Bluetooth vs music streaming Bluetooth

And while you folks are reading this how about a quick explaination of what exactly "streaming bluetooth" will do for me. I am iPod"less" at the moment but would consider one soon. I think I may know what it does but I'd be guessing as to how it actually works. Also how does the streaming bluetooth compare with the USB connectivity being offered in the fall. I will have the NAV system and am curious what advantages the USB would have (other than plugging in a memory key).

Thanks!

 

Streaming bluetooth allows you to stream music from your bluetooth device, like a mobile phone or an iPod. So instead of using wires to connect your device for playing music, you can do it over a bluetooth wireless connection.

That is it.

 

Both Pruis 2 and Prius 3 have the auxillary jack. All of them will. This is a standard option on almost any new car.

Basically, what it is is a jack that you can plug in your iPod or any other player in existence, as long as you have a $5 cord from radio shack. The cord goes from where your headphones would plug in on the player to the jack in the car. You can then hear the output on your car speakers.

With the normal jack, you control the song selection and everything else from the player, just like you were listening with headphones.

With Bluetooth audio streaming, IF your player has bluetooth audio (iPods and most mp3 devices do not, some phones do) you can stream the music directly to the radio over the bluetooth frequencies. This saves you the "huge hassle" of having a cord. You still control the player in your hands like you have headphones on. You can buy an adapter for your iPod or player to stream bluetooth, I think they are $25-50ish. I'm not sure when or even if bluetooth will become a standard feature for mp3 players, but for now it's pretty much only phones. They will never take the headphone jack out of mp3 players, so the auxillary jack is as future proof as you need unless you like the tech. You can buy a FM transmitter in the same price range that does the same exact thing and will work on any radio in the world bluetooth or not, though the quality is usually not as good. Then again, nothing is going to beat the wire in terms of quality, and most bluetooth wireless headphones are criticized for poor sound.

With USB or iPod integration, this gets exciting. Now you can plug your iPod into the car and be able to control the folder search and settings right on your navigation screen or radio. (actually, in my experience, user controls on the iPod decice are known are the best in the world for a reason, the aftermarket attempts are always clumsier, especially without a large screen) Normal mp3 players will not work this way, only iPod.

Even more exciting is you can plug a USB flash drive full of mp3s directly into the radio and see the directory structure on the Navigation screen and choose a song that way. If you have a newer TV you may be able to do this in the same manner with pictures or movies. I'm not sure if the Prius will handle video files and I doubt it but it would be very very simple and can probably be hacked by updating the firmware (assuming someone will write it). I know the prius handles mp3 and other compressed audio files on a CD in all models.

edit: I did forget to mention that Bluetooth and USB/iPod audio will allow you to control the player from the steering wheel controls, which is nice, but again these things are usually not as easy to deal with as the user interface on the actual player. You may just get used to the new system for skipping songs or albums in your car, or it may be a pain in the neck.

 

The aux input is standard on all U.S. Prius, according to everything I've read.

Regarding USB & iPod connectivity, here's a quote from Doug Coleman from another thread:

Just to be clear, the accessory iPod adapter will only be available on Prius II (base audio system). The September USB/iPod adapter will only be on Navigation systems. The non-Navi JBL audio will not have a USB/iPod adapter.

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

 

One more option. If your audio books are in mp3 format, you can burn them to a cd and play them in the cd player. I believe it will play wma files as well.

Roy