Playing music on Droid Incredible through my Sony car stereo

[jws919]

So, this is a specific and detailed question, so I'll try and briefly give context:

I currently have the prior generation of this stereo in my car (don't know my exact model number, but it's basically the same as this deck: Sony stereo.

I connect my iPhone 3G through the usb port and it charges my phone while allowing me to access my library and scroll through artists, playlists, etc through the deck.

I am curious if the Droid Incredible can also do this.

I went into the Verizon store today to try and see if it can work and we had some issues. My deck can access the phone's contents if, when connecting via USB, I have the phone behave as mass storage (the rep was doing it, but said when you connect the phone you have the option to treat the connection as mass storage). So, I could flip through what seemed to be directory folders through the stereo, but I believe I could only access the phone's internal memory. I haven't had an android phone, but I assume mp3's are stored on the microSD. Am I correct in this?

So, is there any way to make the SD accessible through the car stereo so I can play my mp3s while charging my phone through the USB? This is actually a fairly big deal to me as I am in my car a lot and using the phone in this way with my stereo keeps me from having to have 3 different chargers (1 for home, 1 for messenger bag, 1 for car). But, if there's a way to do it, I can get away from the iPhone, and more importantly, ATT.

I know I have the aux input, but I'm only concerned with the USB for its charging properties.

Thanks in advance for help, and if this is addressed somewhere else please direct me there. If this post belongs somewhere else, please feel free to move it.

Cheers,
J

Let me know

 

[Demache]

Err, it should be accessing your SD card, because that's all your phone allows it to see in mass storage mode. Unless your Sony deck has somehow hacked your phone into showing root level contents. Just wondering, make sure you turn OFF USB debugging. It won't use standard mass storage drivers otherwise.

I did this with a PS3 and it had no problem browsing the phone in mass storage mode.

 

[LED]

Why not just use a standard 1/8" audio cable to your aux input on the deck for music, and use the USB cable to charge the phone (don't mount it for mass storage). You would be using the phone screen to control your music playback if that's cool with you.

 

[Chroma]

Why not just use a standard 1/8" audio cable to your aux input on the deck for music, and use the USB cable to charge the phone (don't mount it for mass storage). You would be using the phone screen to control your music playback if that's cool with you.

This is what I do, I use Meridian's gestures to control playback and a generic phone cradle.

To be honest. If I had a stereo that played ipods nativity through the deck, I would get a larger capacity cheap ipod, hook it up and throw it in the glove compartment for forever and only take it out to load new music and playlists.

 

[Muerte_X]

Err, it should be accessing your SD card, because that's all your phone allows it to see in mass storage mode. Unless your Sony deck has somehow hacked your phone into showing root level contents. Just wondering, make sure you turn OFF USB debugging. It won't use standard mass storage drivers otherwise.

I did this with a PS3 and it had no problem browsing the phone in mass storage mode.

The incredible has an internal memory card. So when you hook it up to a computer/PS3/whatever it will show up as two separate external drives. It's as if it has two sd cards, and one is built into the phone.

Maybe there is a setting on stereo to select which external drive it uses. Or you could try unmounting your phone storage before you hook it up to the car stereo. I'm not sure if it'll automatically try to remount it or if you have to reboot the phone for it to see it again.

 

[DrkNvmbr81]

Why not just use a standard 1/8" audio cable to your aux input on the deck for music, and use the USB cable to charge the phone (don't mount it for mass storage). You would be using the phone screen to control your music playback if that's cool with you.

If you use a 1/8" audio cable to aux, then you have the audio settings of your phone/mp3 player setting on top of your deck audio settings. Connecting it through USB just makes the audio sound better.

I have a Kenwood deck with a USB port. Guess I should try using my Hero and see what happens.

 

[jasperwill]

what i do is use the aux port for audio and use the USB port for charging (at the same time)
this way i use the phone to control audio and still charge the phone.
the benefit of this for me is i can use pandora radio, or media player, and i can also use the navigation software at the same time. the nav software cuts the music out for a secound or two while its talking then goes back to the music. its very useful that way.

i havent tried using my phone on mass storage mode yet because i have an ipod nano that i use for music while im not doing nav.

 

[R. Kamidees]

So I've encountered a strange issue and wanted to bring it up here in hopes that maybe someone might be able to provide some insight.

I've just installed a Sony MEX-BT3800U receiver in my car and I hoped to use the usb connection on the front to connect my Droid X (w/ Froyo). When I plug it in with USB mass storage enabled (tried with debugging both on and off), the head unit gives me a "not supported error." This is also the case when I tried it in PC mode and media sync mode. The only way it reads the SD card is if it is in Charge Only mode, which is strange because the card should not be mounted in mode case. But when I browse the card from the head unit, only about 10% of the folders on the card show up. The music that it does find can play just fine and I can skip, fast forward, shuffle and everything else. I just can't figure out why some folders are showing up while others are not. Just to confirm, I found the location of the folders through the Android file browser and they are indeed on the card and not on the phone's internal memory.

I say all of that to say this: is there something I can do, an app I can install, that would make the head unit see the Droid as a simple thumb drive so it will see ALL of the folders? Or, alternately, is there a way I can put the phone in a true Charge Only mode