I'm also frustrated with this iPod deficiency.
Looks like the person who created the system never tested it, otherwise he/she would have seen that takes hours to scrool between thousands of songs.
It's a shame...

Best regards,

GM.

 

Okay, so in summary, let's all reach an understanding here.


The consensus among our owners is that iPod connectivity/useage among non-navi equipped cars is poor.

AND

The consensus among our owners is that iPod connectivity/useage among Navigation equipped cars is excellent.


Are these two statements accurate? Please let us know. Thanks everybody.

 

Well, with the navi, it can still take a long time to get down to the bottom of the artists list if you have a lot of music. The screen only shows six artists on one page, so you have to keep hitting page down until you get to the ones you want. It doesn't bother me though, because I don't drive my Fit much, and when I do, I'm usually playing a mixed MP3 CD I made and just keep that on random. If I plug my iPhone in, I usually just make a genius playlist before plugging it in, and if I use my 80GB iPod, it always stays on random album play mode, so I hardly ever have to scroll through artists using the interface.

 

SheepNutz,

It's just as I suspected that it was. The USB plug in the glovebox of the Fit is solely a product of Honda's marketing department, and not at all a product of Honda's engineering department. It is nothing more than a marketing ploy to attract and then sell the car to unsuspecting customers who don't figure out the truth until after they take delivery of the car. This type of deception is not exclusive to Honda though. I have yet to see a single car on the market that has an iPod interface that works worth a damn, which is what led me to inquire about the one on the Fit in the first place. In any case, learning of this information about the Fit will not deter me from buying one. I love the car, and I will be driving along on my merry way playing my iPod through the miniplug/auxillary input one day soon.

 

Have you ever seen or tried any of the SYNC-equipped models in the Ford family?


SYNC is pretty sweet. The voice recognition works, and works well.

 

Deanwvu,

You know, I have not yet checked out Ford's SYNC system. I'll be certain to do so soon, though it's too bad for me that I would never consider buying a Ford automobile under any circumstances.

 

The ipod connectivity in my Benz is also top notch. While not as nice as Sync, it's pretty good. From what I hear on the MB boards, they have an iPhone dock now too overseas in Europe. This basically turns the entire Nav screen into your iPhone screen. You can check voicemails, emails, etc. all from the Navi screen. well... I guess that doesn't really help anyone here. Just thought I'd share. lol

 

AZ,

Wow, you have a Mercedes and a Fit. You're obviously enjoying two distinctly different ends of the automotive spectrum. It just makes me angry when these carmakers say "full iPod integration", and in real life it doesn't work worth a s**t. In any case, I still plan to buy a new Fit Sport.

 

I wouldn't go that far. It works pretty well and they do have room to improve. Has anyone written or e-mailed to Honda? Maybe there is a possibility of a firmware flash.

 

One thing I do like about the Fit's iPod interface is that if you plug in an iPhone, you can then use the Fit's interface to play random albums. This is one function that the iPhone can't do. I have no clue why Apple omitted this from the iPod app on the iPhone.

 

If it makes you feel any better, my boyfriend's BMW M3 has the same issue. For such much-lauded "German engineering," it certainly has a lousy digital interface.

 

The C350 gets ~20mpg...
I don't drive it. lol
The iPod function I think works better in my Fit because of the Navi. On the Benz, it only displays on the screen in front of you and not on the Navi screen. Additionally, you cannot control the iPod with the usual COMMAND (MB's version of the BMW iDrive) but rather just the steering wheel controls. I'm interested to see how well the iPhone intergration works before buying it. It's not available in the US yet and I'm not willing to fork out that much cash to import it when I don't know how well it works yet.

 

Another option:

Use the little AUX plug in on the dash. Just get a $5 cable from Radio Shack and you can use your iPod exactly as if you were listening to head phones. Just a thought.

 

I agree. Nothing beats using an aux audio cable.

Although I must say... we have it good compared to Scion owners. My girlfriend has a Tc and navigating through its interface is more frustrating than trying to find the song you want with a blindfold. I went out and got her an aux audio cable within a week of her getting an iPod.

 

IF you plugged in your Sansa and it said it was unsupported, you probably have the player in MTP mode (depends on model).

If so, try setting it to just BOT or regular file storage (where it would show up as a removable in your computer).

iPod compatibility is for iPods only.

 

The USB connector to the Honda audio/navi unit is a pure USB connection (digital data over a high speed serial interface). No analog output there. It reads flash drives as mass storage drives and the iPod (probably) as a special iPod class device using a driver that it bought/developed.

The 1/8th jack is an analog audio out, that is fed into the Honda power amps for the 4/6 speakers (through the bass/treble audio controls, obv). Changing the volume on your iPod should change it on the speakers.

 

I'm actually not so mad about this whole thing. Yes scrolling through 100s artists is really lame because it is slow, awesome because you can.

Consider your options before this (not including tapes):
> Single CD, single artist.
> Single CD, mixed. Front loaded your work, still limited choice.
> Multiple CDs, hours of music. still limited
> Aux input from any player. This is a problem in that, visibility is usually poor, and it is distracting. But yes, I've done it a thousand times on an iPod before my Fit. Yet, I feel better using the Fit interface because stuff is out of the way and neatly tucked in. The only complaint is that I should be able to use the back button when the song is playing.

Think about it, you shouldn't really be browsing through 1000s of artists through these interfaces while driving.

SYNC or some super-duper touch interface is needed, which you have to pay for. Until then, I'm happy with my playlists.

 

I personally really like the iPod connection. But... I have the Navi and I do usually do playlist as it's a lot easier to deal with.
So far (besides SYNC, which I can't see as a buying point because the cars with them equiped just don't match up) I don't see a better system.

 

What if your just using your IPod on Shuffle feature....?
Shuffle feature in the playlists or shuffling thru all the songs?

 

The trouble is you can't select a specific song with shuffle.