flux303

Am I missing something, or is browsing iPod tracks way too cumbersome on the nav system? I have 400+ artists and who knows how many albums on my iPod... it takes me forever to scroll through the list using the wheel stick, and taking my eyes off the road long enough to deal with using the page up/down buttons on the LCD feels dangerous.

Hell, it would be safer to find tracks on the iPod directly. At least that skips by first letter when I spin the scroll wheel fast enough.

It seems like there should at least be some way to pull up a keyboard to search by first letter, or at least scroll a LOT faster. You'd think with all the work Infiniti puts into crippling the nav commands while the car is moving, they could get the iPod controls right. If anything's gonna cause me to wreck this car it'll be scrolling through my damn iPod!

bboysteele

^^^Flux, it was in another thread but some members on here found creative was to organize their IPod artist. The best way to do it is to create multiple playlist. For example, artist with last names starting with A, B, or C will be in playlist A-C. Then do D-F, G-I, and J-L or something like that. There is no other way and I know it sucks but this is what you have to do.

flux303

That's retarded. It's amusing--in a frustrating way--how I can't do something like tap a POI on my nav for info while in motion cause I might crash my car and sue Infiniti. BUT, it's ok for me to stare at the nav for 5 minutes while I scroll through all my artists & albums? Keen thinking on their part. Kudos.

Anyway, thanks for the info bboysteele. I'll do search for that thread, and I guess if I find myself with hours to waste, I'll start setting up playlists

flux303

Found that thread, the link is here for anyone else who hates the iPod interface as much as I do... here's hoping Infiniti does a little ergonomics & GUI research before their next firmware update!

mal_TX

This is how the iPod itself works... the car is just providing an interface to control the iPod using the built-in functionality of the interface on the iPod.

This is really in Apple's hands. Apple wants you to make playlists and smart lists.

flux303

True--sort of. When navigating the iPod's interface directly, spinning the scroll wheel faster moves the list faster. In newer versions of firmware, the iPod realizes you're trying to skim through quickly and actually starts paging through by first letter. You can go from A to Z in seconds.

The Infiniti interface is nothing like that, so I'd say it isn't in Apple's hands at all, as Apple seems to have a pretty elegant solution already in place that doesn't involve playlists or smart lists.

dmkozak

iTrader: (1)

EXCEPT, 1) the software which Infiniti uses is supplied by a third party vendor, and 2) this third party vendor writes the software under license from Apple, and 3) Apple, by virtue of licensing its software usage, controls the software which automobile manufacturers are able to include in their vehicles.

SO, 1) no, Infiniti does not write the iPod integration software used in its vehicles, and 2) Infiniti can only install iPod integration software which is made available to it by persons authorized by Apple to write such software.

Bottom line; there is a better solution, but, you do not want to re-"directorize" your iPod. That is a decision you made. Alternatively, if you want Apple to license the use of quicker searching options to the third party software vendors, you might want to buy Apple to make sure this could happen.

mal_TX

Yeah, that's good advice.

Call Apple and ask them why your car does not let you skip alphabetically like your newly updated iPod. Your iPod now has Cover Flow too, but I doubt you'll see that new feature in cars either.

Make some play lists

VC22348

There is a much simpler conceptual solution, which I'm hoping someone will find a way to accomplish: when you use the Music Box, the "tuner" **** works and permits VERY fast scrolling through the contents of the Music Box; alas, it is disabled when using the iPod. If there were a way to enable this **** -- and thus avoid the horrendously slow wheel or the just-as-slow touch screen arrow -- then getting to the bottom of the list of Artists, Songs, etc., on the iPod would be simple. Can any of you techies figure out a way to make this happen?

dmkozak

iTrader: (1)

It is NOT disabled when using the iPod. It is, simply, not part of the iPod controller software. The Music Box software is separate from and different than the iPod software. The tuner **** is nothing more than a control utilized by the appropriate software. It operates according to the applicable system (Music Box, iPod, Nav, etc.) for which it is engaged.

flux303

No need to get snide. Telling me to buy Apple isn't all that helpful. Besides, I already own stock

I'm SURE the third party developer could probably do something simple like make the selection bar scroll faster if you press the down/up arrow longer. Don't you think? My iPod doesn't have a "page down" button, yet the Infiniti interface does. Seems to me that the software is just reading the database off of the iPod... I can't imagine why licensing issues with Apple would have anything at all to do with scroll speeds or the like.

I'd be open to suggestions on how to "re-directorize" my iPod to handle quick browsing through over 400 artists and 5000 songs. The smart playlist thing sounded cool at first, but ultimately it seems to be even more trouble. I tried making one smart playlist for each letter of the alphabet and dividing artists by starting letter, but that crams all the tunes from multiple albums and artists into one list, so it doesn't really help slim down the number of choices I have to page through.

flux303

Actually it's a 5G, so it still doesn't do cover flow. And even before the skip-by-letter upgrade, the iPod was easier to navigate directly. The faster you move your finger over the scroll wheel, the faster the selection bar cruises down the display. It's been that way since much earlier iterations of the iPod, afaik.

Like I said in my post above, it can't be that difficult for Infiniti (or whoever their dev is) to turn up the scroll speed... can it?

dmkozak

iTrader: (1)

The problem here, without being snide, scartistic or hurtful, appears to be your lack of knowledge. On one hand, you think it should be fairly easy to re-write code. You also think the software writer might not be constricted by Apple's third party licensing. You say you can't imagine why licensing issues would have anything to do with this. Well, the short answer is that the third party license limits what the software writer can and can not do and can and can not rewrite. While I am not familiar with Apples's licensing of its code for automotive uses, a great many other licenses I am familiar with do limit use of the underlying product in specific applications.

Second, the "smart list" is really an old fashioned DOS file explorer listing "tree" (called such because of the reliance on branches and sub-branches to catagorize files). If you had experience in this area, I believe this would be intuitive to you.

My answer revolves around your apparent lack of licensing experience and lack of file explorer "tree" saving of files. I am not trying to be hurtful, but some "homework" on your part might show you why the solution does work and why licensing can impose restrictions on third party software writers.

dmkozak

iTrader: (1)

Do you have NAV? Please remember the controller **** controls a whole lot more than just the iPod. If you want the controller **** to gradually increase speed while controlling your iPod, it will also gradually increase speed while controlling everything else, like the rest of the audio system, NAV, etc. I could be wrong, but I can not imagine that would be a good thing.

VC22348

Thank you, DMK, for educating us about our deficiencies in the scintillating world of software code. I think that Flux and I are less concerned about the mechanics of why the situation is the way it is and are more interested in finding a solution. The smart playlist idea, to me, does not work well -- at least not when organized by letter. Making separate playlists of each Artist is slightly more workable, but that also takes a lot of time at the computer -- and will require a lot of manual updating whenever a single new song is added to iTunes for each Artist in the Playlists.

I have not tried a compact flash card yet. Does anyone know if the "Tune" **** is enabled (or whatever word DMK prefers) when using the compact flash card?