Does anybody use a Sony Walkman MP3 player (or another MP3) in their Gen III? I'll be honest, I'm not a great fan of Apple stuff so if I can avoid buying an Ipod I will. I'm not sure what the equivalent Gen III US spec is but the British spec I am thinking about is the mid range T4, which does without all the Nav equip (Nav and HDD is standard on the top spec TSpirit model). Again I'm not particularly bothered about having a full interface with the steering wheel audio control's and accept it will be a basic hook-up via the aux socket. Just wondering if anyone had any problems and what the sound quality was like? Any help and comments are most welcome.
I have a sandisk sansa mp3 player that I use in my 2010 Prius conncted using the aux cord, and it sounds perfect. You're not going to have any problems using the aux jack no matter what source you use.
Just remember that you need to find a balance of the volume controls from both the mp3 player and the radio- having one turned up too high or low will compromise sound quality. This is a common mistake people make. You don't want the car stereo amplifying the noise from a low mp3 player output signal or have the player turned so far up the car speakers are basically muted.
I also thank you. I just got my new Prius and have been trying to figure out what player to get that is not an IPOD. It sounds like I can use any MP3 player.
do you have streaming Bluetooth with your model? if so.. have you thought about using a stereo bluetooth enabled phone with a memory card as your mp3 player? (that's what i would do) if you have the phone, all you have to do is pick up a 2 or 4 gig stick for like 60 to 80 bucks. plus you'll get more function out of the phone... if you don't have Bluetooth... oh.. and shrug. i'm glad someone mentioned volume control. i'd say 70% volume on the device. i wish my car had an aux in.. the tape deck method is soo scratchy... (beats the radio though.. lol)
I have a non nav but bluetooth phone enabled Prius III that I just got. I have a Blackberry Pearl that I use as my mp3, how do I play my blackberry via the Prius' system via bluetooth as you do? Thanks
Unfortunately, you can't. Unless you get the Nav option, the III model only supports Bluetooth phone use, not audio.
I tried my nano with the aux cord, like I did in my previous car. The volume level is horrible, even at higher volume settings on the ipod. I made sure all the connections were tight. I might try a different cable.
For anybody that just has a bare bones Prius trim II, and just wants a PMP to use via the AUX jack, I would personally suggest the Meizu M6. Buy.com is selling it for $32 after a $19 MIR. It was a few dollars cheaper last week when I bought one (my first one died after several years of faithful hard useage), but it's still a very good deal at $32. The reason I'd recommend this particular player is that, in addition to it being known for its exceptional audio quality, it also has a host of EQ and spatialization settings you can tweak, that help you to greatly overcome the near lack of EQ controls in the base model 2010 Prius. I only spent a few minutes playing around with mine today (only have had my Prius a few days), but was able to really zero in on some good SQ. It certainly doesn't hurt that all my digital music is encoded as FLAC, and I'm sure other PMPs will give very good results as well. But for anyone in the market for a PMP to use with their Prius trim II, or higher trim models as well of course, you could do a lot worse than spend $32 on a Meiuze.
