Hi again: Sorry if this is a silly question, but I have a 2008 Prius with the #2 package. It has the Toyota AM/FM single CD player, no Navigation systems and some sort of Aux. plug for audio. My niece is an IPOD addict and since I drive her about a fair bit, she wants to use her IPOD in my car. But, I swear, I have read the owner's manual several times trying to figure out if this is possible. Whoever wrote it must have been an audio tech geek, because I can't figure it out. I have a fuzzy idea that I may have to buy some sort of adapter and then plug the adapter into the aux. plug that is down in the console. Does this sound right? Anyone who can explain it step by step for a couple of "we just want to hear the music girls"???
Yes, you need to buy a cord ... they are fairly cheap I believe ($10-15) ... just go to any Best Buy or electronics store and they should be able to help you no problem.
This cable from monoprice.com should work for you, plus it is only $1.60. You would plug one end into your iPod and one end into the Aux plug that is in the center console. Then you switch your stereo to the aux mode and press play on the iPod.
Thank you both so much for your help!! Much appreciated. And thanks for mentioning switching to "aux" mode, I am sure I never would have done that and been totally mystified as to why it didn't work when it was plugged in. BTW, I went ahead and ordered from the noted Web site. For a total of some $3.60 (which included next-day shipping), it was a couldn't pass it up sort of deal -- much better than hassles with the local electronic stores.
Experiment with the volume on your iPod a few times after you plug it in to your AUX port. You can adjust the volume of your iPod selection from the steering wheel (or the MFD) or the iPod. The Prius has a nice feature that allows you to crank the volume up on AUX but remembers the volume of FM1 and the others if you happen to switch to them while the iPod is still plugged in. If you don't dial up the volume from your iPod you will have to crank it pretty high on the Prius controls -- I didn't realize that at first.
Radio Shack also has a decent cable for around $7. I am still trying to find a good iPod holder that I can use instead of the front cupholder.
you can get a holder for you ipod or cell phone from best buy, pepboys, and autozone.. they are cheap, under $10.00 and work very well, i just put one in my prius that i picked up monday.. its great... good luck gary
I bought http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O80HJM for my '08. It is a dock to 3.5 mm cable. This allows line-out quality audio which is noticeably superior to the headphone-out method. It also means you only have to mess with the Prius volume controls and not worry about the iPod's.
Just a reminder -- I learned the hard way -- don't forget to shut off the iPod when you leave the car. Just because your Prius is taking a nap, the iPod's still running
I hadn't thought about the dock cable. I'm curious to try it out now even though I am very happy with the headphone-out method.
These are very off the top of my head numbers, but with the headphone out I had the iPod volume at about 90% and the stereo in the 40s on the volume dial. With the dock connection you can turn the iPod volume to 0% and I'm running the stereo in the 20s. I've been told that having the iPod volume turned up so high sucks more battery life, so that's another plus for the dock connection.
