Bicycle computers that can transmit audio, music?

Question

It appears that even the more high end bicycle computer products don't feature music playback.
This is mildly surprising, considering that these high end devices (and probably lower end devices by now) feature a full Bluetooth stack.
Using an off the shelf library for A2DP shouldn't be much work, and would probably require no hardware modifications whatsoever.
Considering this, I'd be surprised that there doesn't exist a product that implements this. Does really no one care to listen to music while riding their bicycles?

ojs · Answer

Disclaimer: I have been working on software for a GPS sports watch, but I have not been involved in product management.
The whole reason for sports watches and bike computers to exist is limited functionality compared to a generic Android device. Limiting functionality to cover only sports allows the software to use less CPU and memory, which in turn saves power both directly and by allowing using smaller processor. This in turn allows using smaller battery, and eventually making the whole device smaller, more durable and maybe more affordable compared to a generic Android device with same sports functionality.
Now, to enable the bike computer to play back music, you'd need to do the following:

Add larger Flash memory to store the music files. This is cheap and doesn't require power
Add a way to synchronize the music library (USB and computer-compatible filesystem if you already don't have those, or a proprietary sync protocol and app which cost developer time)
Add A2DP support. This needs memory, some CPU power and you might need to license the software implementation or do it yourself. Integrating off the shelf libraries into embedded software seems to always be painful, so in the worst case you'll end up evaluating a few off the shelf libraries and finally doing it yourself.
Add UI for controlling the music. It's not obvious how to do it without making the core UI for exercise more complicated. It will cost memory and developer time, too.

Most cyclist already carry a smart phone that is better equipped to play music than the bike computer will ever be (in addition to stuff like making phone calls or showing maps), so there isn't much to be gained by competing with them.

Andy P · Answer

This can be done via a workaround on the Hammerhead Karoo, which is fundamentally an Android device with a cycling app.
You can use a process known as 'side loading' to install other android apps on it (I have no idea what impact this has on the warranty).
To get music, users have successfully installed Spotify on their Karoo.
DC Rainmaker provides a step by step guide on the process of side loading an app.

Bicycle computers that can transmit audio, music?

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