I listen to a lot of podcasts since I'm on the road a lot. I used to listen to them on my iphone in my old car connected to an after market head unit with ipod integration. I had full control over the phone itself when plugged in. The dock connector cable was utilized strictly for power and sound output to the head unit. Because I had full control of my phone when plugged in, I would set the playback speed of the podcasts to 2x. Is there any way to use the USB connection in the prius in the same manner as my previous car? I love the idea of ipod integration in the nav unit, but the implementation used by toyota is slow, buggy and not fully functional. I cannot change playback speed for podcasts in the USB menu of the nav unit, therefore I have to use bluetooth which drains my phone (and results in me using a belkin charger instead of my nice built in USB port). Anyone out there have any ideas other than using a male-male audio cable?
My experience is that the USB connection is pretty flaky at best. It seems that the computer on the Prius can't handle a music player with lots and lots of stuff. So the folder navigation and such is not great. I use my iPhone 4 to listen to podcasts via BT and don't really notice much battery loss, but my drive is 30-45 minutes. Have you considered an iPad? The battery on that thing lasts until the cows die of old age, let alone come home.
I have considered the iPad, but it has been deferred by my wife for the next 5 years or until the prius is paid..... The perils of letting your wife do the books.
