How To Play An Ipod In A Prius

[Lancastrian]

My Wife has a Prius T Spirit.

She would like to play her Ipod Nano on journeys.

I have heard that you can buy a Transmitter.

Can anyone recommend a good brand/model

[timberwolf]

How old is the Prius T-Spirit? Check if the car has an audio Aux Input socket, I know the later 2nd Gen T-Spirit has and obviously the new 3rd Gen T-Spirit should, but I don't know about the earlier ones.

If you've got an Aux Input socket, then all you need is the appropriate cable. The FM transmitter units have their problems including interference from other FM radio sources and poorer sound quality (i.e. FM radio isn't as good as CD - the compressed music (depending on the bit rate and encoder) should technically be somewhere between, although whether that really matters in a car environment is probably debatable).

[Lancastrian]

Hi timberwolf,

Thanks for you help

The Prius was bought by us on 30/7/07.

I have had a look around and have found the Auxiliary port in the storage section between the driver and passenger seats.

What sort of cable is best and where can I buy one from

[Batsran]

You have two options, check flee bay for an iPod/iPhone aux cable - this is supposed to get the best sound quality since it connects to the aux out, or just buy a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable and plug that into the headphones connector and max sure you have the iPod volume at about 70%

I personally use the latter cable for my iPhone, which then allows me to plug the car charger in at the same time.

Either way the cable should cost less than £3 Inc postage.

BTW if you have an iPhone or half decent other phone you can link them to the stereo over bluetooth for music, sound quality is great and it offers track info and controls.

[timberwolf]

As batsran says, a 3.5mm Male to 3.5mm Male audio lead, available online or from various stores electrical retailers on the high street.

The bluetooth streaming for audio is only available with the 3rd Gen Prius, which was why I was careful to ask the year of the car.

Personally, I do not use any of my mp3 players in the car, and I prefer using data CD-RW discs with the mp3 tracks arranged into folders by album. I can get between 10-12 albums per disc and using a lower bit-rate I've got one disc with 17 albums, I've currently got 4 CD-RWs giving a total of 49 albums and 625 tracks. For me, it's a good compromise, I've selected the albums I listen to most and the reason I prefer it is because I can skip tracks or discs (but not albums if I remember correctly) with the steering wheel buttons, and when the car is stopped it is possible to see the album names and select them from the Prius multi-display.

[Lancastrian]

Thanks Batsran and timberwolf - My son in law is lending me a cable as we are going down to Wales for a few days this morning and will try the iPod in the Prius.

timberwolf - I am interested in your use of data CD-RW discs but am not sure how to do that.

[Dave R.]

Thanks Batsran and timberwolf - My son in law is lending me a cable as we are going down to Wales for a few days this morning and will try the iPod in the Prius.

timberwolf - I am interested in your use of data CD-RW discs but am not sure how to do that.

Re CD-RW disks - quite straightforward - you rip your music onto MP3 files on your computer - ideally with one subdirectory per album; the subdirectory containing all the album tracks as MP3 files. Copy the directories onto the CD-RW (or, even better.. in the case of the Gen III Prius, a DVD-RW). The car stereo reads the directory structure, so you can select which directory (i.e. album!) you wish to listen to.

Thinking about it, you should be able to get iTunes to export music as MP3 files for you.

The only restriction is that the car system can ony cope with 250 files on disk - so if you are using DVD rather than CD, you may have more files than the stereo can handle! Then again, if you are not concerned about accessing individual tracks, you could always store your music as 1 MP3 file per album!

[johalareewi]

... (or, even better.. in the case of the Gen III Prius, a DVD-RW).

But only if you have the SatNav. The basic CD player can't read dvds.

Also, you probably meant dvd-r (or possibly dvd+rw) there aren't many devices that can handle dvd-rw.

You can also use WMA files instead of MP3 so if you use Windows Media Player, you can burn direct to a WMA data disc from the media library.

[phil4]

Also, you probably meant dvd-r (or possibly dvd+rw) there aren't many devices that can handle dvd-rw.

While I agree with compatabilty, I think the suggested idea of using RW discs (whether CD or DVD) is that you can wipe them and reuse them over and over as your preferred tastes change.

