I believe the shuffle feature works if you have an earlier firmware version on the iPod...but not the current firmware. My iPod integration does not allow shuffing.

 

sounds to me the belkin adapter that charges the ipod with a line out (the ipod amplifier does not distort the song quality because it bypasses this ipod amplifier resulting in a clear signal) firewire connection with integrated amplifier (so the ipod volume and the bmw sound system volume is the same level) and a integrated aux out is the perfekt solution.

The idrive shuffle sucks bigtime because i have 24OO songs on my ipod and i rarely listen to 4 songs without skipping one because i dont like the song at that particular time.
The idrive shuffle always returns to song order and the shuffle function is gone when you skip.

With my belkin adapter i have the best sound qualety possibel, it charges the ipod, if shuffles, i dont have a messy aux cable on top of my ipod. Its cheap (2O dollars) and it beats the usa bmw solution on every level.

1 drawback: i can t read songs on the idrive but i dont need that. If i listen to in the air tonight phil colins i do know the song...

(note more info on this topic where i replyd to another ipod question http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...;hl=ipod+belkin )

 

That's where the problem comes from. I made the mistake of upgrading the ipod firmware which iTunes will ask everytime you try to sync you iPod. To fix this problem, I had to revert back to the firmware that came with my video iPod on CD. Since then..no problems...I just make sure I select cancel when iTunes asks if I want to update the firmware.

 

I never thought that the Ipod Firmware could cause the problem. I just re-flashed w/ the newest firmware so on a gen3 Ipod so I will retest it. Thanks for the idea.

 

The random feature is pretty weak. Let's admit the germans never have the latest and greatest features on their sound systems.
I am kind of disappointed in my factory installed Nano port. I have over 900 songs and it tends to play the same ones/ I read the manual and in order to skip a song you have to REVERSE skip, not forward skip.
Forward plays the next song in the order and cancels random. reverse goes to beginning of present song and the second reverse click goes totally random.
Oh yeah other issues. one time it took over two hours to read the nano database upon plug-in ( this is an error) and this week end it corrupted my nano and I had to remove and reboot the nano to get it going again (you do this by holding down the menu and middle keys down together till it restarts)
Would i do it again if i knew this going in? No way especially for $600. I'd go with the belkin. the iPod shuffle is much more random and robust.

 

The random feature is pretty weak. Let's admit the germans never have the latest and greatest features on their sound systems. I am kind of disappointed in my factory installed Nano port. I have over 900 songs and it tends to play the same ones/ I read the manual and in order to skip a song you have to REVERSE skip not forward skip. Forward plays the next song in the order and cancels random. reverse goes to beginning of present song and the second reverse click goes totally random.
Oh yeah other issues. one time it took over two hours to read the nano database upon plug-in ( this is an error) and this weeak end it corrupted my nano and I had to remove and reboot the nano to get it going again (you do this by holding down the menu and middle keys down together till it restarts)
Would i do it again if i knew this going in? No way especially for $600. I'd go with the belkin. the iPod shuffle is much more random.

 

Is the ipod software part of the CIP updates? Are there any plans to upgrade the ipod software? I spent the $600 and I am very disappointed with the product. I have a 60gb ipod and can only see a third of the songs.

 

With Nav you will see the 1st 1000 songs and 1st 500 artists. Without Nav you will see 1st 500 songs and 1st 250 artists. Smart playlist are the key to enjoying this not so perfect system. i use the smart playlist function in iTunes to create random playlists with 500 songs each and then use the random all selection while listening to each playlist. It does appear the random function will end up playing a previoulsy heard song before playing all somgs at least once. The software obviously needs to be upgraded to mimic the iPod's functionality.

 

I've got the BMW iPod adapter in my 650i (bought through EAS). With a new 8GB Nano and 25.02 iDrive SW, random works well. Its played random songs in a playlist for days. It still just goes to the next song with a forward skip but returns to random after that. I'll have to try the reverse skip trick to get a random song.

Edit: I've been lurking on e60.net for months researching the '08 5er but this happens to be my first post...

 

I had trouble with the random feature as well and I heard depending on the firmware version random feature will work. I have the 1st gen nano firmware version 1.3.1 (latest update) and I couldn't get that to work.. Today i tested the random feature on a friend's 2nd gen nano ipod firmware version 1.1.3 and what do you know it worked! so i'm going to try to revert back to the old firmware version for my 1st gen nano.

As far as I know random works on:
Ver 1.1.3 2nd gen ipod nano

if anyone else got their random to work on the idrive let us know what version you have.