iPod Woes

[cjk422]

About two weeks ago, I bought a 2011 Ford Fusion Hybrid. It has lots of options, including SYNC with voice-activated navigation, Sony sound system, heated seats, BLIS package, etc. So far, I'm fairly pleased with the car, except for the iPod integration. It's driving me crazy. I've read lots of complaints all over the Internet and tried many fixes. When I got the car, I upgraded the GEN 1 SYNC system the latest software available - 3.2.2 according to syncmyride.com. Here's some of the things I'm dealing with:

 

• iPod library of ~7500 songs
• 5th gen iPod Classic (160GB) running latest software
• Reindexing every time I start the car (only last maybe 20-30 seconds, but still annoying. Every time?!)
• Once it's done indexing, sometime it starts playing, other times it takes upwards of 2-3 minutes to start playing where it left off
• If I'm shuffling an artist, it leaves off on song x of whatever, then when I come back and start the car, it starts playing that same song, except it's now 1 of whatever, so it's reshuffling
• I've had it tell me the device isn't supported
• I've had it tell me voice commands aren't available on this device.

I usually leave the iPod plugged in. It sits in my center console, and I only take it out once in a while to adjust playlists or add songs. The behavior is extremely inconsistent. I've tried the following fixes:

• Master Reset of SYNC
• Pulling the fuse for SYNC
• Restoring iPod
• Resetting iPod
• Slimming iPod down to ~2000 songs

I've had decent results with just a USB stick, but I need to spend more time with that to see how it behaves. However, that presents its own issues (library/playlist management, protected content). I'm really fed up with this system. I used aux in in my old truck, and I spent a lot of time looking at cars, and wanted one with touch screen and iPod integration. I feel like I'm not getting what I paid for. Is Ford/Microsoft continuing to support GEN 1 SYNC? Will there be more updates, or are us older owners left out in the cold? I'm hearing mixed reports about MFT as well. If only I could go back and buy a different car...

Edited January 15, 2014 by cjk422

[jeff_h]

Have you run SyncMyItunes on your library? I don't think I saw that mentioned above.

[cjk422]

Sorry, yes, I have. It wanted to rename a few playlists (from something like "90's Music" to "90's Music 1"), but that's it. I didn't let it make those changes, because they seemed innocuous. I was planning on deleting those "problem" playlists altogether when I get home. They're auto-generated by iTunes and I never use them.

Edited January 15, 2014 by cjk422

[FordIVTteam]

Sorry, yes, I have. It wanted to rename a few playlists (from something like "90's Music" to "90's Music 1"), but that's it. I didn't let it make those changes, because they seemed innocuous. I was planning on deleting those "problem" playlists altogether when I get home. They're auto-generated by iTunes and I never use them.

 

Hi cjk422,

 

I'm impressed with all of the troubleshooting you've walked through thus far. You're correct; the SYNC system is designed to only index after the content on your iPod has been altered. The SYNC My iTunes tool, like jeff_h suggested, will normally improve indexing concerns. I'm curious to see if your experience changes once those playlists have been deleted. I also recommend performing another soft reset to the iPod before connecting via USB again.

 

You'll find the link to the SYNC My iTunes tool at: www.Support.Ford.com after logging in and clicking UPDATE SYNC SOFTWARE; it's located at the bottom of that page.

 

Kim

[cjk422]

Thanks for the response, Kim. I'll delete the lists, run SYNC My iTunes again, sync my iPod, perform a soft reset and finally plug it in to the car. I'll update when I've done that.

 

I do have one other question. Is Ford going to release software updates for the GEN 1 SYNC system? I'm on the latest (3.2.2).

[FordIVTteam]

Thanks for the response, Kim. I'll delete the lists, run SYNC My iTunes again, sync my iPod, perform a soft reset and finally plug it in to the car. I'll update when I've done that.

 

I do have one other question. Is Ford going to release software updates for the GEN 1 SYNC system? I'm on the latest (3.2.2).

 

You're welcome, cjk422. I am unable to speculate on future software updates for SYNC software. When an update is released, it will be announced here: http://boards.synccommunity.com/discussions/Welcome_to_SYNC_Owner_to_Owner/fordsyncmb? Your account will also be updated here: www.Support.Ford.com

 

Kim

[acdii]

I believe they finally have Applink for your car, at least that is what their article referred to. What I have found with iwhatever, is if ou have a jumble of songs in there, and multiple iwhatever generated playlists, it boggles Sync since they are incompatible with each other. Add in the thousands of titles and it can confuse the system, it is created by microsoft afterall, not Fedora. What I wound up doing is wiping the iwhatever clean, and loading in all my songs after running through the sync my itunes to correct the information sync reads, and then it all worked fine. One thing I have yet to correct is track information, some of my songs came from MP3's that had the wrong information in them and in the wrong spot so some come up as track 1, or ???????afhlh??? or something like that. Once the device was indexed though it all worked OK.

