Mk7 iPod Compatibility (MDI, Bluetooth etc)

[ihawk]

My experience after 10 days in a mk7 high line:
1. There is no MDI plug or anything like what was in my mk6. Nothing. End of discussion. No way to connect MDI in an Aus spec mk7.
2. USB is charge only. It will not recognise an iPod Classic, period.

Correct it won't recognise an ipod - I was also expecting it to. However it will recognise a USB thumb drive with music and works just like the sd card. I often encountered instability with my previous mdi/ ipod setup so I'm in favour of using just a USB or sd card. As you say cheaper than a dedicated ipod.

[steve2209]

Hi all, I started a thread a couple of days ago regarding the BMW Ipod Y cable and was going to discuss my success (or lack of) with it but now the post is closed and I can't get into it. Why is that?

Anyway, I will explain how I went in this post. I am picking up my new Golf 103TSI Highline tomorrow and I went to VW Camberwell to try out my Ipod Classic 160GB with the BMW Y cable (see below pic) and it worked perfectly except for one thing; you have to select your music off the Ipod itself. The song selections do not come up on the screen menu. My Ipod has all my music in Apple lossless so I get CD quality coming through and yes it will be a pain not being able to select my music on the go through the multi-media controls but it's better than nothing.

So if you want to be able to play your Ipod (regardless of type) then buy the BMW Ipod Y cable as that connects from the Ipod and splits in to a USB cable for powering and a 3.5mm Audio out cable in a neat small cable which allows you to store it in the cubby hole behind the gear stick.

What I'm going to do is create a bunch of playlists to suit my moods so I can select a playlist when I get in the car and don't have to worry about changing from one artist or album to another on the go. I hope this helps anyone who wants to connect their Ipod or Iphone to the stereo to play music whilst keeping their Ipod/Iphone charged.

Steve

[readerr0r]

Hi all, I started a thread a couple of days ago regarding the BMW Ipod Y cable and was going to discuss my success (or lack of) with it but now the post is closed and I can't get into it. Why is that?

Anyway, I will explain how I went in this post. I am picking up my new Golf 103TSI Highline tomorrow and I went to VW Camberwell to try out my Ipod Classic 160GB with the BMW Y cable (see below pic) and it worked perfectly except for one thing; you have to select your music off the Ipod itself. The song selections do not come up on the screen menu. My Ipod has all my music in Apple lossless so I get CD quality coming through and yes it will be a pain not being able to select my music on the go through the multi-media controls but it's better than nothing.

So if you want to be able to play your Ipod (regardless of type) then buy the BMW Ipod Y cable as that connects from the Ipod and splits in to a USB cable for powering and a 3.5mm Audio out cable in a neat small cable which allows you to store it in the cubby hole behind the gear stick.

What I'm going to do is create a bunch of playlists to suit my moods so I can select a playlist when I get in the car and don't have to worry about changing from one artist or album to another on the go. I hope this helps anyone who wants to connect their Ipod or Iphone to the stereo to play music whilst keeping their Ipod/Iphone charged.

Steve

Just a normal retractable 3.5mm aux cable would have the same effect, just without charging is all.

[stedes]

Attachment 8202Attachment 8203

Hey mate. This is really interesting. I am wondering whether part no. 15, I.e. The cable connecting the interface to the media unit in the glovebox, is the same for The USB/Aux (no. 2) and the Media In interface (no.1). If it is then, without much fiddling, one could swap between them?

[steve2209]

Yes you are correct there. But if you want charging as well you'll need the cable above. But I cannot express how disappointed I am that VW can't incorporate the song selections on to the screen. Many other manufacturers have it.

[stedes]

Yes you are correct there. But if you want charging as well you'll need the cable above. But I cannot express how disappointed I am that VW can't incorporate the song selections on to the screen. Many other manufacturers have it.

Hi Steve. I understand your disapointment but I must disagree with you. You, in fact do not need the particular Y-cable. You can use your standard Apple USB to iPod cable to charge it and a separate 3.5mm mini-jack cable for the audio connection. There is no need for the Y cable from BMW or any other manufacturer.

Without knowing first hand, I suspect VW Australia chose to offer the USB/Aux-In interface instead of the Media-In for a number of reasons. I had a Media In interface some years ago in a Golf Mk5. Apart from needing a separate cable for each of your devices (iPod, USB etc), the cables were expensive and especially the Apple cable did not work with all devices properly (i.e. for me it did work with an iPod Classic but not my iPhone 3GS or 4). If you look at European fora at the moment, you will find that people are also having compatibility problems with the Mk7 Media-In interface and especially with the iPhone 5 and 5S needing newer versions of the cable etc. I know from first hand experience that BMW experienced similar problems with their USB interface in the E90 series when the iPhone 5 came out.

Also you need to remember that a lot of people don't have iPhones or iPods and for them the easiest way to connect a device is a (very cheap and ubiquitous) 3.5mm cable. Yes, you lose the ability to control the device on the touchscreen of the car but if that's really important to you then you can have that using an SD card instead. The SD card will also work faster. That way you also have the USB port free to charge your mobile phone and also take advantage of the inductive phone aerial that works in the little cubby in front of the gearshift knob. Failing that I'm sure that in a few months we will see someone will have swapped the USB/AuxIn interface with the Media In with not a lot of difficulty.

[readerr0r]

The Y-cable is a much neater solution though, and its good to know if works for people wanting something more streamlined.

Don't forget that if your ipod has bluetooth you can connect it up for titles and play/pause/prev/next

[Jimi]

Can you put playlists on the SD card? .m3u files or whatever they are?

[steve2209]

Hi Steve. I understand your disapointment but I must disagree with you. You, in fact do not need the particular Y-cable. You can use your standard Apple USB to iPod cable to charge it and a separate 3.5mm mini-jack cable for the audio connection. There is no need for the Y cable from BMW or any other manufacturer.

Without knowing first hand, I suspect VW Australia chose to offer the USB/Aux-In interface instead of the Media-In for a number of reasons. I had a Media In interface some years ago in a Golf Mk5. Apart from needing a separate cable for each of your devices (iPod, USB etc), the cables were expensive and especially the Apple cable did not work with all devices properly (i.e. for me it did work with an iPod Classic but not my iPhone 3GS or 4). If you look at European fora at the moment, you will find that people are also having compatibility problems with the Mk7 Media-In interface and especially with the iPhone 5 and 5S needing newer versions of the cable etc. I know from first hand experience that BMW experienced similar problems with their USB interface in the E90 series when the iPhone 5 came out.

Also you need to remember that a lot of people don't have iPhones or iPods and for them the easiest way to connect a device is a (very cheap and ubiquitous) 3.5mm cable. Yes, you lose the ability to control the device on the touchscreen of the car but if that's really important to you then you can have that using an SD card instead. The SD card will also work faster. That way you also have the USB port free to charge your mobile phone and also take advantage of the inductive phone aerial that works in the little cubby in front of the gearshift knob. Failing that I'm sure that in a few months we will see someone will have swapped the USB/AuxIn interface with the Media In with not a lot of difficulty.

Thanks stedes. I'm coming from the perspective of a current BMW X3 with the premium sound package so I was expecting something similar. I'll play around with the SD card option when I pick the car up but I don't like the smaller capacity of the cards as I don't play compressed music so I need the space. I guess you can't have everything.

[ihawk]

Can you put playlists on the SD card? .m3u files or whatever they are?

From what I can tell so far the system doesn't know what to do with any file that's not a music file. So m3u is a no. I've grouped songs into folders as a workaround