[bartc]

On my car, when I start the car with my phone attached via Bluetooth, it random shuffles by default. However, if I start the car with my phone attached via USB cable, it plays all the songs alphabetically. The actions available on the iOS music app are also different... when attached via Bluetooth, there are "Play Next" and "Play Later" options, where as when attached via USB, these options do not appear.

As a software engineer, I think the differences stem from whether the "now playing" playlist is being managed by the phone or by the car multimedia system. As a car driver, it's extremely annoying and I'm disappointed at how poorly it behaves.

[eclipxe]

The is because of the iPod. Car systems were built around the iPod and its accessory protocol. The iPhone supports it as well but it leads to these weird use cases where your phone is constrained by what the car thinks an iPod can and can’t do.

[shadowtree]

ah, ok - don't think I tried USB. Guess the radio of the car then takes control and tries to use the phone as an external drive, overriding the native music app.

[jlgaddis]

I leave a flash drive with a bunch of MP3 files permanently plugged in to my Harley, although I usually play music from my iPhone via Bluetooth. When I turn the bike on, it starts playing from the flash drive wherever it left off (e.g. in the middle of a song). When I tell it to connect to my phone, it also starts playing wherever it left off. I can switch back and forth and it never "starts over" so I'm guessing it must be the vehicle that controls the playback?