The Ultimate iPod Info Thread

Originally Posted by Swift

So Pause automatically shuts the Ipod down? And althoug hit was a very thorough and insightful post, I'm not sure if I want to install the aux jack etc if I do turn the car in after only a few months.

When playing connected to a power supply and the power is turned off, the iPod automatically pauses and shuts down shortly thereafter.

Since you have an '07 you already have the aux input on the rear side of the center console, right next to 2 power outlets, so you can connect your iPod with the iCarCharger there (although not the most elegant solution) if you don't want to take the time to run some wires.

Originally Posted by stream

When playing connected to a power supply and the power is turned off, the iPod automatically pauses and shuts down shortly thereafter.

Since you have an '07 you already have the aux input on the rear side of the center console, right next to 2 power outlets, so you can connect your iPod with the iCarCharger there (although not the most elegant solution) if you don't want to take the time to run some wires.

Alright thanks. I experimented today and the Ipod does in fact shut down once paused. This even without being plugged into to a power source. I was also thinking about using the icarcharger but already have my treo charger plugged in there and it's starting to get busy back there.

The fact that it automatically shuts down is good enough for me. Much appreciated!

Hi

Does anyone know if the retrofit ipod interface support Audible content on your ipod, and if so how do you access it ? Or should I just go the Aux in route?

Thanks

James

Originally Posted by jherisme

Hello All.

I just purchased a new 2008 535i. I got the usb connection in the center console. When i went to plug in my ipod I had a few problems. If i play a song the song name is a random series of characters. Also when browsing by artist it does not show all my songs that i have. For example if i go into a particular artist, it only shows me 4 songs and I know i have more.

Any tips?

Thanks guys

Hello all - Having the same problem here on a new 2007 335i with the iPod connection. Song Titles appear as the following examples:

bkil
bqpm
cfnp
ciaw
ctdp
dyyg

and so on...

Anyone know of a fix for this? The songs play, but no idea what they are by the directory listing. Folders and artists names are the same way... Is it firmware on the iPod? Or a software bug that my BMW dealer needs to update?

HELP!

Thanks,
James

Here's a thought: see if the problem persists when you connect a friend's, hopefully newer, iPod. I had this done at the dealer when my iPod had probs aftre I took delivery of my 650, and sure enough, it worked with the tech's Nano, so I went home and updated my firmware. Problem solved.

Hi

I am having the same problem with a 520D USB interface. I have 2 ipods, one 80GB and one 30GB, one enabled for disk access and one not and they both have the same problem. The format that you are seeing is actually the file structure on the IPOD (if you set the IPOD to disk use you can see this). The BMW is failing to intepret wherever the index is stored to make sense of the random file structure, this is a bit of a blow as the USB input is useless without it doing this correctly.

If anyone has theirs working maybe we could work out what the differences are?

Thanks

Originally Posted by ntwrks1

Hello all - Having the same problem here on a new 2007 335i with the iPod connection. Song Titles appear as the following examples:

bkil
bqpm
cfnp
ciaw
ctdp
dyyg

and so on...

Anyone know of a fix for this? The songs play, but no idea what they are by the directory listing. Folders and artists names are the same way... Is it firmware on the iPod? Or a software bug that my BMW dealer needs to update?

HELP!

Thanks,
James

If you have the 6FL iPod option (factory), you have to use the special BMW combo aux/USB cable, you can't just plug in your iPod using your own iPod cable. If you use the BMW supplied cable (you should have received this from your dealer), the iDrive display should work just fine.

Many thanks for that ChrisDressler, I came to that independent conclusion myself yesterday after talking to the dealers and Customer Service in BMW.

Stupid thing is in UK this cable is not free of charge! You pay the £150 to have the USB port fitted in the car and then have to fork out a further £30 for a cable. They also do not make it clear that you need the cable at the point of ordering so you have to go back later and purchase it.

All in all not very clever really, but I am sure a few days of inconvinience will be worth it in the end.

Thanks again.

Anyone personally compare the AUX input and the IPOD connector for sound difference? I read all 15 pages of the thread and I read about the difference when listening to classical music, but that was it. Anyone else? Anyone compare the difference between using the iPOD dock connector (on the iPOD) vs the headphone jack (on the iPOD) when plugging the iPOD into the AUX connector?

