Media connection rant - I hate BMW/MINI - Spotify

OK, I'm not sure if this is a general connectivity rant, an anti-BMW/MINI rant, a Spotify rant, or a combination.

My wife got her new 24 MINI Clubman in late 23 to replace her 17 Clubman (passed down to youngest).  Like all cars of the last 15 years, it obviously has Bluetooth and Carplay.  But it's a steaming pile of counterintuitive, difficult to use, distracting, biased cowpat.  Now, I'm used to these features in all other cars.  Nothing new.  But man do they make it difficult.  First, it still uses a version of iDrive, which while much better than it was, is still a E36 M3ty basic interface, but hey, you get used to E36 M3.  This goes so so much further.  In a normal vehicle, you walk up to your car while listening to a podcast, book, or something, get in the car, turn it on, and hey-presto, abercadabera, your phone transitions to the car and you carry on happily listening, no input required.  Now sometimes when I get in my Volvo, it connects but pauses so you have to hit play.  mildly annoying but a single button push.  You get into the the berkeleying BMW derived torture device and it doesn't play.  First it connects to your phone, and automatically opens Spotify, even if it was completly closed.  Then It then may, or may not play spotify, it may play the radio if that was last in use.  If not, or if you want to go back to your other app, you first have to go to media, scroll down to the correct phone, and select that as the input devise.  Then you have to go an change back from Spotify to whatever app you had playing previously which is more uttins and selection, to the point it's usually quicker to pic up the phone and do it there instead.  Not only that, but it's always forgetting how to talk to Apple Car play.  Frequently you have to uninstall the phone and re-pair from scratch to get CarPlay to work again.  Also on Spotify, even if your phone isn't the one connected, but is in the car, it will still open automatically when you get in.  As I say, I don't know who to point the blame at, but it makes an already E36 M3ty HMI even worse.  Older MINI's don't do this, and I hate it.

Thanks for letting me vent!!!

While it's true I come from a simpler time, sounds like a first world problem.  I am still amazed that I can make and receive cell phone calls in my vehicle without having to do anything!  And if I get a call while I'm listening to the radio, it mutes automatically!  It's awesome.

That is an odd chain of events. I don't use andoid auto/carplay because the bluetooth interface in my Jeep is so dang good. My only complaint is that it autoplays whatever the last thing is that I was listening to or watching, so I get in in the morning and it starts playing whatever car build video I fell asleep watching. But it's easy enough to open youtube music before walking out my front door so I get music instead of some guy installing a transmission.