[FiSTofFury]

I fully realize that I may be to dense to use the product, and my gripes are unfounded. If this is the case I appreciate if anyone can tell me how to resolve these problems. I have a zune hd.



1. Constant re-indexing anytime I shut off the vehicle that takes anywhere between 5-30 minutes. I've had it take most of an hour before. Restarting the zune has no effect. It doesn't matter if the car was parked over night, or if I just stopped to get gas. It has to re-index.

2. When it does finish re-indexing, the menus don't categorize by genere, which leaves podcasts and audio books undiscoverable. I've switched to usb sticks, but that has limitations such as:

3. No way to fast forward or rewind. Really? This leaves the Sync interface less functional than a cassette tape player, and no way to get back to where I was at in a podcast or audio book without starting from the beginning. Sure, if I hold down the skip ahead button on the wheel controls or in the touchscreen, it can skip 2 seconds at a time, but takes about 1.5 seconds to skip in each 2 second block, in a 3 hour podcast that still takes a significant amount of time to get halfway through, time I should be focused on operating the vehicle.

4. Even with the media loaded onto usb flash drives, I still dread stopping for any reason on my commute, because it often loses it's place in the audio file, or if for some reason you have 2 usb devices, may chose to start playing the other device.

5. Random vehicle health report reminders interrupting things.

6. App platform is closed and there is a complete lack of development. It would be great if they would open their app platform for development, maybe a 3rd party media player could be developed, accessport could tie into the native display, ect.

If anyone can describe how to successfully fast forward a lot of my gripes will go away. As it is I'm looking at canceling my zune music subscription, (I've loved the service until now) sticking my ram mount to the touch screen (it's a nice smooth flat surface) and using my phone over bluetooth for all media.

 

[MOFiST]

I can't answer many of your gripes but I feel your pain. In Fords defence they are trying to develop their proprietary system to be compatible with lots of other proprietary systems. The project would have a limited time frame and there fore often the less popular and older devices are gonna get less r&d. I have an old iPod nano 4th gen and works without issue.

For podcasts I use Bluetooth audio on my phone ( iphone) and an Podcast app called Downcast which allows me to jump audio chucks off 2 minutes or whatever you set up. Put your phone on a gripgo or cradle for easy reach. It's not perfect but I'm pretty happy with it for the most part.


Tappin on the phone

 

[F1ST]

I've used Sync in my 2011 Fiesta and now the ST. With an iPhone I don't get the re-indexing. At least not in the 1200 miles I've used it. The 2011 would do the index thing infrequently, but I do remember it happening. If it did it often i could see it being a major annoyance.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with Zune.

How long Have you had your car? I've not had the vehicle health reminder yet. The only odd screen I've had is one performing system maintenance or something like that last night.


I agree that if the platform was more open we would see huge benefits from 3rd party and individual development projects.

 

[jimlau]

It may not help for your Zune, but here's my experience. With my 2011 Fiesta I kept my iPod (60GB or something) in the car, and played podcasts and stuff from it. I could hold down the forward/reverse buttons on the dash to skip ads or whatever, but it was tedious. I didn't have problems re-indexing but once or twice in three years the system did just get "Index full" and crap out, requiring unplugging the battery.

On the old Sync, BT Audio would work for me from my iPhone, but never restart after I left the car and came back to it. So I didn't use that regularly since I'd get in the car, and have to say "Blue tooth audio" to SYNC to get her to switch back to my phone.

In the ST, BT Audio does properly resume where I left off so I've been using that with my iPhone, but more importantly I found a podcast app "iCatcher" that remaps the BT audio next/previous track buttons to 30-sec skip forward/back. That's made all the difference in the world for in-car listening. I also used to use the Turntable.fm app, and they used the next/previous track buttons to thumb down/up the song, which I liked.

I still keep my iPod in the car so I have my complete music library locally if I want, but I don't keep it plugged in. Maybe you could do something similar with your Zune and use your phone (with a non-standard podcast app) to have a nice overall solution?

Hope this helps.

 

[Stevelach]

You should be able to fast forward and rewind by holding the dash mounted "joy stick".

 

[MOFiST]

I now recall this Sync system is designed by Microsoft. In which case there is really no excuse for not supporting Zune. That's pathetic really.


Tappin on the phone

 

[WScottCross]

You probably don't want to get a different device, but the Windows Phone will play Zune (XBox music now) content and you can do that via bluetooth. My Lumia 822 reconnects and resumes whatever content I was playing when I shut the car off. Also, Nokia MixRadio is an awesome alternate music service. The free version lets you store up to 4 mixes for offline listening so it doesn't hit your data plan with streaming. You can also do Audible audiobooks on Windows phone.

If you don't want to switch phones, you could probably get a used one and not activate it, just use the apps via bluetooth in the car and WiFi at home to download. Just a thought.

 

[MLKN]

It is still way better that the Toyota Entune! Entune feels like a middle school computer project.

 

[scooby2]

I'm not a MFT/Sync fan by any means (its an abortion and needs aborted ASAP) but isn't the Zune end of life?