[Ancient Nerd]

Also, you probably meant dvd-r (or possibly dvd+rw) there aren't many devices that can handle dvd-rw.

While I agree with compatabilty, I think the suggested idea of using RW discs (whether CD or DVD) is that you can wipe them and reuse them over and over as your preferred tastes change.

I've always found +/-RW discs slow, unreliable and expensive. You should be able to get good quality +/-R discs for £10-£15 per 100, so treat them as disposable. Write once, and throw away when you've finished. Don't forget to destroy them in some way before you get rid of them.

If you are using DVD-R, you can probably do a fair amount of rewriting by writing multi-sessions. Although I haven't checked if multi-session works on the Gen III, it is quite likely.

[Lancastrian]

Thanks Batsran and timberwolf - My son in law is lending me a cable as we are going down to Wales for a few days this morning and will try the iPod in the Prius.

timberwolf - I am interested in your use of data CD-RW discs but am not sure how to do that.

Re CD-RW disks - quite straightforward - you rip your music onto MP3 files on your computer - ideally with one subdirectory per album; the subdirectory containing all the album tracks as MP3 files. Copy the directories onto the CD-RW (or, even better.. in the case of the Gen III Prius, a DVD-RW). The car stereo reads the directory structure, so you can select which directory (i.e. album!) you wish to listen to.

Thinking about it, you should be able to get iTunes to export music as MP3 files for you.

The only restriction is that the car system can only cope with 250 files on disk - so if you are using DVD rather than CD, you may have more files than the stereo can handle! Then again, if you are not concerned about accessing individual tracks, you could always store your music as 1 MP3 file per album!

Thanks everybody for your input.

We used the IPod in the Prius on our trip to Wales using the borrowed cable and everything was fine. We will now get a cable.

I don't have an IPod so I am very interested in the idea of condensing music onto a few CD's.

We have 2 cars which we both use - The one registered to me is the Aygo Plus which we use as a run about for local journeys and the Prius registered to my wife which we use for longer journeys.

The Prius is second generation.

My wife doesn't operate a computer so I manage her ITunes on an HP laptop ( Vista).

The music on the Itunes is mostly joint music although I do have a small separate playlist.In total we have about 36 albums.

I am not from a technical background and am on a learning curve with computers and don't know how to rip music to MP3 files and onto CD- RW discs or transfer from Itunes to CD- RW discs.( we happen to have a pack of 5 Verbatim 4x CD-RW discs having used a similar pack to copy a few of our most popular CD's to disc. The packet says 700 MB 1-4x speed 80 min

Can anyone tell me how I condense our music library ( or part of it ) which we hold on ITunes onto a few CD-RW discs.

[timberwolf]

Not all car CD players support data mp3 discs, it maybe worth checking if the Aygo does.

The CD-RW discs should be okay, although occasionally (rarely?) some brands of disc aren't as reliable in some makes of CD drive.

Depending on how you got the music into iTunes, you may have ripped an Audio CD without realising it.

[Lancastrian]

Not all car CD players support data mp3 discs, it maybe worth checking if the Aygo does.

The CD-RW discs should be okay, although occasionally (rarely?) some brands of disc aren't as reliable in some makes of CD drive.

Depending on how you got the music into iTunes, you may have ripped an Audio CD without realising it.

Thanks timberwolf.

I don't know how to check if the Aygo supports CD data discs but in any event even if it doesn't I often drive the Prius so it would be handy to condense our music onto discs to use in the Prius when I am driving alone and don't have my wife's Ipod in the Prius.

99% of the music we have in Itunes is from CD's which I have loaded onto Itunes by inserting the discs into the computer and importing them into my wife's Itunes.

The Verbatim discs seem OK as in the past I have copied a few of our most popular CD's onto Verbatim iscs and they have played OK in both cars.

[johalareewi]

The CD-RW discs should be okay, although occasionally (rarely?) some brands of disc aren't as reliable in some makes of CD drive.

You might find that after a few re-writes of a CD-RW, the Prius will stop reading the CD. Has just happened to me. Am going back to CD-R. They are cheaper, you can get a little bit more on them, you can burn them faster, they are a lot more compatible with CD players than CD-RW. YMMV

[Lancastrian]

The CD-RW discs should be okay, although occasionally (rarely?) some brands of disc aren't as reliable in some makes of CD drive.

