The iPod interface in our long-term A4 Avant is pretty darned good. The graphics are clear and crisp while the menus are intuitive. One thing that bugs me is really quite minor, but a inconvenience, nonetheless.
I like leaving my iPhone in shuffle mode, letting it randomly play whatever it feels like. Maybe one out of twenty songs I'll let play all the way through, the rest I just skip, skip, skip. The first small complaint is that when you're in the Control menu (pictured above) and you select Mix (shuffle) it doesn't let the current song play out. Instead, it shuffles to the next song. I'd prefer if it stayed on the current track and then shuffled after it ends.
Issue2: If you scroll down the list of songs that will shuffle through next, and select to find a song that you want to hear, it cancels the shuffle mode. Let's say I scroll down and want to hear Porcelain by Moby. Click, and the song plays.
The problem for me is that the playlist switches back to alphabetical order. Now I have to go back to the Control menu to reselect shuffle mode, then it'll skip to the next song. I know, I know, boo hoo. This really is a tiny problem. There's a lot to like about the A4 Avant, and this certainly isn't a dealbreaker. But you know what they say about the squeaky wheel. If we don't point this stuff out, Audi may just keep it this way.
Mark Takahashi, Associate Editor
questionlp says:
03:03 PM, 12/15/10
...and that's the reason why I have only used my iPod in my S5 using the AMI cable once. For everything else in my music collection, there is always the two SD card slots and four SDHC cards (two 32GB and two 4GB).
falkinator says:
03:04 PM, 12/15/10
I agree. Makes the steering wheel control useless when you're in shuffle mode. It is the biggest complaint I have. Also voice controls would be nice, they have them for the 6-disc changer but not the iPod interface. My Mazda 3 has excellent Bluetooth A2DP which even lets you issue native voice commands to the iPhone for playing artists etc.
bodyblue says:
03:41 PM, 12/15/10
Is it not time for this car to go?
someguyposting says:
04:32 PM, 12/15/10
Too bad about these issues. I guess you'll just have to learn to Copland with it.
mjp16 says:
05:03 PM, 12/15/10
That's odd, on my dad's A4, when you select mix, it does change songs when you select MIX, but when you skip through the shuffled list it generates it doesn't revert to alphabetical order. You can skip back and forth as you please (using the forward/back buttons or the wheel).
Different software versions?
carguy622 says:
06:17 PM, 12/15/10
Along the same lines... in my Miata when the CD is on shuffle (no iPod hookup there) if I skipped back to play the track again it would cancel shuffle mode. Beyond annoying. It's these little things that can really get under your skin sometimes.
stovt001 says:
10:15 PM, 12/15/10
Someguyposting is my hero. That should earn a shirt or something.
greenpony says:
10:00 AM, 12/16/10
"Someguyposting is my hero. That should earn a shirt or something."
lol. no.
On a cleverness scale of 1 to 10, we're talking maybe a 3.
mtakahashi says:
10:19 AM, 12/16/10
I'd give him a double-point score for knowing who Aaron Copland is. Score is now 6.
BTW, that's ALWAYS the first song that plays, since Aaron is on top of the alphabetical list. Not a bad way to start the day, if you ask me.
jkp1187 says:
12:47 PM, 12/16/10
AWESOME choice of song, too. Was it the original full song, or the modified version Symphony No. 3?
jkp1187 says:
12:49 PM, 12/16/10
"Modified version FROM THE BEGINNING OF Symphony No. 3" is what I meant to say.
mtakahashi says:
02:06 PM, 12/16/10
jkp1187: The original version that starts slowly with the tympani. Now that I think of it, Appalachian Spring would be an cheery way to wake up.
someguyposting says:
05:43 PM, 12/16/10
I think you're on to something with Appalachian Spring. The A4's iPod interface is too complicated. 'Tis the gift to be simple.
Sorry greenpony - I couldn't help myself.