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      06-09-2014, 10:04 PM   #1
doza88
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Ipod Connectivity

I recently bought my F30 and love it so far. my car came with the y cable in the center console. I should mention I have a 2013 335i non-xdrive as this could be important... I plugged in my ipod classic 80gb and it works great. it does not show album art or anything fancy but sound is good and all I truly care about.

my father just bought a 2014 328 xdrive. I got him an ebay Y cable and few other bmw items to welcome him to the F30 club. He has the EXACT same ipod classic I have as we bought them together. he tried using the Y cable with this ipod and it won't read it. it does play music via the Aux in the center console but that's it. I said, "must be the ebay cable".

So I unplugged my cable that works perfectly in my car, and even it won't work in his car. so I've ruled out the cable being the issue. I even used my ipod in his car and same thing so not the ipod.

Did BMW change compatibility between the 2013 and 2014 models?? could it be a software issue? my father also has a new iphone with Bluetooth which the car recognizes and plays seamlessly. he wants to use the ipod classic in the car so its always plugged in since my mother will be driving the car as well....

on a sidenote, I also noticed that I have a secondary USB only outlet in my glovebox while my fathers car does not.


Any thoughts??

thanks.
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      06-10-2014, 12:09 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doza88 View Post
I recently bought my F30 and love it so far. my car came with the y cable in the center console. I should mention I have a 2013 335i non-xdrive as this could be important... I plugged in my ipod classic 80gb and it works great. it does not show album art or anything fancy but sound is good and all I truly care about.

my father just bought a 2014 328 xdrive. I got him an ebay Y cable and few other bmw items to welcome him to the F30 club. He has the EXACT same ipod classic I have as we bought them together. he tried using the Y cable with this ipod and it won't read it. it does play music via the Aux in the center console but that's it. I said, "must be the ebay cable".

So I unplugged my cable that works perfectly in my car, and even it won't work in his car. so I've ruled out the cable being the issue. I even used my ipod in his car and same thing so not the ipod.

Did BMW change compatibility between the 2013 and 2014 models?? could it be a software issue? my father also has a new iphone with Bluetooth which the car recognizes and plays seamlessly. he wants to use the ipod classic in the car so its always plugged in since my mother will be driving the car as well....

on a sidenote, I also noticed that I have a secondary USB only outlet in my glovebox while my fathers car does not.


Any thoughts??

thanks.
Have you tried using the white USB Apple cable?
I run my classic IPod on my 2012 X3 (no NAV) with just the USB white cable connected in the center console, and I can even display The art work.
I've also done it the same way on the loaners I get from the dealer all 2012, '13, & '14 F30's with NAV and my IPod works just fine.
Good luck..!!
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      06-10-2014, 06:25 AM   #3
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Everything the OP mentions is true. The '14s do not have the glove box usb. And the Classic does not work for me and others in a '14. It actually hoses the usb interface and you have to reset iDrive for it to come back.
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      06-10-2014, 07:19 AM   #4
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I have a '14 3GT and there is a USB port in the center armrest. I have a 160g classic iPod and it works like a charm, even shows artwork.
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      06-10-2014, 09:22 AM   #5
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Can you post the specs of your Classic that works? Like the iOS version, hardware version, actual Apple model number....all that fun stuff in the About menu. Mine is the first gen of the Classic. It totally screws up and others have had the same result. But a 160gb iPod would be perfect if I could get it o work!
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      06-10-2014, 05:21 PM   #6
doza88
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Thanks for the replies!!

BETO: I have not tried the white ipod usb cable only. I will give that a try.

FronzDan: thanks for confirming its not just my fathers car. Although, i wish it was so he could go back and get them to fix it...

at first i thought maybe the connector underneath the center console was not attached or was loose, but the AUX works, and when i first plug in the usb plug, it says "reading" for 3 seconds and then says not connected...
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      06-10-2014, 06:21 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doza88 View Post
Thanks for the replies!!

BETO: I have not tried the white ipod usb cable only. I will give that a try.

FronzDan: thanks for confirming its not just my fathers car. Although, i wish it was so he could go back and get them to fix it...

at first i thought maybe the connector underneath the center console was not attached or was loose, but the AUX works, and when i first plug in the usb plug, it says "reading" for 3 seconds and then says not connected...
*
Let me know what happens once you try the USB white cable.
Good luck!!!
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      06-10-2014, 07:43 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fronzdan View Post
Can you post the specs of your Classic that works? Like the iOS version, hardware version, actual Apple model number....all that fun stuff in the About menu. Mine is the first gen of the Classic. It totally screws up and others have had the same result. But a 160gb iPod would be perfect if I could get it o work!
My iPod's model # is MC293LL, Version 2.0.4 PC (whatever all of the means). Here are some pics of it connected and some of the artwork: (the pics are rather big, sorry about that, this is my first time attempting this)
Attached Images
    
