1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Loading the CD changer

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by PriusRos, Oct 6, 2009.

  1. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I have the 4-CD changer that comes with the nav system.

    I generally use it to listen to books on CD. Each book consists of multiple CDs. When the first 4 CDs are finished, I eject all and load the next 4.

    I feel that I am doing it "blind" because there is nothing to tell me into which slot a CD is being loaded. But what I find more annoying is that after I load the 4 CDs and press the Close button, it will immediately start playing the last CD loaded, which is the fourth, instead of the first. I then have to go to the Audio screen and select Changes Disc to restart it at the beginning.

    Is this the way it's supposed to work or am I missing a step somewhere?
     
  2. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Maybe loading the discs is like "stacking" them, with the last CD in being "disc 1", on the top of the stack?
     
  3. SisterSara

    SisterSara New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2009
    11
    0
    0
    Location:
    So Cal
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I have the exact same problem. I love books-on-tape but get frustrated listening to discs out of order all the time.

    It seems an issue when loading 4. I experimented loading two and it worked as expected, playing the first in first. I have googled the internet and not found any documentation on how this is supposed to work. I am grateful you brought it up because I thought I was missing something.
     
  4. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    If you have two in already, and have been playing them, what does loading a third do?

    The Audio system with the Nav option (only described in the Nav Manual) says that the last disc inserted is the one that will play first.

    But, I suspect in loading 3, it would be disc 3 ... I wii have to try a few tests.
     
  5. TKY

    TKY Member

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2009
    232
    25
    0
    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Hi PriusRos, My four disc system worked the same way; so, based on multiple responses, yes, it sounds like that's the way it is supposed to work. While traveling, I figured I would just go through the 'Change disc' process or I thought about loading the discs in reverse order. Never got that test attempted.

    I did try removing discs 1, 2, & 3, leaving disc 4 and loading disc 5, 6, & 7. Boy that's a hassle I don't want to get tangled up in ever again. --TK
     
  6. MaggieMay

    MaggieMay Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2009
    534
    68
    0
    Location:
    Gloucester, MA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Learned this on the two-day trip home from the dealer. Now I just load them 4,3,2,1 - 8,7,6,5 - etc. Once you've done a couple of time it will be natural and no big deal.
     
  7. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    On the Nav-CD system:
    Think of a stack of 4 storage slots that move up and down just enough to align one of the 4 slots with the "play" head. Think of this stack being behind the "Play" part of the device, and the CD is always loaded into the "play" head, always with an empty slot behind it.

    Then, if you change discs, the CD in the play head slides back into the empty slot, the stack moves to a "filled" slot, and that CD is loaded into the play head.

    So, in normal operation, there is always a CD in the play head (if any are loaded) and an empty slot is always waiting behind the play head - to store that CD if another is to be loaded.

    Initially, it seems that you can only load in the 1, 2, 3, 4 order.
    You can choose which CD to eject, but not which slot to load into. If you load an additional CD (not ejecting one), I suspect the "next" empty slot is chosen for you, probably in the 1234123... sequence, starting at the currently-playing slot. But, I did not load 123, eject 1, play 2, and try to load another CD - to see if it would go into slot 4, or slot 1.

    Perhaps the non-Nav changer works differently, to explain the reported behavior of loading 2 CDs and it automatically play the first-loaded CD.
     
  8. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    The non-Nav CD changer holds 6 CDs?

    If you load CDs 1,2,3,4, which one plays first? Number 4?
    And does it then automatically start CD 1 when CD 4 is done?

    If so, loading CDs 2,3,4,1 would play them in the 1234 order (at least in the with-Nav system).
     
    1 person likes this.
  9. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    I don't quite understand how loading them in reverse order would work.

    Let's call the CD changer slots 1,2,3, and 4
    And the discs A, B, C, and D

    When I load them the standard way, i.e., eject all, then load A-D in order, I get

    Slot Disc
    1....A
    2....B
    3....C
    4....D

    It automatically starts playing the last one in, i.e., disc D. So I switch to slot 1 and it starts at A. After that it goes through slots 2-4 and the discs are in the correct order.

    If I loaded in reverse order, I'd get

    1....D
    2....C
    3....B
    4....A

    A would be the first one to play, but when finished, wouldn't it go to slot 1, which would be D?
     
  10. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Yes, that would probably play them in the correct order -- but one shouldn't have to do that!
     
  11. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Yeah, I guess that's just the way it works! I thought I'd check because I thought that maybe somebody had found a secret button or something that allows you to choose where to start.
     
  12. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    On the with-Nav CD changer you can easily select any of the loaded discs to "begin", after loading them.

    You must be able to load 1234 and then select 1 as the disc to play, right?
     
  13. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    No -- if you load 1234, 4 starts playing immediately once you press Close. To select 1, you have to press the Audio button, press Change Disc, then select 1.
     
  14. garygid

    garygid Senior Member - Blizzard Pearl

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2009
    379
    23
    0
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Ok, so if you just do not want to do the "change disc" to 1, you can just load the CDs 2341, right?
     
  15. PriusRos

    PriusRos A Fairly Senior Member - 2016 Prius Owner

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2006
    1,973
    218
    0
    Location:
    Rockville, MD
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four
    Yep ... seems to be the only solution!
    (It's okay ... I'll learn to live with it ;)).