Tablets as Source & Software You've Used on Them

[bbeljefe]

I've decided to do a console in my truck with a tablet as a music source and I'd like to know what some of you have used hardware wise as well as the software you used to access/play music.

My wife and I have a Samsung Galaxy and an iPad but I despise Apple's proprietary nature, so I really don't want to use it or anything Apple makes in my build. I'm an open source, no copyright, no intellectual property sort of guy and I don't want to support companies who sue people for using ideas.

Okay... rant out of the way now. Anyway, I've got this Galaxy pad and I like the way the resident music player handles files but I know there has to be a better or more versatile player available for what I'm looking to do.

I think I'm okay with the size of the screen on the Galaxy but I don't know what's available either... I'm not a tablet user so I have little interest or experience in what's available. At least I had little interest in them, until now. :-)

I currently have about 12K songs I'd like to have handy but I want them to be searchable in an easy manner and I don't think the resident player has that feature. Also, I'd like the tablet I use to have good sound quality, although I'm not interested in digital connections at this time. Are there even tablets with digital outs?

I plan to mount the tablet in a custom made cradle with the charging cord built in and it would be really nice if I could get audio from the same cord. My smartphone sends audio out the USB connection and I have a car dock for it that provides the line out connection on a phono connector but the audio quality isn't up to par. I wonder if that's just my phone or is it the norm?

Lastly, I want to have internet access with this device and we currently have cell service with Verizon, so I want to stick with Verizon compatible devices.

Help me out here guys... get me up to speed on what works and doesn't work for this application and I'll dance at your weddings. :-D

Thanks in advance for the comments/recommendations.

[n8ball2013]

There sre a million ways too do this are you planning on the tablet amd only the tsblet or a head unit as well.

[bbeljefe]

Oh sorry, I should have made that clear. I will be keeping the head unit and using the device as an aux in.

And to clarify, I don't need wiring advice. I'm only interested the devices and software people have used.

[TeamHT]

I'm just going to Bluetooth from my galaxy tab 3 to my Pioneer. I've been trying to find a cool place in the compartment to have this music station, lol. But it is pretty straightforward

[bbeljefe]

I've read that the blue tooth signal isn't as good as a direct connection and I suspect that's true. Have you noticed any loss?

My head unit is BT capable but I'd have to buy the module for it so if I'm gonna do that, I'd like to know it's a decent signal.

[scooter99]

Are you going to be using a processor or just the head unit?

Im using a Galaxy Note 8.0 in my build, not installed yet, and ill be doing mine a bit different. So Samsung has an adapter for the hdmi. Has the ability to charge at the same time. Im going from there to an hdmi converter.

The converter will allow for analog (rca) output, 1-2 hdmi outputs depending on the converter you get, and then more importantly digital optical out as well.

Im still exploring apps, but im pretty sure there are some out there that mirror your cell device, s3 in my case, and you can do everything from your tablet even though its on your phone. Make sense?

I m still researching the app part of things.

[bbeljefe]

Are you going to be using a processor or just the head unit?

Im using a Galaxy Note 8.0 in my build, not installed yet, and ill be doing mine a bit different. So Samsung has an adapter for the hdmi. Has the ability to charge at the same time. Im going from there to an hdmi converter.

The converter will allow for analog (rca) output, 1-2 hdmi outputs depending on the converter you get, and then more importantly digital optical out as well.

Im still exploring apps, but im pretty sure there are some out there that mirror your cell device, s3 in my case, and you can do everything from your tablet even though its on your phone. Make sense?

I m still researching the app part of things.

That's interesting. I am using a processor but I have no interest in sending video anywhere else in the truck. I never watch television or movies so I have zero interest in video, other than having a music video playing while I'm doing demos. I think the screen on the tablet would suffice for that little bit of light show.

My Galaxy is the SCH-1800 and doesn't have an hdmi connector but again, the only thing I'd use from that would be the audio signal so it's not really something I need.

Lemme know what you find out as far as apps for handling music files though.

Thanks.

[HatersGonnaHate]

My Bluetooth connection from my tablet to my Kenwood x896 is better than any auxiliary cord I've ever used. In my opinion, the music getting played from my tablet, synced to the head unit via Bluetooth is on par with the quality of music on my usb drive.

[CleanSierra]

Me personally, I was never a fan of the way my Kenwood eXcelon DDX896 sounded when running BT through it. It was an iPhone 4 and iPod, so maybe it was an Apple issue and not a BT issue. It sounded like sub par MP3 quality to me, like a file that was

128 kb/s. So if you're thinking of the BT route, you may want to consider having a good bit rate downloaded of the song, to avoid that dreaded MP3 sound.

[HatersGonnaHate]

I think it was an Apple problem lol

My tablet is Samsung and so is my phone, and they both sound awesome