Capndirk

Thanks, Angua, I'll have to look into that sleep mode thing. I notice it's in the drop down Android tool bar, but I haven't explored that at all. I guess I'm to caught up in trying to find the perfect app, or alternately, pushing developers into the direction I want 🙂 What keeps me going in those directions is the apps that kind of work ok.

No to Android Auto. It's not supported without a hardware dongle that was introduced after I bought mine. What actually happens if the "Don't Show Again" box is ticced in the "Poweramp was Killed" notice? Does it stop on errors or just ignore the fault? I suppose that I could pay for PA and continue to solve the problem. Actually, there is a power down delay of some kind taking place during the key-to-off process. It seems to me that there is a short period after the display shuts down with the key, that the light lingers in the control switches. I'll ask on the ATOTO site how that works. It's interesting to see how many different ways the music apps I've tried handle the head unit infrastructure. One never does find the USB, another finds it and scans it blindingly fast, but doesn't resume where left off, another sort of remembers what it was doing and starts a playlist at the beginning and repeats the same songs in the same sequence. The playlist was created by the app from selecting genre, but it was a short playlist. I should have started a spread sheet when I started my search. 😒 If I don't get any further with searching for the ideal music player, I might just circle back and buy PA, tic the don't show box and try the menu controls to bring the library back from the dead. There's another thread, here, that shows promise. The user has PA in a head unit and solved an issue that may work. That fix is in his last post.

Thanks, Andre. I started to do that one time before the trial expired, but then I figured that would work but be an unacceptable workaround, although it would certainly work. Another workaround for the second aspect of my issues would be to use a high capacity SD card to obviate the USB mount. Trouble is, there's one microSD and 4 USB, one of which is USB 3.0 There are players out there that resume mode of operation and resume the previously playing track, I hear. Joying apparently has something, but it's not advanced like PA. I saw that in a android head unit forum, and the guy asked why it can't be done with other apps. Some apps can't see a USB storage device. Poweramp seems to be the favorite among car users, but many of them stream from the phone, or over Android Auto. I'm not the only android car stereo user facing these issues, and the "best android car head unit app" is still a hot topic in the car world. The car android player is a unique application that has different ergonomic issues from phones and tablets. The most common items on the car player Android app wish lists are easier to see screen elements, bigger touch controls, and better menu navigation. Distracted driving is an issue, so swiping from page to page is better than ticcing the little menu "drawer" or three dot drop down, and then not being able to read it, anyway. If I knew anything about software development or the market, I would be out in front of the pack in this arena and charge double for the app! I thought I'd make a little noise, here, to see where it goes. I think maxmp in post #2 has the right idea, and some head units for you , too! 🙂

I'm having similar issues with restart, but I think mine is related to lag time for the USB to mount. My player is an ATOTO A6. it has 4 USB ports and one microSD. I have ripped my music collection to a USB stick in FLAC format, so that drive is a 256GB. PA plays well when set up, but after I switch the car off to go into a store or buy fuel, or similar turnarounds, PA loses where it was. The player has an advertised 2 sec reboot, and PA shows up as the active app. but it complains about the shutdown: and it doesn't have the library: I have to direct the app back to the library on the USB to get going again. The ATOTO mounts the USB after boot, so I suspect that PA boots before the USB is mounted. Tweaks?