Ipod controls... TORTUROUS!

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prberg said:
I have to agree that the LEAF audio system needs some improvements. I guess part of the problem is that the car is a version 1.0. Although they have other stereo systems in other cars, maybe they started from scratch with the LEAF.

As bad as the ipod controls are, the controls for a generic USB drive are much worse. Hopefully they will listen to us and make the system easier to use. The scrolling down seems pretty painful to me. Would be great if we could jump down to the middle of the alphabet or something like that.

-Peter


I wish the entire 1.0 excuses would go away, car companies have been making vastly superior iphone interfaces (this one sucks) and NAV systems for years, this comes down to Nissan making a cheap or poor choice with a vendor not a first gen EV issue. A simple and basic function like scrolling to an artist on a reasonable collection is a complete joke, even if there were letters on the side or a sliding bar it would be functional. One can fumble searching endlessly for artists or songs while driving but not for directions as that is locked out. It's ok to crash from ipod distraction but not other functions:) Not that music is something one uses often in a car :roll:

Nissan should fire the marketing or product dev person that specified this unit as well as the one that made the interior fabric and eco applique decisions. DId they say "We have a great EV here, what stupid things can we do to make it worse"? "How about a ultra crapy audio and Nav system and some trim treatments from a hot tub"? Perhaps there were serious translation issues.
 
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.


sounds like the Tesla Model S route.
 
palmermd said:
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.


sounds like the Tesla Model S route.


Or they just could have used a decent vendor.
 
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.
First they need to elimiate Flash from the CARWINGS website. Totally worthless with the iPad
 
jcesare said:
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.
First they need to elimiate Flash from the CARWINGS website. Totally worthless with the iPad
I see that as the iPad being totally worthless with CARWINGS. ;)
 
davewill said:
jcesare said:
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.
First they need to elimiate Flash from the CARWINGS website. Totally worthless with the iPad
I see that as the iPad being totally worthless with CARWINGS. ;)


So far, I see carwings as useless.
 
palmermd said:
So far, I see carwings as useless.
+1

I would love a simple text web page with all the content that it takes multiple color screens of flash to display:

State of Charge: 72%
Power Connected: 120v AC
Charging: No
Climate Control: ON, 11 minutes remaining
Climate Timer: Off

Really, there's not a lot of information to communicate, or selections to choose from. Instead I have a web page that requires a 1024x768 flash-enabled computer to render.
 
GroundLoop said:
palmermd said:
So far, I see carwings as useless.
+1

I would love a simple text web page with all the content that it takes multiple color screens of flash to display:

State of Charge: 72%
Power Connected: 120v AC
Charging: No
Climate Control: ON, 11 minutes remaining
Climate Timer: Off

Really, there's not a lot of information to communicate, or selections to choose from. Instead I have a web page that requires a 1024x768 flash-enabled computer to render.

There's a lot more than that. That's just the owners page. To enter the telemetrics portal you need to click on the bottom of the screen. From there you'll find the route planner, driving history, info feeds, rankings, and ways to configure your in car features, all of which needs flash to run. :roll:
 
Tried my Iphone 3GS through the USB port today. How do you control the playback (stop, pause, fast forward, etc)? I can't seem to find a playback control menu. It just keeps playing songs down the song list without stopping. Very frustrating. :x
 
To answer some of the questions raised, with an iPod connected via USB you can scan forward or back by holding down the next/previous track buttons on either the unit or the steering wheel. (Much as you would on the iPod itself.) As for pause/stop, I just hit the audio system power button to pause/stop and then hit it again later when I want to continue playing music. Of course you can't navigate the iPod menus while the system is actually off.

Also, I ran the USB cable down under the dash and into the back of the glovebox so that I don't have to fuss with hiding/reconnecting the iPod. It remains out-of-sight and it stops/starts playing automatically right from where I left off when I stop/start the car. This is the same arrangement I've used with all cars I've had since iPod-compatibility first became available.

All that said, I miss seeing track duration/progress and I'd like an option for a better sounding audio system. A nice-to-have would be to show the album artwork on screen as Pioneer units do.
 
Check out the speaker upgrades described over here: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=3308

Just doing the speakers (I didn't do the subwoofers) has made a huge difference once the new speakers have broken in a bit.
 
For those who use Bluetooth Audio with an iPhone/iPod, it looks like support for streaming track/artist info via a Bluetooth Audio connection will be coming with iOS 5 in the fall:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/09/ios-5-streams-trackartist-information-to-bluetooth-audio-devices/

Now whether the LEAF supports this (AVRCP 1.3) is a different question.
 
jcesare said:
First they need to elimiate Flash from the CARWINGS website. Totally worthless with the iPad
Weird, the CARWINGS website works fine on my Android phone ;) Interesting that Nissan chose to make the website flash-dependent and then (so far) have only an iPhone-compatible app.
 
After almost a month of working just fine, the playback on my iPod through the USB port has stopped. I can scroll through the various playlists on my iPod, but when selected the track does not play. The playback time remains at 0:00. The tracks appear correctly, and I can view Info. But, no playback. :cry:

The same playlists are on my iPad, and the tracks playback when my iPad is connected to the USB port. The tracks playback is also fine when listening to my iPod directly through the earbuds. Any thoughts as to the problem? TIA!
 
I have to agree with the OP that the functions are pretty primitive. I'm pretty spoiled with Ford's SYNC system, and miss having voice commands for both the USB devices and the bluetooth audio.

I do get track information from my Droid over bluetooth, and am really excited about the potential of both Amazon and Google's cloud storage for music. I got my invite to the google music beta, and it's pretty slick. I can fairly easily stream music from the cloud via 3g and to the Leaf's stereo over bluetooth. Usually very little lag between songs. It's pretty nice and I have access to my entire music library. The only down side is that, outside of next/previous track and volume, i have to control the music using the phone. Amazon's MP3 player works the same.

I played around with the USB and eventually just went with a low profile 8gb flash drive. Copied a bunch of MP3s to it organized by folder and it works just like my iPod did. I figure why monkey around with the iPod when the system's interface basically just uses it like a dumb drive anyway. Works fine and I feel comfortable leaving it in the car, as it's almost invisible and even if someone does take it it cost me a whopping $9.
 
JPVLeaf said:
After almost a month of working just fine, the playback on my iPod through the USB port has stopped. I can scroll through the various playlists on my iPod, but when selected the track does not play. The playback time remains at 0:00. The tracks appear correctly, and I can view Info. But, no playback. :cry:

The same playlists are on my iPad, and the tracks playback when my iPad is connected to the USB port. The tracks playback is also fine when listening to my iPod directly through the earbuds. Any thoughts as to the problem? TIA!
FWIW, my update to my non-playback issue described above was to do a 'simple' reset of my iPod.
Playback was restored. Have no idea what caused the problem. But, apparently when in doubt, Reset .... :roll:
 
davewill said:
jcesare said:
RSLion said:
I heard Steve Jobs bought a Leaf. I'm sure he's crying in frustration while he tries to use his iPod. My suggestion to Nissan is to rip all the center console crap out and put an iPad to control all the ancillary systems.
First they need to elimiate Flash from the CARWINGS website. Totally worthless with the iPad
I see that as the iPad being totally worthless with CARWINGS. ;)
+1
 
I love my LEAF but the controls/UI needs refinement/simplification. Nissan should have worked with Apple on the UI. You can tell it was designed by engineers and not by UI experts. All systems need to be unified with consistent/simple controls.
 
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