I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S (build date 05/05) with the regular boost head unit (no Nav). I purchased the DICE unit with HD radio from EAS and installed it over the weekend. Installation was straight forward as I have experience with installing an Ice>Link unit on our BMW (except for the HD antenna which was a bit of a pain). So far I am having trouble getting the DICE HD to work with the iPod the way I'd like.

I have an early 4G iPod (monochrome screen) with firmware 3.1.1 (which is the supported firmware). Since we have multiple iPods in the family, the 4G iPod is synced with just 1 large playlist with all the songs for that particular iPod.

What'd I'd like with the DICE HD is to keep the iPod in the glove compartment and interact with it through the head unit and steering wheel controls (and not have to mount the iPod on the dash and interact with it directly). When listening to the iPod I would to play songs randomly from the single large playlist and for the iPod to start-up from where I left off (when I restart the car). Additionally it would be nice if an artist I like came up randomly, I could then press the Random key on the Boost head unit and have it continue to play that artist. This is exactly how I use my iPod in our BMW 330i with an Ice>Link Plus unit, it works well and has a certain logic to it. With 3000+ songs, scrolling through them while driving is too difficult (and dangerous). Plus the Mini is my wife’s car, and she is interested in simplicity.

Questions:
- Can I get the system to work in some approximation of the way I’d like?

- Should the Random function on the boost head unit cause the songs in the playlist to play randomly? Ice>Link does this.

- If the Random function on the head unit doesn’t work, can I get the iPod to play songs randomly? I don’t want to have to use the iPod to select shuffle because the iPod is in the glove compartment. Every time the iPod re-initializes, it starts playing at the start of the 1 large playlist.

- Does the DICE HD system work differently than the normal DICE (with no HD radio)?

- With respect to figuring out how to use an iPod with the DICE HD unit, the instructions say:
…please refer to the manual provided with the optional DICE iPod interface cable. I bought the iPod interface cable, but there were no instructions with it. I have been assuming the instructions are the same as the pdf on the web for the plain DICE (no HD) unit.


So far I'm not real happy with the DICE HD unit and would like to know how others use it effectively. It took a while for me to get use to the Ice>Link Plus in our other car and understand it's limitations but now I'm very happy with it. I haven't been able to understand the logic of the DICE system where you have to interact with BOTH the headunit and the iPod to get it to function effectively. If I have to mount the iPod on the dash to access functions on the iPod to use it effectively, then I might as well have bought a simple Blitzsafe unit or OEM Aux input, text display is not particularly important if the iPod is not hidden away.

 

This would be a question only you could answer.

Since the iPod UI is unaffected - you will have to choose SHUFFLE on the iPod settings for Shuffle mode. There is development to get the RND feature to work and may be offered in a later firmware.

it seems you are missing the iPod specific instructions. Email me directly and I'll get you a copy. [/quote]