I have both the AUX and Ipod dock connector, the dock connector is much better. The only way to get the Aux connnector to sound almost as good, is to a)use an adaptor with 'line-out' capabilities from the ipod (i.e. the SIK imp or other cable) and use a high quality cable to connect to the AUX input.

Otherwise, the dock is the way to go if you are interested in high quality audio. Its much more convenient. I added the dock after making the mistake of installing the AUX first. I listen to classical jazz, R&B, and rock most of the time, and have the L7 stereo.

Being able to use the iDrive screen is much safer as well.

Hi i'm new to this forum, I'm looking to add the ipod integration adapter for the i-drive and the dealership asked if my car was prewired for it. How can i find that out?
They told me they'd have to check and if it wasn't it would be expensive to install.
I don't want to get ripped off, any help would be appreciated.

thanks
Rick

Originally Posted by rdmitruk

Hi i'm new to this forum, I'm looking to add the ipod integration adapter for the i-drive and the dealership asked if my car was prewired for it. How can i find that out?
They told me they'd have to check and if it wasn't it would be expensive to install.
I don't want to get ripped off, any help would be appreciated.

thanks
Rick

The iPod interface replaces the CD changer, so what I believe the dealer was asking is whether your car was pre-wired for the CD changer. Do you have a CD changer? If so, you're OK. If not, you need to determine if your car has CD changer preparation (option SA 694). The dealer can run your VIN to determine if you do or not.

See install instructions below.

I don't have a changer, but i hope i had the prep.
thanks a lot. =)

Originally Posted by stream

The iPod interface replaces the CD changer, so what I believe the dealer was asking is whether your car was pre-wired for the CD changer. Do you have a CD changer? If so, you're OK. If not, you need to determine if your car has CD changer preparation (option SA 694). The dealer can run your VIN to determine if you do or not.

See install instructions below.

This enables the ipod to dock/charge through the glovebox and be accessable through i-drive in E60s that have the changer or changer prep yes?

I was recently told that due to the fiber in my car that I could only get a hard-wired FM transmitter for ipod functionality.

Comments below in bold

Originally Posted by Melkir

This enables the ipod to dock/charge through the glovebox and be accessable through i-drive in E60s that have the changer or changer prep yes?
Yes

I was recently told that due to the fiber in my car that I could only get a hard-wired FM transmitter for ipod functionality.
As I suggested to the other member, I'd have the dealer run your VIN to see if you have CD changer prep.

Thanks, I do have the changer already. Good to know that it'll integrate Thanks.

What a MAJOR disappointment! So I went to Toronto BMW this morning to get the AUX input installed. The SA asked me to sign the authorization - $700! I said, no way. I was quoted $117 for the cable and 1.3 hrs at $119 per hour. That's $270 or so plus taxes. He said that's for the installation. And then it takes 3-4 hrs to program it. Obviously I left without the installation. Why would someone quote me 1.3 hrs without programming when programming is required? It's like telling people the car is $25,000 without saying that the engine and transmission are going to be another $50,000. Needless to say, I am never going to Toronto BMW again.

Now that I got that off my chest, I guess I will be bringing with me lots of CDs for my 8 hrs drive tomorrow to Philly. Or maybe I will give my FM transmitter another shot.

I'm getting the major run-around depending on who I talk to about this dealer ipod adapter. One person tells me that the 04s can't be done, another says that my production date is -just- within the cut-off, but there are still conditions where it 'might not work right'. And there is further confusion about software and the like, and what revision I need to be at to make sure it all works...

I'm not entirely sure how I clear this up other than calling shop after shop until I get the answer I'm looking for...

Does anyone know (with any authoirty) what the situation is on a production of 09/03, non-nav e60, for my options?

Originally Posted by Melkir

I'm getting the major run-around depending on who I talk to about this dealer ipod adapter. One person tells me that the 04s can't be done, another says that my production date is -just- within the cut-off, but there are still conditions where it 'might not work right'. And there is further confusion about software and the like, and what revision I need to be at to make sure it all works...

