Android Auto and MMA issue

[bonzo728]

When using MMA and Android Auto I have noticed that when I use voice commands to play an album ("ok Google, play [album name]) the album's songs play in alphabetical order. If the album is selected on the phone without the use of voice commands the songs play in the correct order. My wife and I both use MMA and Android Auto. She drives a Subaru and I drive a Ford so I know it's not an issue with the car. Not sure if it's an android auto, Google, or MMA issue, or even a combination of them. Has anyone else experienced this issue? Anyone know of a fix?

[adminspotter]

I've got a 2019 VW, and the same is happening for me. I upgraded to the pro version of MMA to see if that helped, but it did not. No knowledge of any workarounds or fixes.

I did manage to get into a library browsing interface once, which at least allowed me to pick the album I wanted to listen to by going through my media lists for it, but I have no idea how to get back to that interface.

[adminspotter]

I tried an experiment: same phone, same car, same Android Auto, different media player (Pulsar). "Play album <whatever>" delivered the tracks in the appropriate album order, and not alphabetically. So it's MMA that's alphabetizing the album tracks.

I've also run into situations where there have been tracks *related* to the album title - same song title, for example - which MMA inserted into the list when I said "play album <whatever>". The next test there would probably be "play <whatever>", and see if the same list comes up.

Seems like MMA is doing a plain text search of multiple (all?) tag fields, rather than a search of any particular tag field. I'd be curious to know what Android Auto's audio player interface provides to the player program, as far as what the user asked for.

[adminspotter]

I tried "play <whatever>", and got the same list as "play album <whatever>". Seems like MMA is ignoring the 'album' part of the command, and we're just getting the results of a plain text search over most of the tags.

[kwdancet]

I am also experiencing this problem--and it's quite annoying when I want to listen to a Broadway show.

It also happens when playing an artist. I asked it to play Celtic Thunder and it alphabetized all tracks (from about 5 albums).

Car: 2018 Subaru Forrester
MMA version: 1.3.4.0854
Android Version: 8 and 9 (I recently upgraded, same behavior).

[Peke]

Hi,
Apply for MMA beta as there is several improvements there.

[adminspotter]

I signed up for the beta. I tried the same tests as before with 1.3.5.0861, and there is no change. Still returns everything in alphabetical order, and also grabs things from other albums when I ask for an album name.

[elcapitan]

I brought a related issue up months ago, the default behaviour of MM in AA is to alphabetize things.

I dont use voice commands but it does the same through the car screen interface if you try to play all songs by an artist instead of alphabetizing by album names and playing the songs in track number order it alphabetizes the individual songs by song title. It doesnt do this in the phone app.

The response I got was its fixed in version 2, dont know if theres a date for version 2 yet?

[Lowlander]

There isn't, it will probably be a while still.

[bonzo728]

Just checking in to see if there has been a solution to this issue yet. Any update would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

[tepescovir]

Just an update, and not a good one.
Android auto is been updated( I have the beta) and it no longer allows mediamonkey to work with android auto.
worse, Google play music will not allow you to browse your library with android auto. you now have to use playlists or remember the name of every piece of music in your collection to select it using voice commands, even when parked. (they state it's a safety thing

I really hope google changes their mind about this as mediamonkey with android auto worked flawlessly till now.