iPhone 4 media adapter messes with iPod connected via USB

I recently took delivery of a new 2011 335d with the BMW apps option. Soon after, I bought one of the newly released iPhone 4 media "snap-in" adapters and installed it. NOTE: this is the new "media" adapter, not the older phone adapter.

Prior to installing the snap in adapter I regularly used an iPod Classic connected via USB cable with no problem. Once I installed the media adapter into its standard location, I've been having trouble with playback from the iPod that is still connected via USB. This happens even with no phone in the adapter.

The problem: When playing podcasts, normally I turn off the car and later start the car, and playback of the podcast continues normally. When the adapter is INSTALLED, the playback of the previous podcast continues but the SPEED of the podcast is totally messed up. Usually the new speed is slow and the sound of the voices in the podcast is noticeably lower than normal. Several times it was really sped up so that the voices sounded like chipmunks. The only way I've found to correct this is to change to a different podcast "album", i.e. a podcast from a different feed. Simply switching to the next podcast from the same feed doesn't solve the problem. Note that I've not tried to see whether this also happens with music but I suspect it does.

I confirmed that this problem goes away when I remove the snap in adapter.

So: is this a bug in the audio system of the car, a bug with the design of the media adapter, or perhaps I have a defective snap-in media adapter unit? I'm not optimistic that simply getting another media adapter will solve the problem.

As it stands, I can't use the adapter since the iPod (not my phone) is my primary audio source for the car and having the adapter installed causes too much hoop jumping for me.

Thanks for any feedback you might have.

Originally Posted by eddiemurrayfan

.... I've been having trouble with playback from the iPod that is still connected via USB. This happens even with no phone in the adapter.

The problem: When playing podcasts, normally I turn off the car and later start the car, and playback of the podcast continues normally. When the adapter is INSTALLED, the So: is this a bug in the audio system of the car, a bug with the design of the media adapter, or perhaps I have a defective snap-in media adapter unit? I'm not optimistic that simply getting another media adapter will solve the problem.

I would remain pessimistic. Sound like a process involving the adapter pre-empting USB input. A software problem, I'm curious....what's BMW say? If you haven't contacted, them, they are the people you should be speaking with.

Now, then....who is Eddie Murray?
.

Originally Posted by CALWATERBOY

who is Eddie Murray?
.

I know that is sarcastic but it does give me an opportunity to post his photo.

Originally Posted by eddiemurrayfan

I recently took delivery of a new 2011 335d with the BMW apps option. Soon after, I bought one of the newly released iPhone 4 media "snap-in" adapters and installed it. NOTE: this is the new "media" adapter, not the older phone adapter.

Prior to installing the snap in adapter I regularly used an iPod Classic connected via USB cable with no problem. Once I installed the media adapter into its standard location, I've been having trouble with playback from the iPod that is still connected via USB. This happens even with no phone in the adapter.

The problem: When playing podcasts, normally I turn off the car and later start the car, and playback of the podcast continues normally. When the adapter is INSTALLED, the playback of the previous podcast continues but the SPEED of the podcast is totally messed up. Usually the new speed is slow and the sound of the voices in the podcast is noticeably lower than normal. Several times it was really sped up so that the voices sounded like chipmunks. The only way I've found to correct this is to change to a different podcast "album", i.e. a podcast from a different feed. Simply switching to the next podcast from the same feed doesn't solve the problem. Note that I've not tried to see whether this also happens with music but I suspect it does.

I confirmed that this problem goes away when I remove the snap in adapter.

So: is this a bug in the audio system of the car, a bug with the design of the media adapter, or perhaps I have a defective snap-in media adapter unit? I'm not optimistic that simply getting another media adapter will solve the problem.

As it stands, I can't use the adapter since the iPod (not my phone) is my primary audio source for the car and having the adapter installed causes too much hoop jumping for me.

Thanks for any feedback you might have.

Were you ever able to fix this problem? I'm about to order a 2012 X5 50i and plan to get the phone integration with the specific intent of doing something very similar to what you were trying to do - keep an iPhone permanently in the cradle for the purpose of playing Pandora through Apps, and at the same time keep a hard drive plugged into the USB port to access my lossless digital music library. Does this work? If not then perhaps I'll skip the phone integration cradle to create more space in the storage area, but would really prefer to make it work like this. Asked my dealer and of course he had no idea. Very interested to figure out if your setup works and if you would recommend trying this. Thanks for your advice.

Originally Posted by luper

Were you ever able to fix this problem? I'm about to order a 2012 X5 50i and plan to get the phone integration with the specific intent of doing something very similar to what you were trying to do - keep an iPhone permanently in the cradle for the purpose of playing Pandora through Apps, and at the same time keep a hard drive plugged into the USB port to access my lossless digital music library. Does this work? If not then perhaps I'll skip the phone integration cradle to create more space in the storage area, but would really prefer to make it work like this. Asked my dealer and of course he had no idea. Very interested to figure out if your setup works and if you would recommend trying this. Thanks for your advice.

I contacted the dealer and they didn't know anything about the issue and said to bring it in. Of course that is a pain so I've not done that yet.

I can't say anything about using a hard drive in conjunction with the media adapter. The problem I encountered was with an empty media adapter together with an iPod Classic connected to the USB port. I've switched now to using an iPhone 4 in the media adapter in addition to the iPod Classic and using the iPhone 4 with the "Plug-In" so I get the "Apple UI" for iPod playback which I prefer over the BMW UI for iPod playback. I've not yet tested using the iPod Classic in this configuration so I can't say whether having a non-empty media adapter encounters the same issue as my original problem.

If I get more information on this, I'll post further. I still believe there is a BMW firmware issue but what the specifics are and exactly which configurations it occurs with, I've no idea.

Thanks for the reply. So you you have never tried to control music through the USB jack via your iDrive while your other phone was plugged into the cradle? Hate to be a pest, but would you mind trying? Would be very interested to know if this works and unfortunately my dealer has no idea, and nobody else seems to have even tried

Originally Posted by luper

Thanks for the reply. So you you have never tried to control music through the USB jack via your iDrive while your other phone was plugged into the cradle? Hate to be a pest, but would you mind trying? Would be very interested to know if this works and unfortunately my dealer has no idea, and nobody else seems to have even tried

Sorry, I didn't realize that was your question.

Yes, you have separate control over the USB port and the device in the cradle. I had an iPod Classic connected to the USB port with an iPhone 4 in the cradle and both worked as expected. I can't say about another kind of USB connected music player or mass storage.