USB MP3: undocumented feature, pleasant surprise

The USB can be used for MP3 files on a memory stick, and it can also be used to control an iPod or iPhone (for music playback).

 

Click in the button text, it will change from the artist name to album and song name.

 

OK, so why does mine not work with my USB stick or Android phone? It does work with my daughter's iPod Touch. I have tried formatting the USB stick with FAT32 and ext4 file systems, but still can't get the USB tab to activate with the USB stick.

 

The files on the USB stick must be valid MP3s or WMAs for the TAB to come on and it must be mountable as a storage device. This goes the same for an Android device to be mountable as a mass storage device.

 

This is semi-undocumented; My III with Nav has it too, the Nav manual makes no mention of this, but my window sticker said my navigation package includes "USB Port with iPod connectivity". Maybe this was a mid-model year change. During delivery, my dealer pointed this out and asked if I used an iPod (normally, no, but I do have an old one with a bad battery, and found it's useful for in the car where it's powered via USB even though it's pretty useless as a portable player).

I also found through comments elsewhere on Priuschat that USB memory sticks are supported too, although someone said they didn't work if loaded from an Apple computer. I loaded some songs from Windows, and found that I also get album and track title (I manually entered these on my computer when ripping the songs from CDs), and I can scroll through a list of available songs and select. Keep trying, you may be able to get more song info to show up.

Now, I just wish my Android phone worked as well. It doesn't connect via USB, but does connect via Bluetooth (but I don't get a list of songs, just play and pause buttons). And if I plug the phone into the Aux jack, I can use other phone audio sources like Pandora (but then I need to control via the phone's own screen).

 

I don't believe that is possible. The USB port was documented in a small booklet with blue cover that was obviously printed as an afterthought. I seem to remember this became available in the winter or perhaps fall of 2009. Bought mine at the end of December 2009 & lost the booklet shortly thereafter.

 

has anyone tried plugging an external hard drive into the port?

 

I've commented on the Android issue in other threads but the Prius only recognizes the Android phone only if USB Mass Storage mode is set on the phone. On the OG Droid it has to be preset to Mass Storage mode before plugging in the USB cable, other Androids may respond differently. I use the Dual Mount App to allow the phone to see the SD Card when its mounted to the Prius.

 

Good guess , carmakers sometimes do this, maybe especially when a feature wasn't ready for a new model at the launch. Also, the 2010 model was on the market for an unusually long time, closer to 2 years. As I recall, from around May 2009 all the way into 2011 (my dealer still had only 2010s in stock when I bought in early 2011).

 

Hmm, you're right, I get the same display you do, and the song names are actually the file names (the ones I loaded onto USB to try this actually had the song's name as the file name, but I guess if I hadn't done this, I'd get some useless file name instead of the song's name. Can't complain too much I guess since this is an undocumented feature, but it could have been better if the ID3 info was displayed.

Since I also had an unused iPod with a weak battery lying around, I've been using that instead of USB. The car turns out to be a nice home for this iPod since the weak battery isn't a big issue with power from the car. I now use my phone as a portable music player, and can pull songs from that via bluetooth (unfortunately the interface is primitive, but I'm hoping to fix that with an Android update).

 

Yup, WD Passports work fine. However they have temperature sensors that prevent them from working below 41 degrees F.

 

If you have a large music collection, the only way you are going to be able to listen to what you want when you want is to plug an MP3 player into the AUX port and use the display on the MP3 player to make your music selections. Forget the scroll "feature" on the USB display. It's totally useless and after a few scrolls greys out when you are driving. I'll probably bite the bullett and buy a 64GB Gen4 iPOD. That way, I'll have room for all my music and I am told that it has voice commands so I can hold it like a phone and tell it what album or artist (but not song) to play. Since it uses flash memory, it gets 40 hours on battery and won't be sensitive to cold temps. I just gotta get past the $400 pricetag.