I've been wanting for a while now to find or get a CD which would allow the stereo in the car to show the album title and track information on the MFD. There are very few CDs out there that come encoded with text from the publisher or rather I haven't found one yet.

So, the next logical step was making a copy of an existing CD with a quality duplication/burning software package. I'm a Mac guy so Toast is my chosen package. And as luck would have it, Toast does support CDText. As a side note for techies, if I were to use iTunes, I would have to convert to mp3 and then back to CDaudio, which isn't what I wanted to do. It is a little lossy, so it isn't a true duplicate. I wanted a true clone of an existing CD, with correct track spacing, but with the text added.

So, one I took an original, and prior to the copy/burn Toast prompted me for a track name and I asked that it go to the Internet and get the track listing off from the CDDB. The CDDB filled in all the track names and provided an album title. Commence burning.

A few minutes later out comes my freshly burned copy of my original CD, hopefully with text. Into the Prius JBL stereo and there it is. CDtext album and track titles. Very cool. I'm not really bothered by duplicating my CDs for this purpose because I would prefer not to use and keep my originals in the car anyway.

Yet another thing to amaze your friends with.

 

Haha. Yeah, I don't really have CDs to bother with, but it's a nice feature, eh?

 

Also off topic, a little:

I used to work for the computer lab system at WSU. We had Macs in lab service and frankly they were awful to support in a Netware, and then subsequently a Windows 2000 environment. Now this goes way back because I started working for them in the fall of 1998, which for many seems like an eternity ago, but not for me so much.

Anyway, it wasn't until OS10 that our Macs really were part of our network and authentication scheme. Apple eventually did a beautiful job of integrating a lot of different networking protocols into OS10. They did a sufficient enough job that by my last year there we had our Macs authenticating to a Windows 2000 tree and we had full print counting and hourly usage billing (if the customer chose that option) on that platform. There were some support techs that felt that the Mac actually integrated into the network with less fuss than Windows did.

So Jason, I'm sorry that you had a bad Mac experience. I'm not sure what I'd chalk it up to. I worked on my high school newspaper when I was a senior 10 years ago (yes it is my 10 year reunion year) and I was the one that brought that Mac setup back up to speed. Their issue was networking and the fact that they had wire looping around the paper room with no rhyme or reason. After a little bit of a capital expenditure we were able to get the network put back together and then everything was stable. So, proper maintenance is key.

I never worked yearbook, but I had friends that did. It too was a Mac shop. I'm trying to remember the name of the publishing company, but we were always sending them floppy disks with completed sections for integration in the book. Amazing how we all survived those days of computing.

So, let me get this straight, you have a top of the line Prius and you have no CDs to play in the most excellent stereo? Wow. Well, the CDText is a nice feature if you or anyone else gets around to using it.

I'm just a little surprised that there haven't been more comments about that feature and how to use it. Most of the comments I've heard about Prius audio are regarding lack of factory XM option, and lack of mp3 CD playback. The lack of mp3 CD playback I think is a gaping hole, but all of these auto makers are paranoid about being sued, especially for issues that are not auto related.

 

No, I don't really have CDs. I kind of find them a waste of money, as rarely do I know exactly what song I want to listen to; even more rarely do I know what CD to buy. I do have PriusXM integrated now, though, so I can see text on the display, anyway.

About the Macs, there are serious networking issues we have at school, but that isn't the only thing. I find the basic GUI to be faulty. For instance, only being able to resize windows from the bottom right. Not being able to maximize. Having a desktop bar at the top that constantly changes. Having to click around the monitor just to get ahold of a certain program. I think there are keyboard shortcuts, but that's besides the point. Also, the one-button mouse is not simplified... it's complicated. Not being able to right-click or side-click or scroll, etc. means you've got to use the keyboard more frequently and fly around the screen to get things done. It's less efficient.

Personal taste, but I haven't gotten used to it.

 

Trust me, my CD collection is pretty paltry compared to others. I haven't spent thousands of dollars on CD, and I frankly don't ever plan to. But every now and then I pick up a new one of somebody that I like or heard that sounds good. I've thought about doing the XM thing, but I don't like the idea of the monthly cost. I avoid monthly payments or subscriptions wherever I can. You are smart to not have spent a lot of money on CDs. I didn't either when I was probably about your age. In fact I was pretty tight fisted when I was in high school.

I'm not one of these blind Mac users which will espouse that we have a superior interface, but if you grow up with a 1 button mouse that is what you use and you learn keyboard shortcuts and other ways of accomplishing the same tasks without the mouse. However, Apple implemented contextual menus in the last versions of System 8 and it has continued through into OS10. With a single button mouse you have to control-click for a context menu, but it works the same as on Windows. If you purchase a 3rd party mouse it will have the right button and a scroll wheel and the buttons function as expected with right click bringing up a context menu. Since schools don't ever purchase custom or aftermarket peripherals, especially no more expensive mice, the items built into the interface go unused because Apple continues to choose not to provide a right button on their mouse. I don't understand why.

I've used a Kensington TurboRing trackball for years. One of the best pointing devices I've ever used and I have really learned to love the right click functionality it provides. But sitting down at my Dad's G4 and not having it doesn't bother me either. I'm rather keyboard oriented after all of these years.

I put my frequently used apps in the task bar at the bottom of the screen. That is what it is there for. Makes getting around a lot easier, plus when an app is running it should be in the task bar to click on. As for the fixed menu bar, I prefer it that way. I have never liked having a separate menu bar for each window instance of an application. Seems really wasteful of screen real estate and system resources to be creating menu bars on each window rather than having one menu bar at the top of the screen which changes from app to app. When using multiple applications, I have never expected, say for the menu bar to be the same between Explorer and Word. I expect it to change based on the application I'm in.

I wonder if anyone else has played around to get CDText working with their Prii?

 

I think Green Day's "American Idiot" was the first one we found that had the audio titles that worked.

Mostly thought we use our Ipods, we bought a power adaptor and FM transmitter for them (~US$100) - they sit in the armrest cavity and work great (why is that cavity not quite wide enough for CDs stacked in it all the way down it's length ... OK at the back but not at the front ... a few more mm and it would be OK, what were they thinking?)

 

For the most part, the only slot in the car which is jewel case friendly is the one in the dash, unless you have the aftermarket/port option 6-disc player installed, and then there is basically no place to put CD cases. Not exactly the best design item. Sure, I suppose you could put them in the door pockets, but that is a place where the cases will scratch up the door pockets, and rattle and shake.

 

I've been using EZ CD creator 5.0 platinum on the disc at once setting and it burns CD text that shows in my Prius. On my other system, I've used Nero and it works, too. I love that! Everyone who rides with me thinks it's cool to show cd text. Downside is I have the base system (single CD, non-JBL) with the add-on changer in the empty pocket below the radio. The cd-text doesn't work in the changer, just the single play cd. Bummer. any ideas if this can be changed? Drive fun, drive clean, drive Prius.

 

I feel really certain in saying that it cannot be changed. That 6-disc in the storage slot is a serious Toyota afterthought. It is a less sophisticated player than the one in the head unit. It probably isn't certified to read CDText, and as such it doesn't.

 

When our CD's or cases rattle in the car, we tuck a Beanie Baby in with it. This stops the rattling and makes the Beanie Baby more useful.