Ipod control and music library search

[tburns21]

I just had the Z1 installed and have 2 problems Im hoping someone can help solve. . . .

1) When navigating the Ipod artists/songs there is just one long list that takes forever to scroll through. Is there anyway you can type a letter somewhere to jump to the artists that begin with that letter? Or is there another way to navigate through the Ipod - the way it is now - I get frustrated scrolling before I ever get past the 'D' artists names.

2) I have downloaded a few CDs to the hard drive and the Artist name is not showing up. Anyway to fix this for future CDs (Im burning them with Nero)? I read in the manual that you can go in and edit the artist name but when I go into the edit mode the touch buttons are gray and will not let me select "artist name" to change. Any ideas?

Thanks for the help

[bongus]

To answer you iPod question, there is no way to get to the artist list faster. This is one of the complaints of the iPod interface and the Z1. The thing I did was to create playlists and that helped access the music a little faster.

[tobwco]

Sort of off topic, but will the Z1 work w/ another type of portable MP3 player?
Does the Ipod adaptor only fit Ipods? Obviously I don't have an Ipod yet, but would like to consider other brands of MP3 players.
I guess what I'm saying; I would think the software in the Z1 only allows the interface for Ipod.

[Guest]

The Z1 ipod adapter has a male connector that fits only ipods (or maybe another device with the exact same connector, but I doubt it). You could probably hook another mp3 player into one of the auxillary inputs but it wouldnt have the interface the ipod does to control it.

Any other tricks out there to navigate through the ipod library other than just making many playlists?[/quote]

[Marauder]

[quote name="tburns21"]
2) I have downloaded a few CDs to the hard drive and the Artist name is not showing up. Anyway to fix this for future CDs (Im burning them with Nero)? I read in the manual that you can go in and edit the artist name but when I go into the edit mode the touch buttons are gray and will not let me select "artist name" to change. Any ideas?
[/quote]
You probably aren't able to edit the artist info on the Z1 because you don't have the parking brake on. Try it with the brake on and see if it works then.

What is the original source for the CDs you're burning? If it's a commercial CD you ripped in Nero, do you let it get the CDDB data for it? If not, I'm assuming you're recording discs from individual WAV files or MP3s--in that case, when you go to burn your CDs in Nero, make sure the Artist Name is entered for the CD, and that CD-TEXT is set as an option. That should record the artist's name to the disc along with the album and song titles. But it only supports one artist name per disc, not for individual songs, so if you have a compilation with several artists, you can only give it one artist name for the entire disc...

[bartski333]

If enough people complain to Pioneer about the FRUSTRATING Ipod music search function, maybe, just maybe they will fix it. I have emailed the company the message below and have been posting on every Pioneer Avic-Z1 forum I can find. Please send a similar email to Pioneer!!! The masses that spent $3000 on this toy will be heard!!!

customer.support@pioneerservice.com

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To the AVIC-Z1 software developers:

I have the AVIC-Z1 installed in my car and I have to say it is amazing! The navigation feature is perfect and music sounds great! However, since I am quite a perfectionist, I do have one complaint that I really hope you can address.

I have the IPOD adapter (CD-IB100 II) installed and it works the way it was designed. I have to let you know that there is a defect in the software that makes navigating my Ipod through the Avic touchscreen nearly impossible. I have a 60GB ipod with over 1000 artists and 8000 songs. When I want to search by artist or song it takes literally 15 minutes to get to the end of my artist list and 45 minutes (!) to get to the end of my songs list!!! This is unacceptable! With my Ipod clickwheel I can get to the end of either list in SECONDS. Scrolling 5 artists or 5 songs at a time on the AVIC touchscreen is not only frustrating, it is DANGEROUS while driving. There needs to be an update to the software that accelerates the search function.

I have several suggestions that would fix this defect:
1) Be able to search any list (artist, song, album, playlist) by alphabetic letter: A, B, C...W, X, Y, Z.
2) Be able to drag the scroll bar down with your finger as far down the bar as you want (like you can in any computer program with the mouse).
3) If you hold the down arrow button, the list could scroll faster
4) Make one of the non-touchscreen real buttons jump down 50 items in the list at a time
5) Make a circular button that mimics the Ipod clickwheel - if Apple can create software that recognizes circular, varying speed touch, then I'm sure Pioneer can too! This would be the ultimate solution that would make every Ipod owner happy.

Maybe using more of the hard drive’s memory would help?

I implore you to do something about this and I would love to help with the process or with be your “super-user” test subject if you like. I work for a software company and am familiar with the software dev-QA cycle.

The main reason I bought the AVIC-Z1 was to use my Ipod with it. I have a bunch of friends that have seen the AVIC-Z1 in action and they love it, but we all are disappointed with the Ipod control. I could convince at least 10 people to buy this system if you fixed that one functional defect. So please, please, please tell me that you will fix it and that there is someway to update the software on my unit!

Thank you for listening to my gripe! I really do love most everything else about your product. Keep up the good work!

[skicrave]

With Alpine's Full-Speed iPod control available, it's only a matter of time until Pioneer (and there rest) catch up.

The big question is will it require a hardware change (like the Alpine solution), or can it be done via software. Unfortunately for it, it will most likely require a new source unit (AVIC-Z2).

[ducatiboy]

It might just require a new IPOD adapter, like the CD-IB100 III (this doesn't exist yet, before people start looking for this to buy).

[hellmaster]

bartski333, I emailed Pioneer. Hopefully it will get the message across.


I hope it does not need a hardware change. I just bought this stuff and spent ALOT of $$$$. Pioneer should offer a discount to cover the purchase of hardware and installation!!!

[skicrave]

I sure hope it only requires a new adapter! I know in the case of Alpine, their first iPod interface (KCA-420i) basically just translated the controls for the CD Changer into iPod language. Everything was controlled using the MP3 playback buttons and logic of the headunit (because that was already around). That is also why it was so slow and why it was limited to the first 256 songs (the most allowed in a regular MP3 CD's TOC).

They should have just come out with a new adapter, but I have a feeling they would have done that if the headunit could support full speed access. That's why I'm worried it will require new headunits from Pioneer also. I sure hope I'm wrong though!