Is there a reason Sirius/XM still doesn't display Album Art on the Model S?

Understood. It has been discussed before here; was included in the recent prioritization process about 300 people here in the forum went through on required features over a series of weeks; and I agree with you that not only XM, but USB media player needs to support cover art, and use of Gracenotes when owner or media source-provided art is unavailable. Tesla unfortunately remains silent on the subject with something many of us use in a daily basis.

FWIW, just this morning, I sent my own email to customer support encouraging Tesla to address a handful of diffencicies including this... I doubt a single note from a single owner, will ever make a difference, but my hope is if enough people take the time to individually send a business-like rational request through formal Tesla channels (vs an "unofficial" forum like this where posting just helps our soul), it may some day make a difference in Tesla's prioritization.

Bertl......my USB media player supports art.......I am always surprised when new art shows up for many of my tunes....very entertaining.

Tdriver said:

Bertl......my USB media player supports art.......I am always surprised when new art shows up for many of my tunes....very entertaining.

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Pray tell your secret. I'd love to replace that ugly grey box with a splash of color. I've never once seen anything appear.

In general the SXM app is pretty crappy - the implied message that I get out of this is that you shouldn't use SXM in your Tesla - you should just use Slacker and TuneIn. I did have SXM for my first six months of Tesla ownership as the contract from my previous car was moved over but I didn't renew.

I don't believe that SXM sends cover art. The last several vehicles I have owned didn't show the cover art either. The most I have seen is the title, artist and a logo for the channel to which I am listening.

I love SXM. However the reception in my MS sucks big time. My previous two cars had the Sirius branded side of things and the reception was great even in heavily wooded areas. Not so with the XM in the MS. You need to have clear view of the sky at all times or it cuts out. I mentioned it to the SC when I was in for maintenance. They pretty much said it is what it is.

Anyone else experience terrible reception issues with their MS?

Mark

markn455 said:

Anyone else experience terrible reception issues with their MS?

Mark

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I found SiriusXM reception also spotty in my MS, and cancelled it a few weeks after taking delivery. I now try to use my USB stick to listen to my own music most of the time, even though that has its own set of challenges. My former Lexus RX450h SUV and MBZ SLK (convertible) which were replaced by my MS had pretty flawless SiriusXM reception in the same areas I frequent with my Tesla. I believe the challenges with MS are simply because of Tesla's decision to prioritize airflow optimization by keeping the SiriusXM antenna inside MS (it's why it only is supported with a Pano), vs the external bumps or shark fin antenna my former cars had to support their external antenna.

BertL said:

I believe the challenges with MS are simply because of Tesla's decision to prioritize airflow optimization by keeping the SiriusXM antenna inside MS (it's why it only is supported with a Pano), vs the external bumps or shark fin antenna my former cars had to support their external antenna.

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I believe you are right. The antenna design/location are certainly a factor. In addition, Tesla for whatever reason decided to go with the "XM" side of the service rather than the Sirius. The legacy Sirius satellites have better coverage than XM.

I set the display up on the screen this morning so I could see the signal level of XM. I suspect it's due to the signal buffering but there is little correlation between the signal level and the loss of audio. I did notice that a signal level of one bar gets you nothing. Two bars are very spotty and three bars gets signal pretty consistently.

On some Sirius/XM radios there is a "diagnostic" mode you can put the radio in. In the diagnostic mode they often show you the signal level from the satellite, which satellite, and the signal from the terrestrial repeaters. In my case, I suspect that when I get outside of the Atlanta are terrestrial repeater coverage and have to rely only on the satellite signal is where I start having problems and XM is pretty mush unusable. It would be interesting if there was such a model in the MS.

Mark