I have a couple of questions and have not found anything on the forums about them. First, does anyone know if the power to the USB port ever shuts off or is it on all the time? Second, I have an iPod Touch and if I plug it into the USB port it does not recognize it. Does anyone have any suggestions or insights on this?

 

Just about all USB ports shut off when the engine is stopped. There may be a brief delay, but that is normal.
If those ports were always on , depending what was connected to it , could drain the battery and leave you stranded.