I'm highly considering buying the z1, but the main complaint I've seen is with the ipod interface being slow. Is it really that bad?

Depends on how much stuff is on your ipod. If you get a nano and treat it like a 12 disk or 20 disk changer. It's fine. If you have 2000 songs with 100's or artists and you want to play a specific song, browsing can be quite painful.

I have 2000 songs on mine, but I set up playlists on my comptuer and navigate through a dozen or 2 playlists and yes it could be quicker, but it's not too bad. Much better than an iTrip or FM modulator...

There are complaints out there but once you figure out how to setup your playlists, it really is much easier to navigate. I have mine set up with playlists for artists A-B, C-D, E-F, etc...you get the picture. I only really listen to a few and with the iPod there is a playlist of frequently played and I just select that option.

As the previous posters have said, playlists are essential for using the Pioneer iPod interface (and if you're not already using playlists, you should, that's what makes the iPod different from every other MP3 player).

Yes, the iPod interface sucks, really, really, really, really badly. It sucks so badly that the "programmer" should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity.

To acerbate the painfully slow browsing, if you happen to be in your car when you are using the Z1's iPod interface and you're, oh I don't know, say, driving and you are distracted for a few seconds from the eye-gougingly slow browser: if you don't do anything on the Z1 for a few seconds it will reset the browser and you will have lost all that effort!

What retard thought that would be a good idea? It's things like this that tell me they hired the world's worst programmer to write that code. And there are SOOOOO many little stupid things like this that will drive you crazy.

Cirbirus said:

Yes, the iPod interface sucks, really, really, really, really badly. It sucks so badly that the "programmer" should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity.

Wow, don't hold back, tell us what you really think. Cirbirus is right about the wait too long and you will automatically back out of what ever you were doing. I did forget about that "feature". If the ipod had a skip ahead to a "letter of the alphebet" kind of thing than just page down, etc... it would be better. And yes it is slow. If you limit the ipod to a few play lists or whatever it's totally usable. It's a pain if you have 400 artists and you want to find a specific song using the interface in the car. That will suck. If you want to play that ahead of time, go to the playlists and put that song in one labeled A CAR MIX1 or something and it will be right on top.

But think of all the ipod interfaces out there in the world for cars. Right now the "full speed" alpine is the best only on the IVA-W200:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/products/p ... l=IVA-W200
That's the best one right now.

I would be willing to bet that the one for the Z1 is the second best. Is it perfect? No. Could it be better? Yes. (hell, just faster would make it much better) :)

But if anyone has ever actually USED another ipod interface into a car, please chime up here, but I have tried quite a few and with the exception of the alpine (which I haven't used) this is the best one out there. A little slow, but it's still one of the best out there.

I think one of the problems is that the iPod device has to work with all of the Pioneer products with an IP-Bus adapter; from the most expensive, to the least expensive.

When they do that I'm afraid they may have had to dumb-down the box. That doesn't excuse the atrocious programming job done on the AVIC but it may explain the slowness.

Don't know if this will help the iPod interface problem being discussed here, but I have been looking at sources for buying the iPod interface and came across the following in one of the user reviews on the Circuit City site:

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One if the main problems that i read about was how tough the pioneer interface is to navigate.

Here is a timesaving trick to use your ipod to navigate through your library instead of manually scrolling thru your songs/albums on the head unit...
.
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The secret is to let your IPOD shut down by itself (Auto shut off) before plugging it to the pioneer CD-IB100

With your car turned off and the Ipod completely shut down (allow auto shut off which takes about 1 minute), put ipod on HOLD and plug it into the adapter. Wait about 5 seconds or so, then turn the car on. You should see the charge screen on your Ipod. Turn HOLD off and once you do this it will return to the Pioneer display screen (it may also stay on the charge screen). If you try and press menu it should back out of the Pioneer (or charge) screen and into main menu.'

I just found out about this trick and it works for my ipod (30 gb) but it should work for others.

Nope, IP-Bus has nothing to do with the slow speed of the iPod browser.

The issue is that the CD-iB100II (and all other first generation iPod interface adapters) simply "trick" the headunit into thinking the iPod is a CD Changer.

Because Alpine was the first to market with the iPod adapter (KCA-420i), they're already on to the second generation, which requires completely different hardware to make accessing the iPod "full speed". Alpine's new system no longer makes use of the same commands for the CD Changer, it actually docks the iPod as a USB device, just like your computer at home.

That's why it will almost certainly require new hardware in the headunit in order for Pioneer and any other manufacturer to release a "full-speed" model.

Well, at least with the Z1's we won't need new hardware in our Head Units, just a new adapter.

Actually, that was my whole point. Just like the Alpine solution, the new Pioneer "Full-speed" solution will be something that is built into the headunit, and will not require an external adapter.

Which means we will have to upgrade to the AVIC-Z2 if we want the new functionality. Kind of sucks, but there's no way around it.

I don't think any of us really know what causes the slow down with the ipod interface. But the head unit reacts faster then the interface does, so I would think it could be sped up a bit (at least). It's possible that the slow speed is the way the ipod interfaces with the ipod. Not necessarily the Z1 to the interface or the Z1 itself. I don't think any of us will really know till the ipod3 comes out and someone tries it. My GUESS is that it's the actually interface itself and there might be a faster one that will work with the Z1 as is... but it's just my guess.

Unless the headunit (the Z1 in this case) has built in support (both hardware and software), for accessing the iPod as a USB device, you will always be limited by trying to trick the headunit into think the iPod is a CD Changer. That's the limiting factor, and that's why Alpine when to an integrated solution this year. The existing headunits would not have been compatible with a new adapter anyway, so why not make it all-in-one?