I hate, hate, hate the USB Audio Interface on the Fit. It's such a great idea (controlling your iPod, etc from the stereo controls), but they've done such a poor job with the execution. Here are my list of gripes:

1. Scrolling through close to 400 artists (30GB iPod) to get to Wilco takes far too much time/effort. The damn scroll wheel is actually slower if you spin it fast.

2. The system doesn't remember your place when the album/playlist/artist is finished playing. So if I have scrolled all the way down to Wilco to listen to one album, then I want to hear Yo La Tengo, I have to start back at the A's.

3. There is no pause button. Why the hell doesn't the "Play" button do double duty to pause the music. Instead, I have to turn the radio off entirely.

4. The track/artist/album display doesn't scroll to show you the complete text. Instead you get that goofy ">" at the end of the line.

5. There's no way to see the length of the track playing and where the play head currently is.

6. It can't display full-color cover art. I'm kidding with one, but it would be pretty cool.

Now.... Is there any way to hack into the software that controls the USB interface? I would love, love, love to get my hands on it and reprogram it. All of the required hardware is already in place. How hard could it be to reprogram? anyone?

 

Here's one more for the list...

Why can't I select a playlist, then select an artist within that playlist? I have to listen to the entire playlist. WTF?

 

Most of your gripes are legit, but I really don't understand the complaint about a pause button. If you turn the head unit off (or switch to a different input), it will pause the USB input. When you turn it on again (or switch back to Aux) it picks up right where it left off just as fast as any head unit with a pause button.

If it makes you feel better, you can get a label maker and relabel the on/off button "pause".

 

Just replace it with an aftermarket unit that fits your needs.

 

Do you have the Nav option in your fit? If you do, then do yourself a favor... lose it and go with after market.

 

Yeah, it's not intuitive, but operationally I don't see how hitting the power button is not sufficient.

Doesn't seem hackable, but then again perhaps the USB interface has a vulnerability that would allow you a way to modify the system.

 

Because factory stereos are geared towards the open market of buyers. While there are TONS of people with iPhones/iPods there are more people with a simple jump drive. The USB interface works very well with a USB drive. The programming and hardware additionally needed to give a fully functional iPhone/iPod usb interface would have added more cost to the car. I can understand your frustration for wanting it to be fully functional but at the same time if you really want that feature, as others have said, dump the factory unit and go aftermarket, Alpine has a whole line of products dedicated to iPhone/iPod use check em out.

*Edit* I would be wary of trying to hack the radio as if memory serves theres a code system built into the factory radio which you could by accident clear/break/lock and then hose yourself radio wise.

 

If by "works very well" you mean "Plays the music on the drive" than yes. Otherwise, even for a USB drive the interface and navigation is simply awful. It's as though someone cobbled together a quick and dirty interface just to make sure they could actually navigate the file system and play the files...and then forgot to go back and write a production-quality interface and nobody noticed until the radio was already rolling off the line.

 

Well, the factory units are Alpines.

I have an Alpine iDA-x305 installed in the Nissan Pathfinder. I use a 32gb ipod touch 2nd gen. It has the first problem that the OP lists. I think it also has the second one too.

Compliants #4 and 5 have nothing to do with being a "fully functional iPod" connection or not, it would equally apply to USB drives. All it is, is reading the id3 tag.

On the flipside, maybe the reason it doesn't scroll is to prevent the display from "wearing out" over time. Or it just doesn't look good scrolling.

 

Just use the a $5 audio cable and connect your iPod to the audio input on the dash.

Now all your features work.

 

Have some people forgotten that this is a FIT? It's a $16K car that unlike many/most, actually HAS USB and AUX inputs. Most everything else in this price range (save for some of the brand new cars) is seriously lacking. My 2007 altima's ($24K car) stereo was 10X worse than the fit's.

Also, I'm guessing the majority of people who have a flash drive plugged in aren't running 32GB of music. Maybe 8GB max? (obviously a few are higher than that) I'd take a guess than they are mostly 2GB & 4GB of music and if they have more, they are probably running an iPod.

For those that want more functionality/capability, go aftermarket. Honda makes great cars and while stereos are part of the car, it's obviously not the main focus. It's like complaining about the quality of a roof rack and that our factory ridgeline roof rack isn't as flexible/capable as a Thule or Yakima.

If you compare the quality of the stereo to the level of car it is installed in, it's quite good. The Versa only has USB with Navi, and the Yaris doesn't even offer it. (Ipod-only hookup is an accessory) will it please everyone? no, will it please most? Definitely.

I like it.
~SB

 

Has anyone tried using a Blackberry Storm @ with the usb connector if so how?

 

Haven't tried a storm but in most cases, if your device has the ability to display itself to a computer as a USB Mass storage Device, it should work just fine. In Windows mobile, you have the option of switching between activesync mode and mass storage. Not sure about the BB's.

