Amazon Music now has a car mode, but don’t use it while driving

By Simon Cohen April 7, 2021

Amazon Music Car Mode — Amazon

The Amazon Music app for iOS and Android now comes with an optional car mode that offers up a simplified interface that can automatically launch as soon as you connect to your car’s Bluetooth system.

It looks like the ideal solution for those who don’t have an infotainment system that’s compatible with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto but want to stream music from Amazon Music while driving. According to an email from Amazon’s PR partner, the new feature was designed “to limit extensive browsing while driving.” Curiously, however, on the webpage that promotes car mode, Amazon warns its customers that they should not “interact with this app while operating your vehicle.” Which naturally raises the question: Why give the app a car mode at all?

Recommended Videos

As if this warning weren’t sufficiently direct, the page follows up with an even more dire statement: “Interacting with the Amazon Music app while driving is dangerous and may result in serious injury, death, or property damage.”

The car mode interface provides a big, easy-to-use set of playback controls at the top of the screen, with a series of big-font preset buttons below that can be used to access favorite playlists, stations, or albums. Amazon Music also includes Alexa voice command functionality, so you can simply ask Alexa to control your tunes for you — perhaps a less risky way of interacting with the app while driving.

While the new mode is intended to launch automatically when your phone reconnects to your car’s Bluetooth, you can shift in and out of car mode manually at any time, and it will work just fine even if your car has no Bluetooth system at all.

Topics

Contributing Editor, A/V

Simon Cohen is a contributing editor to Digital Trends' Audio/Video section, where he obsesses over the latest wireless…

Cars

Apple wants to supercharge CarPlay, but here’s why carmakers won’t bite

Apple CarPlay interface

Apple is ready to take CarPlay to the next level. At last year's Wordwide Developers Conference, the company announced an all-new version of CarPlay that would not only serve as your car's infotainment system, but also take over the rest of the screens in the car, showing information about your speed and the car itself, alongside information pulled from your phone, like your calendar events and the weather.

When it was first announced, this new version of CarPlay was supposed to launch by the end of 2023. That means that if the new CarPlay launches on time, it should be right around the corner.

Audio / Video

Finnish fuel company will ruin your music if you drive too fast

St1's Sound Driving music playlist will speed up the tempo of your music if you exceed speed limits.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid driving too fast. You'll likely face a fine or even jail time if you get caught. Speed is a well-known contributor to traffic fatalities. And if your vehicle runs on gas, you'll burn more of it if you've got a lead foot. That costs more money. But more important: It produces more tailpipe emissions -- especially the CO2 that contributes to climate change.

But if all of these reasons aren't incentive enough to slow down, Finland-based energy company St1 has another suggestion: It will increase the tempo of your music when you exceed posted speed limits, effectively ruining your listening experience as a reminder to take your foot off the gas.

Audio / Video

Why Sonos Era 300 buyers should switch to Amazon Music

Sonos Era 300.

If you’re thinking of buying the new Sonos Era 300 — the company’s first smart speaker designed specifically for spatial audio with Dolby Atmos Music — and you’re not currently an Amazon Music subscriber, listen up: you definitely need to consider switching from whatever music streaming service you’re currently using.

Don’t worry, I’m not getting a kickback from Jeff Bezos for saying that. It’s a simple matter of compatibility and audio quality. And, unfortunately for services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Tidal, none of those services can provide a speaker like the Era 300 with the same level of support as Amazon Music. At least, not for the immediate future.