 

[REDST]

I need to add to the list:

7. When using USB flash drives, the tracks in each album are not listed in alphabetical order. Even though each track is named in the following format: 01 Artist - Track Name.mp3, 02 Artist - Track Name.mp3, etc. So when you select "play all", the album plays out of order. Its like having 'shuffle' enabled permanently!

8. Can't read USB flash drives that are formatted with NTFS or exFAT. Seems it only supports FAT32. This prevents me from using my 128GB flash drives unless I reformat it at FAT32 which then prevents me from storing very large files (HD movies) on the drive... ugh. MS is pushing exFAT on so many operating systems, but why not the SYNC?

As for the fast forwarding, I feel your pain. I notice if you press and hold the forward or back buttons on the steering wheel, it will eventually move in 10 second increments but very slowly. This is so damn annoying as, like you, I listen to many 3 hour long podcasts! I could be wrong, (only had the car for a short while thus far), but I think the system is smart enough to resume playing back from where it left off after turning off the car. Even overnight. I'll test that tomorrow.

Hopefully these things can be addressed in a future update as you'd think having a BASIC feature as fast forward would be standard.

 

[WScottCross]

I confirmed the same slow indexing behavior on my Zune HD today. Interestingly, it auto-started one of the audiobooks while it was still indexing. Once I paused or tried to skip in the audiobook, it just hung there until it was done indexing. Luckily, It works much better on my Windows phone and I'm happy with the system overall. I do wish there was a play/pause button on the steering wheel.

 

[Sil3nt611]

I plugged in my 3rd gen iPod nano to an ST I test drove. I didn't notice a single issue. I didn't have it plugged in when I turned the car off and back on so I can't say if it starts where it cut off. But I plugged it in and it immediately saw the iPod and had no issues playing right away. The iPod tends to be the more supported device of anything...ever. If I was you I'd pick up a cheap iPod and just keep it plugged in. That's what I'm going to do.

 

[OxWhiteFiST92]

I have it SYNCed with my HTC One X and it works perfect for me. Making calls, playing music everything

 

[MLKN]

I use an iPhone 4GS and no problems yet.

 

[Slowclimb]

Mine works great with my S3...may not be the best out, but it connects super fast and is miles ahead of the system in my Tiguan

 

[aar0nsky]

I would say its time for a new media player? Zune is so old and smart phones even from a few years ago have many more capabilities and features. Sorry but I feel the Zune is pretty useless in todays standards.
I never go through any of that junk with connecting through bluetooth with my phone.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[djdennehy]

You are still using a Zune? Mine was relegated to the trash ages ago (good for you doing your own thing). In general my Sync has always worked just fine in either my 13 Focus or 14 FiST, but I have only ever used my Android or iPhone phones. I used to work at a premium used car dealership (dealt with Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc.) and with the exception of the fantastic MMI by Audi, my favorite system has been Sync.

 

[Sil3nt611]

You are still using a Zune? Mine was relegated to the trash ages ago (good for you doing your own thing). In general my Sync has always worked just fine in either my 13 Focus or 14 FiST, but I have only ever used my Android or iPhone phones. I used to work at a premium used car dealership (dealt with Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc.) and with the exception of the fantastic MMI by Audi, my favorite system has been Sync.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The Zune isn't that old that it's useless as a media player. I still have a 3rd gen iPod nano which is pretty close to as old. Still works for my needs. It just wasn't as popular as the iPod so it never was as supported as the iPod. That was the reason I went with iPod even though I'm not a big Apple fan.

 

[LotusZX3]

I have a Galaxy S3 and it works flawlessly. Music, Calls, listening to samantha read text messages. That's great. My Zune HD though.... which i prefer to keep in the car at all times and is wired through the usb, always has problems...... It's not the crazy amounts of music that i have stored onto the Zune because i've widdled it down at times to only a few gigs of music. Sometimes when it starts indexing no music will be played. Sometimes it will play the first alphabetical track over and over while its indexing. I just want to hop in my car with my music on shuffle and actually be able to listen to it. Why is this so hard SYNC

 

[FordIVTteam]

Hey everyone,

It's great seeing so many of you enjoying your SYNC Systems. As always, if you have questions, feel free to reach out to me directly. I'm happy to help where I can.

I fully realize that I may be to dense to use the product, and my gripes are unfounded. If this is the case I appreciate if anyone can tell me how to resolve these problems. I have a zune hd.

...

Hi FiSTofFury,

Do you know which software version your Zune is running? Check to see if it matches the version tested on our compatibility chart: http://support.ford.com/sync-technology/device-compatibility-sync-myford-touch

In order to turn the Vehicle Health Report reminder off, press SETTINGS > VEHICLE > VEHICLE HEALTH REPORT > then make sure AUTOMATIC REMINDERS are set to OFF.

Holding the SEEK arrows down is the best method I can recommend for fast forwarding. There are no settings that can be switched within the MyFord Touch system.

Information about developing with Ford can be found here: https://developer.ford.com/

...
Hopefully these things can be addressed in a future update as you'd think having a BASIC feature as fast forward would be standard.

Hello REDST,

I just wanted to confirm that the MyFord Touch system only recognizes USB devices formatted to FAT32. Since Ford's product development team looks for insights and inspiration here: http://social.ford.com/your-ideas/ I encourage you to post your product suggestions and new ideas.

Kim