Disappointing Hyundai response re: iPod flaws

[Matt]

Hi, please forgive me if this has been addressed as i just joined the forum today (picked up the 3.8 premium plus yesterday). My issue relates to the ipod. i purchased the cable from the dealer and hooked it up only to find that the audio plays from the left speakers only, with poor audio quality. i checked the balance and confirmed it's ok. the problem does not exist on other audio sources (CD, XM, etc). in addition, i hooked up a sandisk 2G flash drive and it works fine. any suggestions? also, if i have to switch over to a flash drive, does anyone know how to configure the drive so that i can sort by Artist. Currently, it only allows me to sort by Album and Song. i'm still getting used to the category button on the radio dash but cant seem to get it to sort the artist (let alone get the steering wheel control sort it). thanks for the tips.

 

[enjoyingsilence]

Has anyone tried this? I'm under the impression that it will randomly select the number of songs specified, but it will still list them in alphabetical order.

And now we enter the shrubbery maze.

I'm obtaining an iPod. just to test it ... and work with some 3rd party plugins ... to help find a solution to this.

 

[enjoyingsilence]

Hi, please forgive me if this has been addressed as i just joined the forum today (picked up the 3.8 premium plus yesterday). My issue relates to the ipod. i purchased the cable from the dealer and hooked it up only to find that the audio plays from the left speakers only, with poor audio quality. i checked the balance and confirmed it's ok. the problem does not exist on other audio sources (CD, XM, etc). in addition, i hooked up a sandisk 2G flash drive and it works fine. any suggestions? also, if i have to switch over to a flash drive, does anyone know how to configure the drive so that i can sort by Artist. Currently, it only allows me to sort by Album and Song. i'm still getting used to the category button on the radio dash but cant seem to get it to sort the artist (let alone get the steering wheel control sort it). thanks for the tips.

In ref to sound coming from left side only, I'm willing to wager, it's the audio cable. If you look at the metal audio jack, on the cable itself. There should be "two metal rings (usually black)" circling the silver metal. Each of those represents (generally) a channel. (in this case, it's a channel. sometimes it can generate a small electrical current, to change tracks, or initiate a play/pause signal. like on the new ipods/iphones and their respective heaphones).

I'm guessing one of those rings/bands is either: a. damaged, or b. not situated in the seating of the arm rest receptacle correctly. What you might try. For grins and giggles. Is obtain a standard, auxillary line out connector. (generally a ipod aux cable), for a few bucks from your major walmarx (hehe) retail outlet and see if you get left and right channel. just to test for damage to that receptacle. if that works fine, you likely have a faulty connector.

then you can return that aux connector you purchased.

---

just an idea.

--

or you could swap it out at your dealership

 

[enjoyingsilence]

cliff. I just tested the smart play list. It doesn't apply a sort method. It's a real random sort. Live updating regenerates the list on sync. Again. In random order.

 

[jcs]

cliff. I just tested the smart play list. It doesn't apply a sort method. It's a real random sort. Live updating regenerates the list on sync. Again. In random order.

Are you saying that creating a smart playlist as opposed to a conventional playlist solves the random play problem?

 

[enjoyingsilence]

somewhat. I'm driving. And will write detailed pros & cons in a little bit.

 

[cliffbig]

Can't wait to read the full report; if this works, it may offer a viable solution.

(Next we'll see if it works with a random assortment of 15,000 songs...)

 

[enjoyingsilence]

And let the games begin...

--

cliff: playlists, should work fine with any amount of songs. Even random ones... iTunes is really just a GIANT XML file, with a pretty interface.

anyway

---

creating a smart playlist, as I've described above. Has many stipulations. Sure, it will autogenerate, a completely random playlist, sorted in NO particularly order. The problem is.. when you sync your iPod or iPhone, it doesn't update the playlist with a new set of random songs. Unless you provide it with a stipulation.

If you reference my first 2 attachments, you'll see the smart playlist creation window. Here you can specify options and rules for creating a playlist. The second image contains boolean terms..... you get the idea on those.

There are several things you could select in the first option/rule selection list, that could repopulate the list at each sync (details below). However, if you don't mind a few extra clicks here is my best solution. And an almost guaranteed solution.

Create a Smart Playlist by opening iTunes. Click File > Create Smart Playlist. Title your playlist anyway you like.

Uncheck match the following rule(s).

Limit to however many items you like. Selected by random.

