michel

hi everybody..i asked of my dealer to make me a conection to i pod..(525 d 2006).
he says that i will be the first that he make it to.
my questions are how will it work ? what happens to my cd-changer ?
can i operate the i pod from the i drive ?
he says that it will be located in the glove box ( isnt it too far from drivers seat ?)
does the quality of the sound good as the cd-changer ( i dont have the 7logic) ?
waiting for answers....

the-oneil

If the dealer means a MOST BUS adaptor (and I think he does), then this will replace your CD changer. The dealer should leave your CD changer for you in the car so you can deal with it yourself.

The iPod will be operated from i-Drive and the controls on the steering wheel.

Sound quality is better than using an Aux input - but not better than the CDs it will replace. It is a trade off for having your entire music selection at your fingertips. Also, some believe - me included - that TOP audio quality should be reserved to the living room, and that having all your music with you in the car is more important than sound quality whilst cruising at 70+ mph.

Overall, you'll like it. I know I love mine and cannot live without it. But you need to wisely organise your playlists, as i-drive is not really a 100% i-pod friendly in terms of scrolling down a zillion item on each list.

BMW ///M 525xi

Good to know that; what costs this feature? And how does it look like?

MacSid

I have also just had the iPod interface retrofitted to my car recently, and am glad I did. I do have a couple of observations that you'd want to be aware of ...

The iPod interface will take up the connection used by your CD changer. Therefore, although your changer will remain exactly where it is, you will not be able to use it.

You will indeed be able to use your iPod through iDrive, but be prepared for some idiosyncracies, namely:
- iDrive is not the quickest of interfaces to use to scroll through your collection if, like me, you have literally hundreds of albums stored on your iPod. It does work, but takes time and some getting used to.
- iDrive has a habit of starting to play the first song in your iPod's "all songs" list the moment you connect it up. It will continue to play this song throughout the time that you spend trying to get to the playlist, album or artist that you want.
- the CD1-CD6 designations on iDrive will now reflect playlists, albums, artists, etc., but I cannot remember which is which. I have 2,000+ songs on my iPod, and the spooling-up of each of this lists takes 2-3 minutes each time. May not seem like a lot, but it is frustrating when you are trying to search for / jump to something on the move. Again, it has a habit of playing the first song on the list, so you need to back out of it to get the full listing of albums, artists, etc.
- song information does NOT come up on the iDrive display when you go back to navigation, on-board computer, etc. It will only show, for example, CD3-004. Strangely, when I used the Denson iPod interface on my E39, this information DID show up on my head unit (I had the big-screen head unit in the E39).

Sound quality seems, to me to vary depending on the quality of my import of songs onto the iPod itself. Not sure how it compares to using a CD in the CD changer, as I never used it in my current car. In my previous E39 with Denson iPod interface, I would have said that the sound quality was equal. You may need to turn the volume up more than you did with the CDs though.

After saying all of this, let me be totally clear on one point - despite the little complaints I have on the way iDrive works with the Pod interface (as I described above), I LOVE the fact that I can use my iPod in the car this way. I will NEVER go back to just 6 CD's in the dash!

MacSid

MacSid

The part of this feature that you will be able to see is a simple iPod connector cable in your glove compartment. In the case of my car, it is black, and you simply plug it into the bottom of your Pod and then close the glove box. iPod remains hidden away in there all the time, which I like.

I had mine fitted on the car before it was delivered to me (I bought the car used), and the guys at BMW Den Haag charged me EUR 450. That included the interface as well as fitting. I assume the fitting charges included whatever installation labour costs, materials, and whatever programming/reprogramming they needed to do to the iDrive software.

As I said in my previous post, despite the few complaints I have, I do not see how I could live without this thing!

BMW ///M 525xi

Still seems like a lot of money to me... Ok you don't need your 6 cd charger again, but you can buy 2 ipod video 30 gb for it .

There must be an cheaper way... What costs the retrofitting of the aux in?

michel

another question - the conection in the glove-box to the i pod does it recharges him also ?

michel

the dealer told me that i will see on the screen of the i drive - fm-am-tv-cd- and aux and this will be my i pod conection..does he right ?
and why will i lose my abillity to play the cd-changer ?

the-oneil

Yes it will recharge HIM if it is the MOST cable connection

the-oneil

Errrrr from what you are saying, I think your dealer is going to fit a simple Aux input. In which case, you will not lose the CD changer, but audio quality will be inferior to the MOST BUS system - Also, many here experienced interference due to the car's alternator when connected to the cigaret lighter to charge.


Check with your dealer if he'll fit an AUX. input or a MOST BUS.