I agree about the loading time, it does suck but my ipod works fine but slow loading too. I really do like the AVIC so maybe Pioneer will release an update soon.
If you are not concerned about using the Voice Recognition feature for your iPod right now, you can turn off the cataloging feature under av settings to speed up the unit. This feature has to catalog your whole iPod each time you power it on so that you can access all your songs and artist, ect. via voice recognition. So it takes a while to do that on a big iPod. I am sure Pioneer will come out with a fix for this but...all in d