• (CAVEAT TIME: If you're like cliff, and have a extreme amount of music, like 15k songs, create 2-4 playlists. Why? Well... you have a wide selection to choose from in the car. Plus we know the interface is rather laggy, and a MASSIVE playlist could take a lil while to load. Additionally, the 'random' algorithim is only "SO" random, lol. Shuffling a playlist of 15k songs on the regular isn't so random, as interchanging 15k songs, between 3 - 4 playlists, on the regular.) yes. it will work with a single playlist, of 15 thousand songs, lol . With no problems. As I said, iTunes is a giant XML file.

If you're like me, and have music videos, or songs that you don't put on your iPod, check : Match only checked items. (this keeps your iPod from syncing songs which are not checked.

Click Live Updating.

---

Sounds like something I wrote before right? Doesn't answer many questions in detail?

Well here's the catch. Other than defining stipulations. such as Match Following rule, based on last time played, etc... (you'll have to play with these rules.... the playlist will not be automatically/automagically (hehe) randomized each time you sync.

So How do you do it?

Well... Simple. Open iTunes, when you sync your iPod... Select all of your songs in the PLAYLIST. NOT your LIBRARY (goodness forbid). and delete them. Since it's a smart playlist, a new set of random songs will be generated in seconds. Resync your ipod, and you have a new random playlist.

If you get the concept of having 3-4 playlists, splitting/dividing your massive library, you have large random playlists, without the chance of having recurrences of songs, as often as you would.. perhaps even as often as using the "real" random/shuffle feature.

--

edit: there are other plugins for itunes, that can help with this, for mac users there are automator scripts that do this. and I am at the same time researching other options for us. I'd like everyone's feed back. I'm trying to think out of the box. this is a very simple solution. even with cliff... if he was to create a smart playlist, of his entire library, and delete all items on it, re-randomizing it, over and over, that's a awful big chance he'd end up with the same sequential order in the near future.

 

[jcs]

Not sure if this solution has otherwise been discussed, but I found the solution (I think) for the iPod battery drain when the car is not in use. There is a setting called "sleep" in the iPod. This setting will turn the iPod off after about 2 minutes if no song is playing. Since the Genesis will pause the iPod when you turn the ignition off, the iPod will then go into sleep mode after about 2 minutes and the battery drain from the iPod is minimal. Turning on the ignition will wake the iPod from sleep mode and continue playing from the track where you left off.

I feel dumb for not realizing this before because I have been dealing with the iPod battery running down every night and then the iPod rebooting when I start the car in the morning and playing the very first song on the iPod - every time! Even if I did not have aux selected, the act of the iPod booting up with a dead battery would cause the DIS to select the iPod and play the same damn song.

This explains why some have not had this problem and others have. I don't know which iPods have this sleep setting, but be sure you find the setting with the on / off choice for sleep. There is another setting called sleep that just puts the iPod into sleep when you select it. You want to actually change the setting to yes.

 

[wallymn]

And let the games begin...

--

cliff: playlists, should work fine with any amount of songs. Even random ones... iTunes is really just a GIANT XML file, with a pretty interface.

anyway

---

creating a smart playlist, as I've described above. Has many stipulations. Sure, it will autogenerate, a completely random playlist, sorted in NO particularly order. The problem is.. when you sync your iPod or iPhone, it doesn't update the playlist with a new set of random songs. Unless you provide it with a stipulation.

If you reference my first 2 attachments, you'll see the smart playlist creation window. Here you can specify options and rules for creating a playlist. The second image contains boolean terms..... you get the idea on those.

There are several things you could select in the first option/rule selection list, that could repopulate the list at each sync (details below). However, if you don't mind a few extra clicks here is my best solution. And an almost guaranteed solution.

Create a Smart Playlist by opening iTunes. Click File > Create Smart Playlist. Title your playlist anyway you like.

Uncheck match the following rule(s).

Limit to however many items you like. Selected by random.

• (CAVEAT TIME: If you're like cliff, and have a extreme amount of music, like 15k songs, create 2-4 playlists. Why? Well... you have a wide selection to choose from in the car. Plus we know the interface is rather laggy, and a MASSIVE playlist could take a lil while to load. Additionally, the 'random' algorithim is only "SO" random, lol. Shuffling a playlist of 15k songs on the regular isn't so random, as interchanging 15k songs, between 3 - 4 playlists, on the regular.) yes. it will work with a single playlist, of 15 thousand songs, lol . With no problems. As I said, iTunes is a giant XML file.

