What is your music source on the boat?
 

Since we are working on adding additional music sources to our app (it's only iTunes in our current version), we wanted to find out what the most common boating music sources are out there. Our current focus is on Spotify and we want to make sure we are covering all our bases.

We appreciate any input.
Thanks!
Ride My Wake! team.

MP3 on a USB memory stick with a head unit that plays MP3 from USB, occasionally OTA radio. This is easiest and most comprehensive. I do not purchase or use Apple products and don't want to stream music on my data plan, have phone out in the open where it may get wet, prefer to have control through head unit and not phone or other media player, etc... Personally I have little use for apps on my boat, though I have started using a marine navigation/chartplotter app which is handy when not in familiar waters. Probably not the answer you're looking for, but you asked so I answered.

This.. or an old ipod separate from the phone (old because I, too, will not buy Apple products anymore).

Head unit has USB and SD card slot.... so I have a ton of stuff on a SD card we can pull from.... the head unit also allows for bluetooth music streaming, so usually its coming from someone's phone. Songza is usually my go to streaming service.

Seems like its a love hate for apple. You either went all in from the beginning or you hated them from the start. I'm in the hate group too much dang hassle. As cheap as some of these tablets and other MP3 players are we just use one of them. Or usually one of the kids on board has a phone with music so we just use the bluetooth.

USB memory sticks are the primary source. I will also stream music from my phone that's stored on my Android phone. My steaming music service is IHeartRadio because they have the "spin cycle" station. Non-stop club mixes. Love it.

pandora

We bring out a MiFi WiFi from Verizon and give people the password cause it is unlimited data. We then run bluetooth to the boat and whoever is in control of the music is usually running Pandora or if they have music downloaded on their phone. Technology is a different ball game now!

Streamed from my phone or other passengers phone.

Some of us still have unlimited data on our Verizon phones! Woot! :D

I actually had to disconnect the BT of my phone from the deck, because I needed the phone to connect via BT to my Contour GPS camera so I could use the app to control the cam...

That's a first world problem if I ever heard one!

Trayson -
See how long that unlimited data lasts!!!!!!

As long as I don't change my plan or upgrade my phone I'm pretty good!

I just bought my last phone off CL. Hell, I made my wife get her own plan so I could keep mine in tact. No family plan B/S for me. (She doesn't even have a data plan, just voice and texting! LOL)

+1 for the usb thumb drives. They are quick and easy to use. Music quality is always @ 100%, no skipping, buffering, cords, battery life, etc. You can quickly switch from one persons mix to another's before they go to take a set. I use one of the leef micro thumb drives. Mine is an 8GB, it is about 1/2" long including the usb part that goes in the deck, I think the flip out cover for the usb port sticks out further than the drive. Very streamline, and it's waterproof and magenetic so you get it wet if you accidentally jump in with it or it gets splashed or something and can stick it somewhere and not lose it. Costed me a whole $9! :D

It sure beats the heck out of making a playlist on your phone, syncing it with the stereo with bluetooth, or worse yet plugging in a cord. Not to mention the music stops playing if you're playing from the phone and you restart the engine after picking up a rider. So many advantages of USB flash drives.

I use the USB sticks, so much easier. Also have Sirius, not sure why nothing good is ever on... Also use my phone

Spotify premium from iPhone on either USB or Aux. iPhone stays charged on the USB and I have great LTE coverage on my lake with unlimited data. I also have some playlists saved on the phone. Easy as pie and never have an issue with it.

Wow, I'm surprised how many people use USB drives. iPhone for us. Wired or BT. Just so nice to pass around the cord to whatever somebody has loaded on their phone.

Spotify. It's a music lovers dream. Any song, anytime. 10$ per month. I listen all day everyday and never hit my data limit. I have selective playlists saved on the device for when data connection is not available. It's just Awesome.

USB and old ipod left in glove box as "boatpod" Our lake is too far out in the sticks to receive phone service so no iheart, pandora, etc for us. But no phones at the lake is pretty nice.

Just an old wired I pod for us. Power to all phones is required to be shut off when we are out on our boat. I see enough of everyone walking around or driving their car with their phone in their face every day that I don't want to see it on the boat.

