Sounds like a bargain compared to what I paid!!

 

+1 for richie's post...It would help if we knew the year,model and options of your e60.
Will

 

As long as your car is in warranty, the programming should be free. I installed my interface(about a 15 minute job) and my delership (BMW of Dallas) did the retrofit programming for free and it works great. This is all assuming that you are intalling the OEM BMW interface and not an aftermarket brand.

 

http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...30&start=30

 

That's amazing! I wish my dealership was as cool as yours! How did you get your dealer to do it for free?

Also, thanks for all the great replies and info! After following some links posted, I ended up at the BMW Accessories site and discovered that the cost should've been $305 for the interface kit + $83 for the install:

http://accessories.bmwusa.com/ItemView.asp...p;productId=736

I dunno why the guy over the phone quoted me $300 for the Ipod kit + $200 for install? The price on the website is much more in line with the smaller economy here.

Oh yea and sorry about not including more details on my car. It's an 06 model without L7, navigation, nor a CD changer. My CD player can play MP3's but I do get a lot of "cannot read media" errors which are inconsistent, meaning it sometimes will read a file and sometimes won't read the same file. I did search for and find the "how to burn an MP3 CD" thread and the disc is up to spec. Maybe a software update will help with that?

BTW, there's an easy way to comparison shop multiple dealers' prices using the BMW Accessories site. Just replace the "Centerid=5580601" in the part of the url w/another dealer's id number. Dealer id numbers are easy to find:

1) Goto BMWUSA.com
2) Click DEALER LOCATOR
3) Do a BROAD search
4) Hover over the SCHEDULE A TEST DRIVE link
5) You should see the link in the status bar of your browser, in that url is the "dealerid=" number, just replace it into the number after "Centerid=" in the original url

It didn't really help me out much since both dealers in this state are owned by the same person but I wanted to search other states to see what dealers are charging. Hopefully this may help others find lower dealer prices to help with price matching.

 

Hey Richie, thanks for the SIB number! I found it using Google and attaching here for archiving. Actually, there were 2 PDF's and both are attached!

If my iDrive can already play MP3's will they still do an update? I followed Schulroq's link and was wondering, do you have to have a CDC installed for the software update to be Ipod PnP to work?

 

Sweet. Looks like South Bay BMW is $116 for the install plus my 10% employee discount makes it $104

 

Thanks for the cool tip. The BMW dealer I usually go to wants $350 for installation, and the guy downtown wants $165! Guess where I will go?

 

From what I can tell, everyone of the examples listed on this forum for plug and play of the iPod adapter after the MP3 retrofit upgrade is for CCC cars. Also, all of the posted SIB's refer to MY2004-2005 CCC-equipped cars. I don't think that those of us with M-ASK (no navigation) are so lucky.

I want to add the Denison GW500 (which iDrive treats just like the BMW iPod adapter) and I already have the CD-changer, and my in-dash cd-player plays mp3's just fine, but I am certain that I am going to need to go get the car programmed in order to get the adpater to work. I'd love to be proven wrong!

I'm going to try and do a self-install in the next month or so and I will report back on my experience.

 

I second this request. I have the same situation and my local BMW dealer refused to do the update because I have an non-CCC car (they are jerks to begin with). I recall, from various other threads, that some have insisted their dealer try the update anyways on their M-ASK cars and it works. Of course, I can't find those threads now... Is that how to get it done - just beg for them to try and find dealer that will?

Or, are M-ASK owners really just SOL?