If you're like me, and have music videos, or songs that you don't put on your iPod, check : Match only checked items. (this keeps your iPod from syncing songs which are not checked.

Click Live Updating.

---

Sounds like something I wrote before right? Doesn't answer many questions in detail?

Well here's the catch. Other than defining stipulations. such as Match Following rule, based on last time played, etc... (you'll have to play with these rules.... the playlist will not be automatically/automagically (hehe) randomized each time you sync.

So How do you do it?

Well... Simple. Open iTunes, when you sync your iPod... Select all of your songs in the PLAYLIST. NOT your LIBRARY (goodness forbid). and delete them. Since it's a smart playlist, a new set of random songs will be generated in seconds. Resync your ipod, and you have a new random playlist.

If you get the concept of having 3-4 playlists, splitting/dividing your massive library, you have large random playlists, without the chance of having recurrences of songs, as often as you would.. perhaps even as often as using the "real" random/shuffle feature.

--

edit: there are other plugins for itunes, that can help with this, for mac users there are automator scripts that do this. and I am at the same time researching other options for us. I'd like everyone's feed back. I'm trying to think out of the box. this is a very simple solution. even with cliff... if he was to create a smart playlist, of his entire library, and delete all items on it, re-randomizing it, over and over, that's a awful big chance he'd end up with the same sequential order in the near future.

Thanks I learned a new feature for the iTunes software, never noticed the "smart list" I setup a couple of random lists...


Any way to get a GENIUS list to play from the car's interface?

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[Sayantsi]

Any way to get a GENIUS list to play from the car's interface?

Sure, after you make a Genius playlist on the computer, have it sync to the iPod and plug it into the car. Then just select that playlist from the menu, and press "2" on the radio to play the songs in random order.

 

[cliffbig]

And let the games begin...

--

cliff: playlists, should work fine with any amount of songs. Even random ones... iTunes is really just a GIANT XML file, with a pretty interface.
....

edit: there are other plugins for itunes, that can help with this, for mac users there are automator scripts that do this. and I am at the same time researching other options for us. I'd like everyone's feed back. I'm trying to think out of the box. this is a very simple solution. even with cliff... if he was to create a smart playlist, of his entire library, and delete all items on it, re-randomizing it, over and over, that's a awful big chance he'd end up with the same sequential order in the near future.

I've used the smart playlist feature for about a year now, and it works well enough (I have found another way to randomize on the fly is simply to change the number of songs in each smart playlist), and while it works adequately, it still doesn't give you the option of on-the-fly randomization in the vehicle, and it forces you to have pre-planned and pre-randomized every existing playlist in order to use it randomly (and with 18k songs now and 88 playlists, that's a lot of smart playlists!).

The other problems with the crude iPod integration system designed into the Lexicon include an inability to display song/artist/album info (I have 43 versions of I Am the Walrus--it'd be nice to know which one is about to play), and its inability to display track being played as part of a playlist. That is, after the random has played for a while, if I go back to the playlist, rather than defaultling to the song being played, it defaults to display the first song in the playlist... and if I've been using the playlist for a while, I might have to move downscreen twenty or thirty times to find the song I'm playing.

All in all, it's an awfully designed iPod interface that's an embarrassment for a vehicle otherwise as sophisticated as the Genesis... and I still say they should be ashamed of putting an inferior interface on the Lexicon models and a better interface on the standard sound system. What a way to cheat the customers who paid thousands more!...

 

[rock]

I have a classic ipod that worked fine for 6 months or more but now is not recognized by the tecnology package sound system when plugged in. Does anyone have this experience.
what ipods work with this system consistently?
I have 60 gigs of music on my ipod.

 

[BacktoHyundaibychoice]

I have a classic ipod that worked fine for 6 months or more but now is not recognized by the tecnology package sound system when plugged in. Does anyone have this experience.
what ipods work with this system consistently?
I have 60 gigs of music on my ipod.

That happened to me too. After working for almost a year, I'd get no sound when using the iPod. It was a bad cable, replaced, and all is well again.

 

[dond13]

All models will read/play a CD with MP3 files. No technical reason why the DVD should not work in the Tech, but you might want to give it a test first.

I have burned about 15 DVD's with several variations of folders, etc, trying to get a DVD to play music but all attempts fail. I have used 3 software programs on my computer to burn the files and everything works on the computer but won't work in the car. I have the Tech Package witht the Lexicon.

