I have a 04 545i doesnt play mp3 or ipod. sucks to have only 20 tracks. I cant afford getting the ipod adapter right now but was wondering how hard is it to install a aux in the car. Like is it something i can do on my own, is there a diy anywhere for it.

 

I have read a bit on this, but can't claim to be an expert. I was planning to do this to the 06 I purchased... until I opened the glove box and found that someone had already made the upgrade.

The cable itself is a little pricey, around $70 if memory serves correct. Then, to get it to work you will have to have your iDrive reprogrammed. The aux input is "selected" via the iDrive. So, a cable without a reprogram is useless. I hear that dealers typically charge an hour at shop rate for the programming. My guess is it takes a lot less than an hour, which is why I have heard that just paying the dealer to install the cable/plug is only a few bucks more than the partial DIY. I am sure if you search you can find more detailed information. There is an extensive iPod thread over on another BMW forum that is 20+ pages long. You will find more than you want to know there.

 

hey thanks a lot for the info, I called best buy to see if they could do it and got priced for like 100ish but im assuming that they have no clue on what in the world they are doing.

 

Indeed. I highly doubt that best buy knows what they would be doing.

The install is fairly easy if you have dexterity. I installed mine and it took about an hour.