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      06-10-2014, 09:13 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fronzdan View Post
Can you post the specs of your Classic that works? Like the iOS version, hardware version, actual Apple model number....all that fun stuff in the About menu. Mine is the first gen of the Classic. It totally screws up and others have had the same result. But a 160gb iPod would be perfect if I could get it o work!
I started with a 2nd Gen Ipod until it went to Ipod heaven last year and it worked fine.
I'm currently using a 160gb on my 2012 X3(no Nav) and I can used either the Y cable(no art displayed) or the way I currently use it, with the white USB cable and the art displays just fine. It works just perfect.
I did noticed that when I was using an Ipod touch for a few weeks the art looks much better then the Ipod classic. I just won't give up my Ipod classic.
Good luck....
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      06-10-2014, 11:37 PM   #10
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Ok everything you ever wanted to know about iPod Classics, lol. The Classics were known as the 6G model. But within that model were two sub generations. The first is what I have MB150LL with 160gb. The second started out with 120gb only, but they quickly phased that out and went back to the 160gb due to demand. The MC293LL is that second gen Classic. There have to be some hardware differences because battery life improved by a few hours with the second gen. Strangely, I plugged my Classic in again tonight and it showed up in iDrive, but then disappeared. This is what it used to do. But after fiddling with it for a bit, it came back up and I was able to access/play from it no problem after that. I think I did an iDrive update since I last tried a month or so ago...maybe that fixed it? We'll see tomorrow.
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      06-11-2014, 08:32 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by beto_L.A.
Quote:
Originally Posted by doza88 View Post
I recently bought my F30 and love it so far. my car came with the y cable in the center console. I should mention I have a 2013 335i non-xdrive as this could be important... I plugged in my ipod classic 80gb and it works great. it does not show album art or anything fancy but sound is good and all I truly care about.

my father just bought a 2014 328 xdrive. I got him an ebay Y cable and few other bmw items to welcome him to the F30 club. He has the EXACT same ipod classic I have as we bought them together. he tried using the Y cable with this ipod and it won't read it. it does play music via the Aux in the center console but that's it. I said, "must be the ebay cable".

So I unplugged my cable that works perfectly in my car, and even it won't work in his car. so I've ruled out the cable being the issue. I even used my ipod in his car and same thing so not the ipod.

Did BMW change compatibility between the 2013 and 2014 models?? could it be a software issue? my father also has a new iphone with Bluetooth which the car recognizes and plays seamlessly. he wants to use the ipod classic in the car so its always plugged in since my mother will be driving the car as well....

on a sidenote, I also noticed that I have a secondary USB only outlet in my glovebox while my fathers car does not.


Any thoughts??

thanks.
Have you tried using the white USB Apple cable?
I run my classic IPod on my 2012 X3 (no NAV) with just the USB white cable connected in the center console, and I can even display The art work.
I've also done it the same way on the loaners I get from the dealer all 2012, '13, & '14 F30's with NAV and my IPod works just fine.
Good luck..!!
+1...I use the white Apple cable in the center console USB plug in with my Nano and it works great (artwork etc.). Also have Nav, but don't think that matters.
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      06-11-2014, 08:49 AM   #12
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Blah, spoke too soon. My Classic didn't work today. The usual symptoms, it starts playing for a sec or two, then disconnects from USB. I think it's probably current draw from the USB. It seems like when the internal HDD spins up to fill the buffers, it kills the USB. The fact that the newer Classic has longer battery life means that it was more efficient.

Still not giving up...maybe if I make a cable that doesn't charge the device...

Well that doesn't work. I reset the ipod, tried it again at lunch and it works. Maybe it's just sensitive on how/when you plug it in. I plugged it in, listened to SAT for a few seconds, then selected the ipod. Worked fine. Oh and I also used an old Apple cable, the kind that locked. Very quirky.

Last edited by Fronzdan; 06-11-2014 at 11:16 AM..
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      06-11-2014, 12:18 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fronzdan
Blah, spoke too soon. My Classic didn't work today. The usual symptoms, it starts playing for a sec or two, then disconnects from USB. I think it's probably current draw from the USB. It seems like when the internal HDD spins up to fill the buffers, it kills the USB. The fact that the newer Classic has longer battery life means that it was more efficient.

Still not giving up...maybe if I make a cable that doesn't charge the device...

Well that doesn't work. I reset the ipod, tried it again at lunch and it works. Maybe it's just sensitive on how/when you plug it in. I plugged it in, listened to SAT for a few seconds, then selected the ipod. Worked fine. Oh and I also used an old Apple cable, the kind that locked. Very quirky.
It might be your cable... I had a similar problem and after I bought a new USB Apple cable everything worked fine...
Sometimes my Idrive causes the Ipod to reset... What I do is without connecting the IPod I choose a track and hit play, u then connect it to the USB cable and all works just fine...
Good luck!!!
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      06-15-2014, 02:15 PM   #14
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Seems like once I got it working and connected, it works all the time. It must the the initial sync up that's flaky.
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