I'm not entirely sure how I clear this up other than calling shop after shop until I get the answer I'm looking for...

Does anyone know (with any authoirty) what the situation is on a production of 09/03, non-nav e60, for my options?

For the iPod interface to work, your car must have MP3 playback capability. When your car was built, MP3 playback wasn't available on E60 cars. To get MP3 playback, your Progman needs to be updated if you car doesn't have V22.00 or higher, and they need to "retrofit" MP3 playback capability--see SIB 653005 (attached).

According to all the BMW documents I've seen on this subject, if your E60 has nav (CCC in BMW speak) all production dates from start of production can get MP3 playback retrofitted. However, for non-nav cars (M-ASK in BMW speak), it is not possible.

Towards the top of SIB 653005 (attached) it says: E60, E61 (5 Series) with SA 609 CCC-Navigation from SOP to 9/29/05 vehicle production (so your car doesn't meet the requirements since it doesn't have nav).

Near the bottom of the page of SIB 651805 (attached) it says: Retrofitting of a MP3 compatible M-ASK is not possible on E60 vehicles (so it's not possible on your car since it has M-ASK, or non-nav).

The first version of SIB 653005 said only CCC cars from 3/05 to 9/25/05 vehicle production could be retrofitted (now updated in SIB 653005 to be from SOP to 9/25/05), so it's possible that the info for non-nav cars may have changed as well, but just reading these docs it appears your car can't be retrofitted for MP3.

So it seems like the aux input is the way to go.

Well. That's a rather costly mistake on my part it seems.

Thanks for the info.

Pardon me while I grasp at straws...

Assuming that the vehicle has the capacity to get the 20.0 update (I believe it's currently on 19) which includes the software for interpreting the mp3 format, and granted that there may be a physical limitation with the cd-drive hardware (though I don't remember people needing to upgrade their cd-drives to play mp3). The adapter is just an object on the MOST bus, it's the software that interprets the format and plays it.. so.. in that scenario is there any imaginable restrictions that would cause that to not work being as the ipod wouldn't have any phyiscal limitation on sending the data to the software? Does the retrofit 'check' to see if the hardware is correct, or any number of codes exist before it'll set the mp3 compatability?

Expecting that it (mp3 playback) wouldn't work in the cd drive, of course.

I may appear to be going on and on, but this is a real "need" feature for me.

My 03/04 production 545 does not have MP3 capability, and runs the iPod adaptor just fine through my iDrive.

There is no need to have MP3 playback capability.

Originally Posted by Melkir

Pardon me while I grasp at straws...

Assuming that the vehicle has the capacity to get the 20.0 update (I believe it's currently on 19) which includes the software for interpreting the mp3 format, and granted that there may be a physical limitation with the cd-drive hardware (though I don't remember people needing to upgrade their cd-drives to play mp3). The adapter is just an object on the MOST bus, it's the software that interprets the format and plays it.. so.. in that scenario is there any imaginable restrictions that would cause that to not work being as the ipod wouldn't have any phyiscal limitation on sending the data to the software? Does the retrofit 'check' to see if the hardware is correct, or any number of codes exist before it'll set the mp3 compatability?

Expecting that it (mp3 playback) wouldn't work in the cd drive, of course.

I may appear to be going on and on, but this is a real "need" feature for me.

Any E60 can get updated Progman versions (the latest is 25.xx). The issue with earlier non-nav MY E60 cars is that the M-ASK isn't capable or running the MP3 playback software, so you can't use the in-dash CD for MP3, nor can you use the iPod interface.

Originally Posted by Eric B

My 03/04 production 545 does not have MP3 capability, and runs the iPod adaptor just fine through my iDrive.

There is no need to have MP3 playback capability.

That's the first time I've heard that. Have you tried playing an MP3 CD in the dash drive? It could be that the dealer enabled MP3 playback when they coded the car for the iPod interface.

This post confirms what I thought about MP3 playback & iPod interface:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...19#post2353319

Sounds like a lot of work I would take it to a professional car audio installer or you could always try a better altenative -buy a new 2008 and get it as an option.