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Entune: Pandora, iHeartRadio, etc.

Discussion in 'Prime Audio, Electronics, and Infotainment' started by mr88cet, Jan 18, 2017.

  1. mr88cet

    mr88cet Senior Member

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    There's one important aspect of Pandora, iHeartRadio, Slacker, and so forth that I'm not clear about.

    In the app, you link your accounts to those services, so that you can listen to them. My question is, when you listen to them, where is the actual audio being generated?

    Two possibilities:
    1. The linking of accounts between the P.Prime and your smartphone is so that the P.Prime can function as an on-dash GUI to your smartphone app, and the smartphone app still talks to Pandora (or whomever) and constructs all of the audio, which in turn is connected into the P.Prime's stereo system via Bluetooth or physical cable.
    2. Once you link the accounts, the smartphone is out of the picture, other than (probably) just to provide a generic internet connection. The linking is so that software operating entirely within the P.Prime's stereo system can log on as you, and retrieve the requested audio streams and play them.

    In short, does the smartphone app talk to Pandora (et.al.) and create the audio stream, or does Toyota's Entune software within the P.Prime stereo system do that?
     
  2. priuscatprimeguy

    priuscatprimeguy Senior Member

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    Actually Entune connects to the Pandora website ( remember you have to connect Pandora using your user name and password for Pandora) on your phone and uses the phone's 4G or whatever cell service you have with the phone.And the phone's bluetooth.
     
  3. mr88cet

    mr88cet Senior Member

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    Sure, but my question is which generates the actual audio stream itself? In other words, is it all happening in the phone app as usual, and the Prius just provides a GUI and Bluetooth speakers, **or** is the Prius' stereo system itself talking to Pandora (say), based upon the user name and password you provided, and itself generating the audio stream, and the smartphone is just providing a generic Internet connection?

    I ask in part because of the reports that iPhone 7 has problems with the P.Prime over a Bluetooth connection. If the iPhone generates the audio stream over Bluetooth, then it might experience those same symptoms, whereas if the P.Prime is decoding the data from Pandora, say, then it's not likely to experience those symptoms.
     
  4. mr88cet

    mr88cet Senior Member

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    Oh oh oh! Key word in your reply that I missed when I read it originally: Their "website," and not their app. OK, thanks and sorry I missed that word originally.

    So, that being the case, Pandora's or whoever's web server does the audio-stream generation. In that case, I wouldn't expect issues with the concerns raised earlier about iPhone problems. For those particular audio sources.
     
    priuscatprimeguy likes this.