Spotify Premium, Pandora or MP3 right from my iPhone through the aux input. Have it right by me on the dash for easy control and is protected from water splashes.

Well, I found very quickly that I would get frustrated with only having my phone as a music source. I would keep my phone in a car cradle that had the suction cup mount to the windshield. so if I was playing music, and I wanted to do something like take a picture with my phone or take it out of the cradle for whatever reason, I'd have to kill the tunes. :mad:

I thought I'd be cool with the "no head unit" idea and just my WS 420SQ, but I found that there were times when I'd want good old fashioned radio (like when they simulcast the fireworks display to a local radio station).

Well, for some of us, that's how we stay connected to our friends and family. My mom text me last night--she was asking if everything was okay since I hadn't posted anything on FB recently...

Being connected isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some of us don't have the luxury of being face to face with the people we love, so technology serves as a bridge. My son lives on the other side of the state and without electronic communication, our relationship would have one less way to bridge that distance. When he was 2 years old and I was having to go weeks w/o seeing him after the divorce, Skype literally made it feasible to maintain that father/son connection. I couldn't get him to stay on a phone call for 1 minute, but with video, we'd do 30 to 60 minutes together.

I get where you're coming from. But there are tons of benefits of being connected. I'd never ask people to turn off their phones on my boat.

Our head unit has blue tooth, USB, aux 3.5mm jack, etc. We usually stream from mine & others devices or USB flash drive (which is good to have when service is weak). I too still have unlimited Verizon data and am currently using a Samsung 4S but almost all our music library is itunes, and my family are all on iPhone/ iPad, etc. I like the control the 4S gives me but to not have the same cloud compatability is kind of a pain sometimes. Also on the 4S it pauses the music for a second when taking a picture so that’s kind of annoying. Will be going back to the iPhone 6 as soon as it is released purely for the compatibility to the rest of my families devices.

Spotify Premium.

Music on the boat
 

Thank you so much for the info guys, I appreciate it. I also prefer that people aren't staring at their phones on the boat. Ride My Wake! was originally invented as a dashboard utility to make the driver's life easier. By letting them know to adjust their speed at a glance, turning down the music automatically, checking the weight distribution, music reshuffling for those whose decks don't do it, etc.

While it's certainly not for everyone, it has been a lifesaver for us and others, so we are always going to find ways to improve it.

Thanks again!

Napster here. More choice than Spotify (for Electronic music anyway)

spotify is a game changer. If I didn't have good service at our usual spot, i'd be using it.

Spotify
 

We have an email sent to Spotify and are going to keep contacting them. Apparently, you need their permission to integrate with Spotify from a commercial app. We'll get it.

Bought a dedicated iPod just for the boat

Old fashioned ipod that sits within the headunit (Fusion MP700) , Bluetooth to phones streaming from Spotify.

We stream Milk from Samsung. Commercial free. Better than Pandora IMO. Also use Bluetooth for everyone to setup their own Playlist. For sit and go no hassle it's a thumb drive with thousands of songs on shuffle.

Pandora one or Soundcloud depending on the mood. All through the waterproof S5 in my pocket connected through bluetooth.

Spotify on iphone in a lifeproof case. Spotify rocks since we have deadspots on the lake and you have offline mode

We have an Ipod for the boat. I bought a window mount for it and we bluetooth from there.
I plug the ipod into the cig lighter for power when needed.
Others can bluetooth in to play their "lists"
Or can use my 4S as a hot spot.
I don't like using phones as the source because I dont want to list to your phone call or a skip in the music everytime you get a text.

Spotify Premium

J Arthur, any update on Spotify support for the app?

Hey J Arthur, it wouldn't let me PM you, and i understand if you wouldn't want to just openly discuss this on the forums but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind discussing your app with me.

IPod touch with life proof case Bluetooth with wetsounds Bluetooth adapter

Mariachi band in the bow

^^^ You definitely need to make another trip down to berryessa with the band LOL

Moto,
Think Im gonna roll down Aug 2nd

As someone else posted, I love the commercial free Milk Music on my Galaxy S4. More channels to choose from than anything I've seen. Way better than Pandora.