Xperia Sola how to stop Walkman playing audio book automatically

[TonyW]

I have recently paired my Sola to a new car via bluetooth.  The pairing went well and all contacts downloaded after a false start.  The phone performs as it should for hands free calling and receiving but there is one annoyance that I cannot seem to find a solution to.

For some reason when the phone is connected the Walkman app is triggered and starts playing an audiobook through the car system.  I cannot find a way to disable this permenantly and have to resort to opening the Walkman app and manually stopping the playback.  The app will then restart after the phone has been used.

I am sure there must be a simple explanation and hope that someone can point me in the right direction

[Samuel1]

Have you used SmartConnect? If you have it installed, it might be set to start up walkman every time a bluetooth device is connected for example.

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[TonyW]

No I have not downloaded/installed SmartConnect.

Doubt that this is particularly relevant but a strange thing just happened first time ever lost Bluetooth connection and could not restart - just a quick blue light then turned off every time I tried.  After a reset using power and volume all ok, but still the same issue with Walkman starting.

I think there may be a solution, however it is to my mind unsatisfactory as it involves setting the bluetooth to use phone only and turning off the ability to use the device as a media player.

[Samuel1]

Have you had your phone connected to any other bluetooth devices, for example a headset? If you tried it, did the walkman start up there as well?

If it didn't it might be something triggered by the car system, all and all it seems really strange. Have you tried repairing/updating the software in the phone?

http://www.sonymobile.com/update

[TonyW]

Not connected to other bluetooth devices.

I have only run PC companion and checked to see that the phone is up to date, which it is. 

[Samuel1]

If you already have the latest firmware in the phone you can try the 'repair phone' option. This will re-install the software on the phone. Make sure to backup everything you want saved.

[TonyW]

Samuel, many thanks for your help and suggestions so far. 

While I am prepared to try the repair phone option the question is will this prevent the Walkman app automatically playing i.e. is there any 'switch' within either the app or the OS that will be available/revealed to accomplish this?

Having now undertaken some research on the net this problem seems to be much more common than I expected and is not a Sony issue in particular as both Android and iPhone devices can display the same problem.  Just being on the 'net' of course does not mean it is gospel but FWIW this is what I have found:

The belief is that the bluetooth phones have been programmed to start playing music when a stereo bluetooth device connects. 

It is suggested that this relates to the A/V Remote Control Target Bluetooth Profile. Most OS's implement this profile in a way that the intial contact from the BT devices tells the audio to play. 

So if this is true what is really required is a method of turning off autoplay for Media audio without disabling audio completely.  Is there anyway to do this with the Walkman app?

So currently with Media audio turned off on my phone I have lost the ability to listen to my music files in car without the annoyance of having to stop Walkman playing and then automatically starting again after making a call.  It would be good to be able to get back the music facility without autoplay - surely there must be a way?

[Samuel1]

Well, from that information I'd not recommend that you update/repair the phone - it won't change anything and will just cost you time for nothing. As it seems, the system in your car triggers the BT profile that starts the walkman player. I dare to say that this is not triggered by the phone since our headsets (most of them supports this profile as well) does not trigger auto play unless you set up this by yourself in SmartConnect (as mentioned in my first post).

I did some searching as well and indeed there seems to be a lot of users experiencing this (with all Android phones, really). The bad news is that I can't really find any solution except the one you've already mentioned - disable media/A2DP via the BT menu.

I have one idea, but I don't know if it will work. If you want, you can give it a try:

-Download SmartConnect from Google Play
-Set up a new event where you set the phone to start up music when your car system is connected

-Start up the car system and the audio should play (exactly as it does now) but triggered via SmartConnect
-Open up SmartConnect again and remove the parameter for starting music (or possibly set it to something else)

[EowynCarter1]

I have the same probleme with my nexus 4, it start jetAudio when I connect my bluetooth headset.

My sola don't do that, though. (stock ICS)

Maybe an other ROM might not have this issue.

[TonyW]

Thanks again Samuel.

I will certainly give SmartConnect a try as per your suggestion - if it works great, if not nothing lost

I will also try the car BT connection settings again - currently have media disabled in both car and Sola and cannot remember where I started but these settings were the only ones to guarantee that Walkman app could not be triggered.

Will report back success or lack of within a few days.  If I cannot get it to work although disappointing it is not the end of my world, I will just have to either transfer music to USB or dig the old iPod touch out - I bought the phone primarily for use as an old fashioned phone with BT connection for HF calling and receiving.

Eowyn, thanks but this is a different issue as it relates to BT hands free car connection.  AFAIK you can set the Sola to start an app. when you plug in a BT headset or ignore.  I think that the settings are in Livewire