You might find that after a few re-writes of a CD-RW, the Prius will stop reading the CD. Has just happened to me. Am going back to CD-R. They are cheaper, you can get a little bit more on them, you can burn them faster, they are a lot more compatible with CD players than CD-RW. YMMV

Thanks for the info.

Still haven't fathomed out how to condense the music onto just a few CDs.

Came to computers late in life and am self taught and trying to learn as fast as possible.

[Dave R.]

The very simplest way of creating an MP3 CD from iTunes is to create a playlist of the tracks you'd like on your disk, then with the playlist selected, at the bottom right of the window you'll see a button "burn CD". Click this and you get a set of options, one of which is to create an MP3 CD. The iTunes help is quite informative too.

Now, this is likely to put all the tracks into one directory on the CD, which makes track selection a bit clunky - but it will get you started! (I must admit, I've not tried the iTunes "Burn MP3" option myself, but am sure other forum members will be quick to suggest better ways of creating your MP3 CDs!)

[johalareewi]

Thanks for the info.

Still haven't fathomed out how to condense the music onto just a few CDs.

Came to computers late in life and am self taught and trying to learn as fast as possible.

Depends if you have your music stored on the computer hard drive in MP3 format or not.

I don't have experience of iTunes but I do it in one of these ways...

1) Using windows file manager (if your audio files are already MP3 format).

Drag and drop MP3 files onto the CD drive (which has a CD-R loaded).

When you have enough, click on the 'write to CD' option.

You end up with a data CD full of MP3 files.

This will now play in the Prius.

2) Using Windows Media Player.

Create a playlist.

Go to the Copy to CD option & load the playlist.

Select 'CD Data disc' as the output (instead of CD Audio disc).

Click BURN.

This will create a CD data disc of WMA files which the Prius will also play.

3) If the files are not in MP3 format...

Use DbPowerAmp music Converter http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

Point DMC at the source music (audio CD, audio files on PC, etc.)

Select MP3 as the output format with suitable quality level.

Select the CD drive as the output device/folder.

Click Convert.

[Lancastrian]

Hi,

Thanks.I am up & running

Most of our music is in ITunes not Windows Media but I uploaded many of our CD's discs into Windows Media and created a playlist and followed your instructions (johalareewi).

I used the Verbatim 700 MB CD - RW 1-4X 80 mins being the only discs I have at the moment and successfully burned the albums on the playlist to a couple of discs and they play fine in the Prius and appear in Folders etc.

Should I be using something other than CD - RW - If so I will get whatever is best.

As most of our other playlists are in Itunes it would be handy if I could burn the Itunes playlists onto discs in a format that will play in the Prius.

I have also tried the burning from the Itunes Playlist on a Verbatim disc and selected the MP3 CD Option but the disc doesn't play in the Prius. Can't fathom out why as I followed the right option.

Cheers,

Keith

[timberwolf]

My CD-RW discs seem to be working well in my Prius and that's been for a year and half. They got used in my previous car burnt as audio CDs because the stereo in my Honda wasn't designed to play mp3 tracks. Before that I used those same CD-RW discs for linux distributions and before that for making partition image backups of a laptop with Windows 98.

There are many different lossy audio compression data formats. You may have created a disc with tracks encoded in Apple's own data format, or it could be that you have mp3 files but with a type of compression or with meta-data tags that the car stereo does not like. You'll need to look at what you've got on the disc, the filename extension may give a clue or you maybe able to do file properties on a file.

[johalareewi]

Should I be using something other than CD - RW - If so I will get whatever is best.

If the CD-RWs are working then go with it.

If they stop working, you can switch (different brand or CD-R).

The advantage of CD-RW is you can reuse them when you have had enough.

The downside is they are not as compatible with CD players as CD-R (which you can only burn once).

I have also tried the burning from the Itunes Playlist on a Verbatim disc and selected the MP3 CD Option but the disc doesn't play in the Prius. Can't fathom out why as I followed the right option.

