Question: I have a new MINI, got the dealer installed ipod line that runs to the glove box. Is it just me, or do I have absolutely no control over whats played? It seems to me I can either play my ipod straight from beginning to end or let it do a random pick of songs to play. And I have no control of which artist to play, no indication of who is playing...Is that true or am I missing something here

You can name 5 playlists (I believe) that will play with the presets. In the beginning of the name of the playlists you want has to be MINI1, MINI2, etc. Look through the manual for the iPod adapter and I'm pretty sure it covers the naming requirements

I got this with my MCS a year ago and was quite disappointed with the lack of navigation. The manufacturers of OEM car stereos often seem behind the leading edge by quite a bit.

Unfortunately, that's how it is with the MINI iPod adapter. I think some of the other adapters give you a bit more control and there are several threads on that I believe. I have both ends of the spectrum with the MINI iPod adapter in my MINI and we have a fancy scmancy DVD playing headset in one of our other cars that has a display just like the iPod. Its nice to use that interface, but I've gotten rather used to the MINI one and knowing what I have on my MINI playlists

okay, now about these MINI playlists. How and where do you create them? I tried last night in my itunes and couldn't seem to create any.

On itunes. Click file/new playlist. You can make 5 playlists for the MINI and they must be named MINI1 MINI2 MINI3 MINI4 and MINI5. Then drag and drop whatever songs you want into each playlist. Then of course download to you ipod. When you hooked up to your adapter in the car then the playlists correspond to the 1 through 5 buttons on the stereo pre-set buttons. 6 is the one that will play all songs on the ipod.

I do not mean to be rude but all of this is in the instructions to the ipod adapter. Did the dealer not give you the instructions? I know sometimes they forget.

thats what I thought I did...but my songs wouldn't drag and drop - mainly the drag (or grab if you will) part...it wouldn't do it. I guess i'll have to take a second stab at it tonight when I get home. Must be doing something wrong.

If it's any consolation, other OEM iPod adapters seem to have the same operation. I just looked into the VW OEM iPod setup (GTI) as well as the Honda OEM adapter (Civic Si); both the same track-number-only display. Believe it or not, Honda's link designed to work with the optional navi system (that's supposed to display track info) is full of bugs.

Misery loves company...

The iPod adaptor is over rated. But it is cheaper and better than a CD changer. Once I accepted that I would just change the MINIx playlists about as often as I change the CDs in the changer of my other car, it works out well.

Ours was dealer installed in the glove box, but I'm thinking of changing it to the Euro parcel shelf location--anybody know how hard that is?

I put up this question on another thread, but i'll repost here...i have the ipod adapter too and it'll let me use the ipod itself sometimes. I haven't figured out what the conditions have to be but sometimes i can pick a artist/album/song from the ipod itself, hit play and then have it play on the stereo...othertimes it just locks the screen and i'm stuck with my 5 playlists. I'm going to the dealer on Friday and I already asked them about it so hopefully i'll have some news for everybody. Also, if you get frustrated, i've just unplugged the ipod, chosen a album, hit play, and then plugged it in. It's a round-about way of doing it, but it works. Glad to hear i'm not the only one frustrated with this thing!

Save your money and get an iTrip. Mine works perfect........

Yes, please keep us posted...Can I ask, what year your car is? and is yours the same adapter the dealer installs?

never heard of this... care to elaborate?

I have an '06 MC with the factory ipod adapter. It was installed just a few weeks ago, and from the get go i could use the ipod itself, but then the next day i couldn't. I thought it had something to do with the charge (it had to be fully charged when plugged in to use the ipod) but i'm not sure if that's the case. I'll post what i find out. I agree though, i'm happy with the ipod adapter as long as i can use the ipod itself...otherwise it's a bit of a wasted effort.

ah, an 06, so just as your signature states ...oops i didn't see that:impatient ...I wonder if you might have an issue with your ipod itself... well keep me posted
Cheers

I share your frustration and disappointment. See the thread I started entitled, "[FONT=Arial]How to use the iPod menus and play tunes through the head unit"[/FONT]

Thanks
oops, now why didn't I see that audio thread when I was wondering where to post this one ...Hmmm, I wonder if i can move this over there. :impatient

Other than JoeyPilot I have never heard of anyone being real happy with Itrip. It is one of those FM transmitter things. It transmits your ipod over the FM radio. Most people, especially those in any populated areas have major problems with them.

oh okay, yeah I tried the FM transmitter thing once...didn't like the quality of the sound...I'd rather live with a little inconvenience than sacrifice sound

There's a tread on the monster icruz where you can install a cool little screen (looks about 2" x 3") where you can see the songs and artist and still use your steering wheel controls. I'm kinda of thikin about this myself

It's a shame to lose the wonderful interface Ipod provides, and be limited to five inadquate play lists... so I opted for an aux port + pocket dock line out + euro parcel shelf solution, which offers equilvalent sound quality + full control + easy access, haven't tried it though as my mini is still under the way. Will see how it turns out.

Personally I'm glad to not mess with the ipod itself, there's enough to do driving without trying to look at that screen or deal with those buttons (even when I've had one on aux I leave it alone or use the passenger as the controller ). Seeing the song title would be nice, but the key to me was having the the steering wheel controls; keeping the price low (and it was via Classic) and OEM was a big factor too.

Well I won't miss that much, unless they put a click wheel with lcd display on MFSW

so you can have a dealer install the ipod adapter? the dealer here in spain said he didn't know what i was talking about.. but then again customer service in spain really really sucks...