I'm addicted to my iPod. I have music from over a 75 artists and a dozen episodic podcasts crammed into my 4-Gig Nano. Since our 2008 Scion xB boasts an all-singing, all-dancing true iPod connection, I made sure I had it for the long weekend. This car is marketed squarely at the iPod generation, so it had better be great, right?
Within 20-minutes of leaving the office, I was swearing at it. I disconnected from the integrated iPod jack and resorted to the generic "AUX" jack provided right next to it.
"You're crazy, Dan," you might be thinking, "The sound quality is much worse from the mini-jack and you have to use the iPod's own control interface instead." True on both counts. I'll take the hit on the first to get the second.
Yes, the iPod jack is fully integrated. I can choose from Albums, Artists, Genres, Songs, Playlist, etc., just like the menu choices on my iPod (except for Podcast, which is curiously AWOL). A few simple on-screen clicks allows me to drill down to find a selection of songs by, say, LCD Soundsystem.
And it is most excellent - but only when the car is sitting still. All of the rave reviews authored by Edmunds staffers must have been written after playing with the connection in a parking lot.
As soon as the car moves, the deactivation of the all-important Music Menu button transforms the interface into little more than an expensive iPod shuffle. You'd better like what you were listening to when you started moving, because making a specifc choice while underway is difficult and tedious.
Now I choose Direct, which still provides the top-level choices of Artist, Album, Genre, Song, etc. To get to LCD Soundsystem, I choose Artist. But instead of displaying pages of five or six artists at a time, the display goes straight into play mode, starting with the first artist beginning with "A". To get to LCD Soundsystem, I have to push an up/down toggle 27 times (I counted) to get to "LCD". And the screen I monitor to do this is harder to read than the page view provided when stationary.
For a German language podcast I listen to, things are worse. Podcast isn't a choice, but hunting around reveals my selection listed under Album. But it takes 46 button presses to run through the alphabetical list the list to "My Daily Phrase German". And the default is Lesson 1, so I've got 17 more button presses to get to where I left off at Lesson 18. I give up.
The really frustrating part is this: The Music Menu command is probably grayed-out to satisfy those in the driver distraction lobby. But I can make a strong case that the work-around is much more time consuming and distracting. Logic goes out the window when 27 or 63 button clicks is considered less distracting than 6 or 8 from a logical sub-directory structure. And don't get me started on the distractionless pair of hands available to any passenger.
If it were me, I'd buy the cheapest radio available (or a radio delete option if they had it) and buy something from the aftermarket. Even when OE stereos seem good, they can be fraught with limitations.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 6,239 miles
prndlol says:
08:05 AM, 09/ 7/07
The introduction of the portable MP3 player into the driver's seat has quickly become the biggest driver distraction since the cell phone. Hands on or head unit integrated, accessing a massive library of music while in motion is bad news. Everybody who uses one regularly can recall a time when they almost whacked into something while dialing up the latest Nelly Furtado track.
blueguydotcom says:
08:54 AM, 09/ 7/07
I tend to use playlists, thus set a playlist when I start off and I'm done messing with my iPod.
06scooby says:
09:41 AM, 09/ 7/07
I don't know what is up with the podcast thing either. I have an aftermarket pioneer in my scooby with the ipod connection adapter that allows me to control my ipod through the stereo but it's infuriating because for some reason it doesn't allow be to select podcasts but instead I have to scroll through either artists or albums to get to them and then it only plays the first podcast under that and it doesn't allow me to skip to the next or previous. so If I want to listen to a podcast I have to unplug it, select it on the ipod, start it playing, and then plug it in. It was infuriating this last weekend on my 8 hour drive to L.A.!!!!
I wonder if they rush this stuff to market so quick they overlook a lot of things...
actualsize says:
10:02 AM, 09/ 7/07
I'd argue that proper iPod head-unit integration could be no more distracting than tuning a radio station, and would be less distracting than selecting from among 150+ XM channels, messing with BMW's iDrive or digging through a CD case to find Pearl Jam's Greatest Hits.
On my 1,000-mile trip to Oregon or a run to Vegas, I'm not going to listen to a single playlist, and I will have a passenger riding shotgun.
Here, the cure is worse than the disease.
redliner says:
11:23 AM, 09/ 7/07
I personaly would like to see a system that would allow you to send music to your car from your computer, similar to MB system for sending directions from google earth.
benson2175 says:
11:32 AM, 09/ 7/07
I'm with you Dan. I think what's really upsetting, and this is true for a lot of 'features' in new cars, is that you're treated like an idiot. Of course it's dangerous to muck around with ipod menus etc while driving BUT I'm an adult I don't need the car nanny not letting me do stuff as if I was a child. Are the car companies so afraid that someone will sue them if they crash while browsing Fergie tracks? Are there people who would sue a car company for letting them browse Fergie tracks while driving? Who are these people and where are they cause I'd like to sock them in the jaw. They'd probably sue me though, and Fergie.
comp386 says:
11:43 AM, 09/ 7/07
The problem isn't with the Scion it's with the lawyers. You know very well that if someone gets into an accident when playing with their iPod adapter, Toyota will be sued. It really stifles innovation.
misterfusion says:
01:49 PM, 09/ 7/07
Dan: Das ist schlecht!!
Seriously though, I agree with the driver distraction lobby. When using my mp3 player via the AUX jack, I make it a point to make my music selection before putting the car in gear. I try to limit my interaction with devices as much as possible while driving -- not because I'm morally superior, but because I'd like to avoid needlessly dying.
stovt001 says:
03:15 PM, 09/ 7/07
I tend to agree with the people arguing that one shouldn't mess with the ipod controls at all while driving. Nothing bothers me more than distracted drivers. I too use playlists, and then all I have to do is use the forward and reverse buttons to skip the tracks I don't want. If you're on a long road trip, maybe wait until a rest stop before playing with the controls, or let your passenger do it straight through the ipod.
dragonzsoul says:
05:09 AM, 09/ 8/07
there is a way to deactivate the lexus navigation lockout.. i wonder if it'll work on the scion? *cough* youtube *cough*
billt9 says:
04:57 PM, 09/ 8/07
I want a voice activated system that goes,
*hold down speak button*
"ipod" *beep*
"artist My Daily" *beep*
"track 18" *beep*
actualsize says:
08:07 AM, 09/10/07
Yes, I agree that the dinky screen on an iPod is distracting. So now the xB has this very large screen with big buttons placed high and near the driver's line of sight - much better, right? Now their use is no more complicated than tweaking the bass and treble controls on the same unit. But no. By graying things out, they make it so complicated that they risk driving folks back to the MP3 jack and the standard, dinky screen.
Agreed billt9: Features like this make voice activation a requirement, not a luxury.
blueguydotcom says:
08:30 AM, 09/10/07
1000 mile drives are rarely made in one sitting. Regardless, I have several playlists over 18 hours long. So even then 1 playlist will work. I often set one playlist for the week and listen to that on my drive to and from work for 5 days. Never hear the same song twice. Not even close.
actualsize says:
08:44 AM, 09/10/07
1000 mile drives are rarely made alone. All new cars have a passneger detection system on-board for the airbag. I hate to flog a dead horse, but why not offer full functionailty for navigation and audio systems like this when a passenger is detected?
marcyu1 says:
09:43 PM, 10/ 7/07
Oh, come on. Everybody should know by now that after-market stereos are (a) exponentially cheaper and (b) exponentially better than OEM parts.