Rav4 Satnav - Ipod Connector

April 10, 2009

Hi

i have just had the official toyota ipod connector fitted. At a stupidly high cost ...

and it appears to be utterly pointless. I have an ipod with thousands of songs and cannot find anyway of display or choosing the songs, either on the dash display or on the iPod. and Toyota tells me that this is 'normal'. I can select playlists and move alphabetically through all 13000 songs (guessing which is which, of course).

Surely the satnav computer screen is capable of reading id3 tags? or am i completely barking and it is reasonable for toyota to flog a product like this?

is there any workaround to this issue that you guys can help with?

thanks

Justin

April 10, 2009

Hi
i have just had the official toyota ipod connector fitted. At a stupidly high cost ...
and it appears to be utterly pointless. I have an ipod with thousands of songs and cannot find anyway of display or choosing the songs, either on the dash display or on the iPod. and Toyota tells me that this is 'normal'. I can select playlists and move alphabetically through all 13000 songs (guessing which is which, of course).
Surely the satnav computer screen is capable of reading id3 tags? or am i completely barking and it is reasonable for toyota to flog a product like this?
is there any workaround to this issue that you guys can help with?
thanks
Justin

Hi Justin,

I have one of these kits as well, fitted to my XT5. The sound quality is excellent but the "user interface" on the satnav screen is very poor. My iPod is used almost exclusively for audiobooks so the situation is tolerable but it really does need a software fix. It would acceptable if you had to put a software CD in the unit whilst running the iPod if another approach is not possible. I think that the use of the iPod has changed since it was first marketed, originally it was a device for carrying round, maybe, a few dozen tracks on a few playlists which you replaced as you got bored with them. These days with 160 gB versions available people are now carrying round their whole collection! Not sure the whole problem is a Toyota one as the iPod operating software is, IMHO, very inflexible and needs a much better GUI and a more sophisticated filing system that allows more options to the user as well as better access from remote systems ( i.e. the carkit ). It's almost as though Toyota started off with good intentions in designing the kit, but found no way of getting round the interface. Reckon a good hacker would be the best bet! ;)

April 10, 2009

Hi there,

I checked the forum and ordered one off 'Kingo' at a good price and paid £10 for a local audio car shop to fit in 15 minutes.

Like you I thought it would be a better interface. I have had to order the songs into playlists and scroll through these in order to get to the one I want.

I am a simple chap and this works for me but I agree with you that it could display better on the sat nav.

Regards

April 10, 2009

Hi, which kit did you buy from Kingo? i'm happy to buy anything that works.

April 14, 2009

Hi, which kit did you buy from Kingo? i'm happy to buy anything that works.

Just a further thought on this one:

The Satnav and bluetooth mobile phone functionality is severely restricted when the vehicle is in motion, for reasons of safety. Much like not using a mobile phone when moving I suppose. Is the restricted iPod interface an extension of this principle? Still very annoying, but maybe some sense to it :huh:

April 14, 2009

Hi, which kit did you buy from Kingo? i'm happy to buy anything that works.
Just a further thought on this one:
The Satnav and bluetooth mobile phone functionality is severely restricted when the vehicle is in motion, for reasons of safety. Much like not using a mobile phone when moving I suppose. Is the restricted iPod interface an extension of this principle? Still very annoying, but maybe some sense to it

Interesting thought.

While bluetooth functionality is not brilliant then it is acceptable when the vehicle is not in motion and it becomes nearly unusable when it is (unless you master hands-free voice recognition system).

The iPod GUI is simply poor from the start, its functionality does not change when the vehicle exceeds certain speed ... It is simply bad and I would have trouble comprehending it is bad by design. It rather looks like a quick fix that utilises (recycles) the existing CD-changer interface. :(

I can live with the iPod accessory (and the sound quality is very good indeed) but I was very, very disappointed when I had realised how bad the GUI ("integration") was.