What happens when I get it in the car is that the songs are listed on the display, but it won't stop on aboub 95 percent of them to play. It just keeps skipping down to the next song.

I used Windows Media Player, Nero and Cyberlink to burn the DVD's with no success. Has anyone got it to work?

 

[rock]

FYI
I took my car into the dealer after two weeks iwas determined that the genesis will support only certain IPODS my Classic with 160 gigs willnot work However my wife's 8 gig and my kids 4 gig Ipod do. Also my other older classic with 60 gigs will not work.

I have two IPOd cables and both work fine Bought another since service said the cable was probably bad)

I have all my music on the classic with 60 gigs used. I need a larger IPOD but currently Apple makes Nanno , Phones and IPOD Touch with not enough memory. Does anyone know why the larger gig products will not work???

 

[johnrudy]

I, too, have iPod issues. However, mine didn't seem to be described here. Unlike most of you good folks, I don't really use random much -- I just organized all my music in great detail, so that I can quickly and easily get to whatever I want to hear.

So what's my problem? The lists don't always load all the way. Every now and again, when clicking through the menus on the DIS, the next menu list will only partially load -- typically, it will load exactly the same number of items as the previous menu.

Example: I navigate through genres, then select Rock. There are several hundred artists represented here; occasionally only the first twenty or so will be loaded. (Exactly the same number as my genre list. I have varied musical tastes.)

Usually, going back a menu and then returning to my list (a few, but sometimes several) times will take care of it.

Of course, I have the tech package with the Lexicon system. I've considered bugging the dealer about this (I'll be visiting them this week so I probably will then), but have considered it such a minor nuisance that I didn't want to bother. Now that I know you guys are all having iPod issues, too, though -- I will be vocal!

(I've also bugged @chosford1 on Twitter about this now. He's a Hyundai PR flack, but seems to communicate back to the home office pretty regularly.)

Other than that, I'm in love with the car. That really has been my only issue. Well, that and the fact that I haven't had time to take a good-for-the-soul real road trip in it yet!

Driving off topic for a moment ...

Honestly, it's not hard to get a developer key for the software, and to the installation yourself. I've already applied for one. The USB interface in your arm rest does A LOT more than you think.

How would I go about getting a dev key? Who should I be talking to? I'd love to tap into that ... (I, too, am a software engineer, so I feel somewhat qualified to tinker.)

 

[cliffbig]

FYI
I took my car into the dealer after two weeks iwas determined that the genesis will support only certain IPODS my Classic with 160 gigs willnot work However my wife's 8 gig and my kids 4 gig Ipod do. Also my other older classic with 60 gigs will not work.

Not sure who told you this, but I have four iPods that I use in the Genesis (depends which one is available at the time), and one is the 160gb iPod and another is the 60gb iPod, and both of them work as well as any of the others--that is, they will function and will use playlists, etc., but will not retain a random setting through the iPod, forcing me to randomize using smart playlists prior to connecting the iPod. So my experience has been that any iPod with a dock connector will work equally crudely with the Lexicon system.

 

[tanyat23]

Well I suppose Cliff's complaint begs the question, which car model really has the best iPod integration? Is BMW or Lexus any better? Also to what degree of functionality do you need to go to be considered "integrated"?

The Genesis allows you to select playlists, play music, and search by song, artist or genre. Cliff wants to Shuffle songs. I want to be able to search artists rapidly. How about the ability to add your star rating? Technology is going to continue to evolve in this direction, obviously we are not there yet to satisfy everyone.

Nevertheless I have to say in spite of any limitations I am very impressed with this system.

The new Ford Sync is very impressive. You do not lose any ipod functionality and can in fact direct the ipod via voice commands. It's awesome. Never did I think I'd be so jealous of my husband's pickup as when he says "shuffle artist stevie ray vaughn" and it actually does.

 

[Sayantsi]

Not sure who told you this, but I have four iPods that I use in the Genesis (depends which one is available at the time), and one is the 160gb iPod and another is the 60gb iPod, and both of them work as well as any of the others--that is, they will function and will use playlists, etc., but will not retain a random setting through the iPod, forcing me to randomize using smart playlists prior to connecting the iPod. So my experience has been that any iPod with a dock connector will work equally crudely with the Lexicon system.

If you have the non-Navigation head unit, you can press "2" to play songs in random order.