~SB

 

It do really sucks, but no idea why it happened.

 

Thanks Specboy, I found that off in the memory, I'll try it tomorrow.

Thank You, WW

 

<rant>
I share the above frustrations with the Honda Nav stereo (I have a 2010 Fit and use a 32GB iPhone 3GS). I just wanted to add my comments as a warning to others that are considering the purchase of a Fit to save their money and skip this option until Honda updates/changes the stereo. I'm hoping Honda gets the Microsoft Sync when Ford loses exclusivity on the technology in a few years.

List of gripes:

1) Navigating through a large drive or iPod is so slow as to make it barely usable.

2) Standard categories from the iPod are not displayed as playback options (e.g. there is no "Podcasts" or "Audiobooks" option unless you manually make playlists for those).

3) The display in "audio" mode lacks information I would like (e.g. time played, time remaining, album art, etc.) and does not display enough characters for long titles (e.g. most podcasts titles are not displayed in full).

4) The annual update DVDs for the navigation system cost as much as a decent after-market navigation unit from Garmin or TomTom ($185-200 depending on when you buy).

5) The navigation system is not connected to a network and does not get traffic updates, construction alerts, etc.

6) The navigation system does not have an option to pick the "most efficient" route of the various routing options.

7) The navigation search features do not take your location into account for all searches.

8) The unit does not have Bluetooth/A2DP.

9) Unlike the standard Fit stereo, the nav stereo does not have RDS/RBDS to identify what is being played on terrestrial radio.

10) The voice control features are comically bad and you cannot do spoken searches (i.e. what most people now do with an Android phone).

I could go on, but I think I've covered most of my major disappointments. As to the person above who suggested that we're lucky to have this option in such an economical car, it's a feature with an approx. MSRP of $2,300 in 2011. Further, the sync system in the new Ford Fiesta includes many of the above features at a similar price to the Fit. Although it's my own fault for not doing sufficient research, I feel taken advantage of by Honda and the dealer that up-sold me this woefully bad system. Honda and Alpine should be embarrassed/ashamed by this system, especially when you compare it to what else is offered by the competition and aftermarket for a fraction of the cost.
</rant>

P.S. Sorry to bump and old thread.

 

All complaints in here seem to be reasonable, but I can't say that I share any of them other than the play/pause thing. Granted I have the regular (non-nav) stereo, I am very happy with the USB adapter in my sport. I have an iPod, but I rarely use it in the car. When I do, it's always through the AUX input since I like to control the iPod on the device itself. I've had Alpine's and Sony's that have the integration and I always just controlled it on the iPod since it acts kind of like a remote.

Anyway, as for the interface I must have 20 USB thumb drives that I've collected over the years, so I just load my music onto that, not a huge hard drive - so I don't have a large list of albums to scroll through.

Overall I'm really happy with the sport sound system and non-nav deck. Especially like specboy noted -- it's a $16k car (that I got for $15k) so it meets my expectations.

I would be pissed if I opted for the nav and had to face that list of crap in post #16 though!

 

One trick - which still is a pain - is if you disconnect the usb and toggle over to the album or artist you want and press play on the ipod, it will play from that place on the Fit stereo when reconnected.

 

A voice of reason. I am coming off a 2007 BMW 530 and had 2 X3's before that. USB and/or iPod adaptors were costly,sometimes dealer installed,quirky options. This car comes ready to go with iPod,USB,and AUX in jack! They work well in terms of reading from the drive very quickly on start up. I would like the iPod interface to work a little differently,but the USB is fantastic! In my 530 with iDrive,I had to wait after starting the car for the computer in the car to boot up. I could even turn on the radio,much less the iPod for anywhere from 5-25 seconds. I'll say it again,this unit works right out the box and does a fine job all things considered. I would like the iPod to have podcasts and audiobooks listed. I will have to make playlists, and name them so they rise to the top of the listing. That is not hard. Even an aftermarket radio will have some limitations. The radio stays stagnant for the most part,while the iPod makes advances. I commend Honda for including these audio options and making them so easy to use and enjoy. The O.P. really needs to look at an aftermarket head unit. I saw a very nice one in the Fit I.C.E. section here. It will fill the entire opening, and give you alot more goodies like bluetooth and much more. If you really want more bang for your buck,a speaker upgrade is inexpensive,and in order imo.

 

I too, like the integration of the USB cable with my Nav. Slow? yes. But I don't have a problem with the time it take to find an artist and play. Or, I just find a playlist that I want to listen to. Although it isn't perfect, compared to other stock units on other cars, this one does a decent job.

Agree with previous posters for your solution, OP:
1. replace head unit with one DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY for an Ipod (expensive, but it would solve ALL of the problems you listed)
OR
2. use an AUX cable and control the functions from your Ipod. A little less ergonomic, but would also eliminate many of the complaints you listed.

Good luck!