscription. It gives you 2 months free compared to the monthly price over a year.
     
    Lonestar87, Mar 25, 2020
    Lonestar87, Mar 25, 2020
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  8. Mar 25, 2020 #6
    WesternPlains

    WesternPlains Road Train Member

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    News Flash! Siri got coronavirus! You're out of luck. :laughing-guffaw:
     
    WesternPlains, Mar 25, 2020
    WesternPlains, Mar 25, 2020
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  9. Mar 27, 2020 #7
    tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

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    I use a $35 MP3 player. On the weekend I downloap my podcasts using iTunes. Add the ID3 tags to the files and put a track number on them, so they play in the order I want. I then have my laptop normalize the volumes so they aren't low then HIGH in volume. Then put them in the MP3 player.

    In the truck I press once to pick the "album", press play and a whole day's worth of audio starts playing. Also, unlike the phone, the screen of the MP3 player doesn't light up the whole cab when it lights up. My smartphone has the same podcasts and more capacity, but it is my backup to the MP3 player.

    My player is a Sansa Clip or Sansa Jam. I put a 32 GB micro SD card in it. I've been using this type of setup since 1999.
     
    tscottme, Mar 27, 2020
    tscottme, Mar 27, 2020
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  10. Mar 27, 2020 #8
    tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

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    tscottme, Mar 27, 2020
    tscottme, Mar 27, 2020
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  11. Mar 27, 2020 #9
    VA CDL Holder

    VA CDL Holder Medium Load Member

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    I had an iPhone 6 and I couldn't even download mp3 podcasts to it. I could stream from it, but I don't like interruptions when the signal drops and I'd have to slyly hold the phone to get things going again when the stream is interrupted. I'll never own another iPhone for that reason alone. On an Android phone you can easily set up a playlist of your favorite podcasts or whatever and jack it in to use the trucks speaker system.

    As for handling a phone during the normal course of driving, I don't do it now because I don't want to get a $10K fine for it and have that on my record. It's as bad as a DUI for awhile to some companies. Besides I've encountered too many random cameras on the side of the interstates in the middle of nowhere. We are way past Big Brother times now.
     
    VA CDL Holder, Mar 27, 2020
    VA CDL Holder, Mar 27, 2020
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  12. Mar 27, 2020 #10
    theSoz

    theSoz Light Load Member

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    You can do all that and more from an iPhone or really any iOS device.
     
    theSoz, Mar 27, 2020
    theSoz, Mar 27, 2020
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