Don't know myself but if you type create mp3 cd from itunes into google you get a lot of hits so there might be some info there.

[Fluffmeister]

Whilst not directly related to the original post, if you want to stream your music over bluetooth and use iTunes or Windows MP but don't have an iPhone then take a look at Doubletwist http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt

Double twist is free, it allows you to consolidate iTunes libraries with Windows Media libraries and sync your iTunes music (including DRM protected media) to virtually any device. It will sync with Android phones, iPod's, iPhones even USB thumb drives.

I have the crappy Toyota iPhone kit in my Prius, but with double twist I sync my iTunes library to my HTC desire and play my tracks via the bluetooth. I also have a 16GB USB Thumbdrive that syncs through Doubletwist with virtually all my music and podcasts on, I plug this into the USB socket in armrest cubby and my playlists show as folders and displays track information.

It's a great free application, and if you can use iTunes, you can use doubletwist.

[Lancastrian]

Hi everybody,

I am struggling a little to get to grips with the technology and understand the different file types ( In my youth in the 1950's it was Gramophones and Vinyl records!)

Here is where I am up to

1) I can burn playlists from Windows Media and they come out as WPL files and play fine in the Prius. I have burned 1 disc so far and got 14 albums onto it.

2) When I try to burn a playlist from ITunes a message comes up which says it cannot burn from the playlist because they are not already in MP3 format on ITunes -The Playlist is made up of Cd's which we have bought and put on the computer.

3) So I tried burning them as data files which come out as MPEG but the CD's don't play in the Prius

[johalareewi]

Hi everybody,

2) When I try to burn a playlist from ITunes a message comes up which says it cannot burn from the playlist because they are not already in MP3 format on ITunes -The Playlist is made up of Cd's which we have bought and put on the computer.

I am guessing that iTunes as saved them as mp4 format files? Not too familiar with iTunes but it does sound as if the files are not saved in mp3 format when copied from CD by iTunes.

3) So I tried burning them as data files which come out as MPEG but the CD's don't play in the Prius

Which kind of backs up my theory.

Have you got some examples of the filenames of your music files?

Why not keep using Windows Media Player just to burn CDs for the Prius? It's what I do. Just feed the CDs into media player and burn to data CD. It doesn't take long to rip CDs into media player. It is probably faster than having to convert your iTunes files into mp3 format.

You could reconfigure iTunes to rip to mp3 format.

Try typing itunes how to rip to mp3 into google. This site looks promising...

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_have_itunes_rip_cds_into_mp3_format.html

[Lancastrian]

Hi,

Many thanks!!

The files in ITunes appear to be in AAC format with a file path ending of .m4a

I have taken your advice , opted for the simplest route and collected up our most popular CD's and ripped them into Windows Media created playlists and burned the playlists to discs.

Thanks for the link to how to create MP3 files in ITunes music .

As a matter of interest and as I am keen to learn I gave it a try.

It was a question of going into edit and changing the preferences to MP3 for future imports instead of AAC which takes care of anything imported from now on.

It seems to me (but I am only a beginner in computer matters ) that anything already in the ITunes library in AAC format can be "converted" to MP3 by right clicking the track and choosing the conversion to MP3 option which then creates a copy in MP3 format but leaves the original intact so you have 2 copies of the album.

Regards,

Keith

[Doesn'tExist]

Hi,

Many thanks!!

The files in ITunes appear to be in AAC format with a file path ending of .m4a

I have taken your advice , opted for the simplest route and collected up our most popular CD's and ripped them into Windows Media created playlists and burned the playlists to discs.

Thanks for the link to how to create MP3 files in ITunes Music .

As a matter of interest and as I am keen to learn I gave it a try.

It was a question of going into edit and changing the preferences to MP3 for future imports instead of AAC which takes care of anything imported from now on.

It seems to me (but I am only a beginner in computer matters ) that anything already in the ITunes library in AAC format can be "converted" to MP3 by right clicking the track and choosing the conversion to MP3 option which then creates a copy in MP3 format but leaves the original intact so you have 2 copies of the album.

Regards,

Keith

No need to keep the two, I would just delete the AAC format which is selected then still anyway so easy to keep a clean system...