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iPod Touch

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by TDog, Oct 14, 2015.

  1. TDog

    TDog Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    East Windsor, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius
    Model:
    Limited AWD-e
    Had my Prius 2015 IV since last week.
    I connected my iPod touch using both, a cable and Bluetooth pairing.
    I noticed that occasionally (may be once a day) the audio software "forgets" what it is streaming off the iPod.
    The most annoying thing is that it either starts playing songs in the alphabetical order by the song name (which is useless as I need it to play the albums) or simply changes to random. If I load a playlist on the ipod and quickly navigate to the last played song and then try to stream over Bluetooth, the music player gets confused and switches to random. The only way for me to make it work is to switch to the iPod tab in the unit, go to browse, load the playlist and navigate to the correct tune in there. And this can be a long process if the playlist is big.
    So, is there a way to disable the random mode completely? How can I force the unit to play music off the iPod based on the Artist or Album name sort order instead of the song name?Or may be I am doing something wrong?
     
  2. TDog

    TDog Junior Member

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    Location:
    East Windsor, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius
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    Limited AWD-e
    Just did it today twice.
    First time it reset when I had just turned the car on.
    Second time I was listening to a song when it suddenly decided to play the random again. Had to reload the playlist.
     
  3. daddyd302

    daddyd302 Junior Member

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    2014 Prius
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    Five
    I don't understand why you're using both the cable and bluetooth at the same time for your ipod. I would try using the cable and see what happens. I think you're confusing the Prius by using both connections.
     
  4. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    I remember when I first paired my 7th generation iPod Nano. On the Audio screen there are two buttons at the bottom, RPT and RAND. I think the RAND was selected by default (highlighted in yellow) and I had to turn it off because it was messing with the shuffle setting of the iPod. But yeah, only use one connection method at a time. I use the USB if I need to charge, otherwise Bluetooth. Might be differences between 2011 and 2015 too, so YMMV.
     
  5. TDog

    TDog Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    East Windsor, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius
    Model:
    Limited AWD-e
    First of all, on my Prius C i did not have this problem.
    The reason I use two connections is simple.
    If I need the cable to charge the iphone then I still have the ipod on bluetooth. The problem is that neither my iphone nor the ipod touch would charge when plugged into a cigarette lighter adapter. I wish Toyota has provided 2 real USB ports instead of 2 useless to me adapters.
    Otherwise the ipod is connectef through the cable and never runs out of juice. Before you ask why I don's use the iphone for music....It is an 8 gig work assigned unit which I strictly use for work and email, nothing more it would even fit.
    Today I was listening to a song, shut off the car, came back less than 5 minutes later, turned everything back on, it plays for a second and then decides to stop. I launch the music app, and it starts playing the random again (the RAND button has it up right away)..I have also noticed that occasionally the RAND becomes active right after I disable it. Have to hit it 2-3 times before it finally deactivates.
    One more thing, if I load a playlist directly on the ipod and start playing music and then connect the cable, regardless whether it is paired or not, the music app will kill the currently playing song and start playing...you've guessed it.....the random.....I cannot use the music app on the ipod itself while the cable is plugged in. It gives me a very cheerful message saying "Accessory is connected".
    This is driving me nuts.
    Ideas, people?
     
  6. TDog

    TDog Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    East Windsor, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius
    Model:
    Limited AWD-e
    Looks like I may have found a solution....
    Jailbroke my ipod touch, downloaded a tool that removes the "Accessory connected" screen. Now I can control music from the ipod, and it looks and plays much better now. This bug was fixed by Apple in IOS 6 but the 3rd generation ipod that I have isn't compatible with 6, and never will be.
    I am not sure if there is something funny between the IOS version and the audio software of the Prius but the jailbreak so far has seemed to be a way to fix this mess.
    Also, found a cigarette lighter adapter in my stash that is charging the ipod. However, in this setup the USB stops working, only Bluetooth.
    So, for now I've connected the phone which also works with this adapter. Good news is I can use both, the USB plug and the lighter adapter.

    Fingers crossed.
     
    AzWxGuy likes this.
  7. TDog

    TDog Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    East Windsor, NJ
    Vehicle:
    2024 Prius
    Model:
    Limited AWD-e
    OK, so here is what I've discovered today, and I think what I am about to type explains why I am having the playlist issue in the first place.
    I restarted the car the system decided to randomize the playback. No biggie, I say to myself. Since I can now navigate through the music app on my newly jailbroken ipod I quickly find the song I was listening before. Then I restarted the car again...It switched to random. Did it 4 or 5 times to conclude that somehow the car's audio now refuses to load the previously played song from my playlist and always either plays a random track or a first song locates. So, I started thinking why last night it did not do this when suddenly it hit me. The USB port forces the ipod to reset the playback, and last night I connected it through the lighter adapter which has somehow blocked the USB while allowing it to charge. As a test, I unpaired the ipod making sure that only the USB mode was active. The random playback was still there after each car reboot.
    Then I started looking closely at the Ipod tab on the navi screen. What I saw was a bit strange. Besides my playlist that I call "Albums" there was another playlist called "TDog's iPod". It does not exist directly on the ipod or I am not seeing it and don't know where it is. Or it must have been generated by the navigation unit and taken the precedence over the "Albums" playlist. I realized that it, for a reason unknown, just plays that generic playlist which does not sort the music by albums.
    So, I connected the ipod back to the lighter adapter, paired Blutooth again and could enjoy my music the way I wanted. This way it works because, luckily to me, the blutooth does not recognize playlists. Therefore, I can simply load my playlist directly on the iPod and start the playback.