Please help me outsmart the ipod integration feature on my 2008 Infiniti G35.

August 13, 2008 1:55 PM

I cannot figure out how to practically scroll through large lists on my iPod when using it through my car's navigation system.

I just bought a new 2008 G35 and it came with an ipod adapter which allows you to navigate through your ipod on the car's touchscreen. It seemed like a great feature until I hooked my ipod up and realized it took about 15 minutes of constant scrolling to get through the 563 artists that were listed.

I've searched through various forums and cannot find a fix for this. I thought I could outwit the system by making smart playlists for artists starting with ABC, DEF, GHI, etc. But when I go into those playlists on the car, it goes straight into song titles instead of by artist.

Also, you cannot scroll backwards from A directly to Z.

Any help that would allow me to listen to Van Morrison without 10 minutes of constant scrolling would be much appreciated.

posted by jjbb to Technology (5 answers total)

Creating specific playlists is the answer when dealing with terrible custom iPod interfaces.

Either that or buy a radio adapter and use the normal interface.
posted by unixrat at 2:48 PM on August 13, 2008

Response by poster: 90% of the time I scroll through my iPod, I do so by artist, which makes the playlists unhelpful.
posted by jjbb at 3:54 PM on August 13, 2008

I had this same problem but without a touchscreen--just a regular radio-with-buttons interface. I figured out that the pre-programmable station buttons (which are numbered 1-5) actually allow me to jump ahead to the corresponding section of the list. So, hitting "3" will take me to the third section, or third "fifth", of the list, which hits somewhere around the "H" artists. Maybe there is something analogous on your touchscreen?
posted by rio at 1:47 AM on August 14, 2008

I'm guessing you don't have an iPod Touch/iPhone, but if by some chance you DO, holding the "Home" button for about 5-10 seconds will drop the "Accessory Connected" screen, and let you take control from the device itself rather than the car's system. I had the same problem with my iPhone and my Sony head unit's nightmarish control system, and it's certainly possible that there's a similar function with the normal iPods.

Moving a little away from that, why do car stereo designers seem to design their systems to maximize the amount of time your eyes are focused on the stereo and not on the road?
posted by frankdrebin at 6:49 AM on August 14, 2008

I have a similar complaint with my new car stero (Kenwood) and ipod classic (with 30-40GB of music). With the additional annoyance that the knob that allows for scrolling has "press in" and "press up" features that don't always work consistently. The result being that I turn the knob (this enables the Artists, Play List, etc. feature), get to Artist, then do a "press in" and (hopefully) get a list of artists. I then turn the knob to go down the list. When I get to, say, The Beatles, I do a "press in" to select. But sometimes, the knob interprets this as a "press up", and boots me back to the Artists list. Grrr!

My solution is to set up my ipod first (i.e. scroll down to Van Morrison, select an album/song, and press play), then plug it into the stereo. Saves a LOT of time. Probably not the best solution. But I'll stay tuned for other's input...
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 9:02 AM on August 14, 2008