Summary
- Overcast: build daily podcast playlists to queue episodes in the order I want.
- VLC plays lossless and OGG files, so my car audio sounds true to the artist.
- Audible and Varsity Network keep road trips and college sports covered, often free.
The state of in-cabin entertainment when it comes to our cars might be in a state of flux at the moment, but there’s no denying that a large portion of cars and drivers on the road today still use Apple CarPlay, and with the tech giant set to make some helpful changes to the relatively unchanged platform in iOS 26, it’s evident that Apple wants its style and software to stick with you and your vehicle well into the future.
However, in order to have that staying power, CarPlay has to be both helpful and fun to use. The first part of that equation is simple – navigate people, play music, let them answer texts and calls with things like voice commands — check. But what about beyond that? If Apple is to compete with the plethora of app choices and functionality boasted by platforms like Android Auto, CarPlay has to offer a bit more than the bare minimum if it wants to keep up in this space. After all, several tenured automotive tech giants already want CarPlay and Android Auto gone from interiors all together. These four apps help me do just that — take my CarPlay experience from ordinary to insightful and helpful — all through just a few additional apps.
Curate podcast playlists with Overcast
The best app I’ve found for my daily podcast dosage
As a Spotify user, I appreciate the wide array of podcasts available on the platform. For instance, I teach at a large college here in Texas, and my daily drive to work always encompasses two shows — Up First from NPR and a new VinWicki Car story. I can usually finish both between my drive to campus and my walk to teaching. However, I find that Spotify never plays the two in the order that I like. I’ll either hear yesterday’s episode of Up First, or an episode of a show that I truly don’t want to hear. This seems like it would be a simple feature to grasp, but for whatever reason, it has eluded this multi-billion-dollar streaming company.
Overcast has me covered, though. It allows me to build a daily playlist comprised of new releases from my favorite podcasts. This is especially helpful if I’m on a longer drive, as I can stack up new episodes of podcasts I’ve been saving for the trip. My fianceé is just as appreciative of this app as I am, because it allows her to curate an entire list of true-crime shows for us to listen to without having to swap between the different podcast pages on Spotify while we’re on the road. We can easily jump from Murder With my Husband to Crime Junkie without having to make any swipes or load new pages.
VLC is the app for music purists
Who doesn’t want their tunes to sound as good as possible
Let me ask you a question. Where do you get your music? Is it from Spotify? Apple Music? If so, both of those are okay. However, that’s all they are. But let’s say that you’re a music purist who wants lossless audio in their car. You’re the type of person who wants to hear each note and feel each vibration that the artist is trying to communicate through their song, or maybe you’re deeply entrenched in the Indie music scene. If that’s the case, you might get your music from third-party platforms like Bandcamp, and Apple Music or Spotify can’t help you there.
So if you need/want to download something heavier, like an OGG file, without converting it to Apple Music or Spotify’s preferred format, VLC has you covered. It can play true lossless audio in your vehicle, which is a feature that Spotify is only offering in select markets and has only just announced. VLC has been doing it for quite some time, and it’s never let me down.
For the book lovers, Audible has everyone beat
If you listen to audiobooks any other way, stop now
Nothing beats a good road trip audiobook, and as someone who often has to drive 2+ hours to photo shoots and other gigs, there’s no easier way to pass time on a road trip, especially if I’m going solo. This app got me through the entire Sherlock Holmes anthology, and is currently guiding me through the “Reacher” series from Lee Child. The number of narrators is a huge benefit, but the best feature about Audible is its pairing with Amazon Prime.
Prime members get two free audiobooks, and constantly receive credit for more rewards that can go towards more audiobook purchases. I often joke with my colleagues that my digital library has now far outgrown my physical one in terms of size, and they all share the same sentiment. Every great new literary release finds its home on Audible, and it’s the perfect app for getting the entire scope of your favorite shows that have been based on book series, like Game of Thrones, “The Sinner,” or “13 Reasons Why.”
- Subscription cost
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$15 per month
- Rollover Credits
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Yes
- Offline downloads
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Yes
The Varsity Network app is perfect for college sports fans
I never miss my team’s games anymore
As someone who now roots for two college sports teams in power four conferences, I have a lot to keep track of when it comes to college athletics. Couple that with the fact that I previously worked in that space, and well, my listening patterns can change quite drastically. The good thing, though, is that the Varsity Network app has me covered with wall-to-wall broadcasts of my team’s biggest games. The best part, though? I haven’t paid a dime for it.
Between Mississippi State and Texas Tech, there are a lot of broadcasts that feature my favorite teams, and through the app’s partnership with different universities and Learfield, I’ve yet to miss a single broadcast from my favorite squads. From Saturday football and mid-week madness during hoops season to keeping track with what’s happening on the diamond in the spring, the Varsity Network keeps me up to date on all things athletics.