 

The only thing I still have issues with is my iphone, it always starts playing at the first song when I plug it into USB.

Edited January 15, 2014 by acdii

[cjk422]

I believe they finally have Applink for your car, at least that is what their article referred to. What I have found with iwhatever, is if ou have a jumble of songs in there, and multiple iwhatever generated playlists, it boggles Sync since they are incompatible with each other. Add in the thousands of titles and it can confuse the system, it is created by microsoft afterall, not Fedora. What I wound up doing is wiping the iwhatever clean, and loading in all my songs after running through the sync my itunes to correct the information sync reads, and then it all worked fine. One thing I have yet to correct is track information, some of my songs came from MP3's that had the wrong information in them and in the wrong spot so some come up as track 1, or ???????afhlh??? or something like that. Once the device was indexed though it all worked OK.

 

The only thing I still have issues with is my iphone, it always starts playing at the first song when I plug it into USB.

Ahhhh I just looked at my iTunes library, and realized it wanted to fix those several playlists because they were duplicated! Somehow I had two 90's Songs, Recently Added, Recently Played, etc. I deleted all of them and resync'd my iPod. I did a soft reset on it too. I'll see how it does now and report back! Thanks! Edited January 15, 2014 by cjk422

[cjk422]

So I had to run out and I tested this. When I got back in my car after running an errand, it started again: initialize/index for about 10-15 seconds, then sit there for another 15-20 seconds with the artist, track, and time displayed until it starts playing. Also, it started back at 1 again, rather than maintaining it's position in the playlist. I've never had my iPod do this before. Once it gets in gear, it works great, but that first minute is really annoying,

[cjk422]

 

You're welcome, cjk422. I am unable to speculate on future software updates for SYNC software. When an update is released, it will be announced here: http://boards.synccommunity.com/discussions/Welcome_to_SYNC_Owner_to_Owner/fordsyncmb? Your account will also be updated here: www.Support.Ford.com

 

Kim

Kim, I have two questions I hope you could answer (or find an answer to) for me:

 

1. Clarification on your response. I'm not so much asking when the next SYNC GEN 1 update will be (I read somewhere 3.2.2 came out in 2011), but if Ford/Microsoft is even still working on improving that product, or if all efforts are going into GEN 2 products, such as MyFord and MyFord Touch. If 3.2.2 is the final version for GEN 1 SYNC (and SYNC with Voice-Activated Navigation), that's good to know.

2. Could you possibly find out if GEN 1 3.2.2 software supports the Bluetooth profile AVRCP 1.3 or 1.4? Version 1.3 is required for getting track information on the media device. Currently, when I stream from my iPhone 5, I don't get track info, but I can skip tracks with the SYNC buttons on my steering wheel. I'm trying to find out if this is a limitation of my iPhone or SYNC.

 

Thank you so much for all of your help!

 

Chris

[FordIVTteam]

Kim, I have two questions I hope you could answer (or find an answer to) for me:

 

1. Clarification on your response. I'm not so much asking when the next SYNC GEN 1 update will be (I read somewhere 3.2.2 came out in 2011), but if Ford/Microsoft is even still working on improving that product, or if all efforts are going into GEN 2 products, such as MyFord and MyFord Touch. If 3.2.2 is the final version for GEN 1 SYNC (and SYNC with Voice-Activated Navigation), that's good to know.

2. Could you possibly find out if GEN 1 3.2.2 software supports the Bluetooth profile AVRCP 1.3 or 1.4? Version 1.3 is required for getting track information on the media device. Currently, when I stream from my iPhone 5, I don't get track info, but I can skip tracks with the SYNC buttons on my steering wheel. I'm trying to find out if this is a limitation of my iPhone or SYNC.

 

Thank you so much for all of your help!

 

Chris

 

Hi Chris,

 

1. Ford is continuously looking to improve their products. This includes vehicles equipped with Gen 1 systems. The most recent update announcement can be found here: http://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/01/03/ford-offers-sync-applink-for-3-million-more-customers.html The article indicates that the update will be released later this year, but doesn't specify which systems it will be available for. I'll keep you guys posted as more information becomes available.

 

2. Although the MyFord Touch systems are capable of streaming meta data via Bluetooth audio, your system currently is not. In this case, it is a limitation of the SYNC system. Unfortunately, I don't have information on the specific AVRCP version that is supported with each system.

 

Kim

Edited January 16, 2014 by FordIVTteam

[corncobs]

The only thing I still have issues with is my iphone, it always starts playing at the first song when I plug it into USB.

That is very very annoying I totally agree.

 

I usually don't use my iPhone as USB playback since all my music is on the SD card. While I was gone I bought new music and didn't have the time yet to sync to the SD card so I'm using it directly of my iPhone.