pandora, android and volume issues

garyd9

Member
:
'14 Sky Blue CX-5 GT w/ Tech
I was finding that I was having an issue with Pandora on my CX-5 played through my android phone (via bluetooth.) Any time I'd get a notification (new email, new sms, etc), the volume from pandora would drop, the notification sound would play, and then the pandora volume would raise back up - but it never seemed to raise back up all the way. So, I'd start with my stereo volume at "20" (for example) and after a notification, I'd have to raise the volume to 30 to hear my music. Not good... (If I adjusted the sound settings on my phone to make notifications silent, it would resolve the issue - but then I wouldn't hear my notifications!)

Turns out, this is a bug in the Pandora android app...

When android wants to play a notification sound, the system will see that another app is playing a sound, and will inform that other app that it needs control of the audio stuff for just a transient (short) sound. Pandora reacts to that by "ducking" (lowering) the volume. When the transient sound is done playing, Pandora is notified and apparently tries to put the volume back, but it's somehow screwing that up. The "quick and dirty" fix for that is to patch the pandora app to not actually "duck" the volume, but to just pause playback for that transient sound and then to resume playback after the transient sound - all without messing with volumes. (A better fix, of course, would be to fix the volume restoration, but that's much harder to do without the source code for pandora.)​

I've reported the issue to Pandora, but the initial response I got from them doesn't give me confidence that they will fix the issue. (I explained the problem in technical detail, including API samples, and they responded by asking who my phone carrier is (which is completely irrelevant), I suspect that my report will become just become another ignored bug report.)

So... I've managed to put together a hacked version of Pandora that resolves the issue by pausing/resuming on transient sounds instead of messing with the volume. This is version 4.4 (latest as of this post) of Pandora The package has no other modifications other than what I mentioned above. I did not (and will not) modify the package to get around any of the skip limits or ads for non-subscribers.

If you aren't experiencing this problem with pandora, don't install what I'm posting here. If you are, and you are willing to try my modified version, AND your phone is configured to allow installation of non-play store apps, you should be able to click on the below link from your phone to download the file, and then run it (which will then install it.) (If you read this forum from your desktop computer, you should be able to email the link to whatever email account is used on your phone.) Being it's not being downloaded from the google play store, you'll probably get all kinds of warnings. If you aren't comfortable installing something from a completely unknown person on the internet, I don't blame you.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48459374/com.pandora.android-2.apk

If you aren't able to get it installed, I really can't support you. I'm really good developing stuff, but I really suck at explaining things. (I'm sure if someone is trying to get this installed and having problems, that someone else will be able to help them out.)

Finally, I need to include the following message:

The file I've linked here may or may not violate the terms of this website. I really don't know. The only modification to the original package is to "pause" instead of "volume duck" when a transient sound should be played. However, as it's copyrighted material, the forum admins might feel that this post should be removed. If so, I completely understand.

Take care
Gary
 
Thanks! Very good of you to do this and post it. I have it saved.

One question... when Pandora updates it's version, will your version check for and allow the update/overwrite?
 
Honestly, I have no idea what will happen with official upgrades. Hopefully, pandora will fix their app and people can just remove this hacked version and go back to the official one.

Take care
Gary
 
I don't have that problem. The music goes back to the correct volume after a notification plays for me. Could there be more to the bug than just Pandora? I have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.2.2 for reference.

I wouldn't outright dismiss them because they asked for your carrier. To correct the bug they would need to consistently repeat it and figure out exactly what is causing the problem. The easiest way to do that is to eliminate every possible variable they can.
 
when Pandora updates it's version, will your version check for and allow the update/overwrite?
Now that 4.5 is out, I can answer that if you have the version I attached above installed, google play does NOT seem to show an available upgrade. (You could uninstall mine and install the newer google play version, of course.)

However, at this time, I'd recommend NOT changing to version 4.5 of pandora. People are seeing quite a few issues with it... (read the reviews on google play for more info.) New new version features probably won't be worth the problems: A "sleep timer" in Pandora can't be used in accessory mode (which is the mode pandora uses when our radios connect to it), and if you wanted the nissan car support, you likely wouldn't be reading this post. ;)

Take care
Gary
 
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