you couldn't wrap the y cable behind the console and connect the dock extender back there as well? would give you a single cable run instead of two.... just thinking...

Good luck! I'm interested in seeing your solution!

 

I've only had my car for about a week or so, and I haven't even been able to drive it much, but I have messed with it a bit in the garage. With that out of the way, I wouldn't consider the nav in general to be super quick or anything, but it's good enough for the most part (it's just the address entering that gets pretty bad, pretty sure that's cause the DVD reading).

With the iPod (current gen nano) it feels about as fast as the nav system can get, about on par with everything else. I did a little test by just entering into Songs directly before going into any other subcategory and scrolled down a bit. It initially shows numbers for a moment then fills in the song names. I scrolled down a while to double check that the 255 item limit was gone (I got bored of it and stopped around 270 iirc), it filled in the songs decently quickly as I kept scrolling, certainly quick enough that I didn't mind. Not sure how a drive based iPod would do though.

I did notice some funkiness with some other stuff I tried. I dug down a bit going Genres->All Artists->All Albums (or whatever order it is) then selected an album...and ended up with some other songs. I think got to the album another way and it worked fine, so I'll probably have to do a bit more testing to see if it's reproducible.

All in all I would suggest getting the nav. It does a bunch of other random crap that is cool (the more elaborate tripometer and stop watch are some I didn't know about before), and as another plus, makes the interior look much nicer. And it does that whole navigation thing it's supposed to do.

 

I just got my 16 GB flash drive from NewEgg yesterday. I loaded almost 10 GB of MP3s and tested it out in the USB port on my car. It took about two minutes to pick up the metadata for all of the music I put on there. I have to say, I love this feature. You can play by artist/track/album or all. You can put it on random play by whatever mode you select. It's almost as good as my MP3 player. The only thing it doesn't do (at least I don't think it does this) is allow you to select multiple artists or albums without selecting all.

I stuck the flash drive directly into the USB port (with no cable). It took a bit of fumbling to slide the USB port cover over, but not overly difficult.

 

If I may ask which drive did you get tjtull? Have you used the random feature yet?

 

Not to advertise for Newegg but the brand I got was Transcend The one at the link is the exact one I bought. Not a bad price and so far so good. I didn't have to load any software on it or format it at all. As long as the metadata is on your MP3s, your car will pick it up.

I tried the random feature just briefly, it seems to work well.

 

"All in all I would suggest getting the nav. It makes the interior look much nicer. And it does that whole navigation thing it's supposed to do."

Yup!! I couldn't stand the stock look of the interior. The big pizza pie look was distracting....

I've had better and more intuitive NAV systems, but you 'll get used to the tedious manner for entering text. All in all...worth the money because of the way NAV, Entertainment, Communication and diagnostics are easily integrated.

 

I've found that a right angle USB extension cable allows the flash drive to extend straight back or to the side, effectively hiding it while keeping the storage compartment unobstructed. It also makes it much easier to plug in.

http://www.angledcables.com/usb-20-e...le--4-inc.html

 

Has anyone noticed that it's VERY slow to scroll through artists/albums/playlists/songs (non-Nav)? Instead of scrolling one artist for every click of the ****, it seems to go the same speed no matter how fast you turn the ****. Is this just because I have an old iPod and it can't keep up? I do have quite a bit of music on it (around 3000 songs), so this might also be the cause.

It would have been a lot nicer if they had setup the iPod interface like the phone book where you can go to each letter, then hit the **** to start scrolling from the beginning of the letter.

 

It's not just the ipod's, I have a non-NAV care as well and the slow scroll speed drives me nuts.

 

Man I wish there was a clear answer to this.

Half the people say the nav and non-nav menu for the ipod is slow as heck.

Half say that once the Mini cache's the list it's fast.

I really wish I knew what to believe.... sigh

I assume the slow folks have '08s and you're connecting via the convenience package port in the center in front of the cupholders?

 

I haven't tried an iPod or MP3 player but I have a 16GB flash drive in the USB port and it scrolls fast.

 

I have an '08 (no nav) with an 80 gig ipod connected to the USB/AUX in front of the cupholders. It's painfully slow to scroll through the artists. I got as far as Aerosmith before I gave up. And this was after it had been plugged in for half an hour or so. I'm really hoping that something will fix this! It makes the feature barely useable.

 

Since my other post, I've tried to put songs on a 2GB flash drive and it seems to be just as slow when scrolling. I wonder what could be different between your flash drive and mine. My flash drive is a Sandisk. Do you have nav?

 

My girlfriend wanted to listen to Vertical Horizon the other day and she got tired of holding her arm up to turn the **** before she got to the 'V's. I would think they could at least make it so you can turn the **** the other way and it would wrap around to the end of the alphabet.

 

I don't have nav. My flash drive is made by Transcend...never heard of them before I bought the flash drive.

 

Perhaps one persons fast is anothers slow.

When I turn the **** there is a delay before anything happens on the OBC. and generally no matter how many turns or how fast I turn it, it only scrolls about 1-2 lines at a time.

 

No, that all sounds like slow to me. If you have any number of playlists a line or two at a time won't cut it. It should speed up with the scroll speed, or wrap, or have a page function, or...

I'm amazed by how poorly MINI executed this "feature". I would call it defective, and the fact that they're charging for iPod/mp3 compatibility and not delivering it makes me wonder if anyone's ever pursued a class action to get it fixed. They're selling a feature that's clearly defective, and they have been from some time after reviewing the forums.

Dunno. Sounds like they can engineer and build great cars, but between this and the Nav POI comments it sounds like MINI can't write software to even say "Hello World". Maybe they should hire some decent software engineers.

 

In MINI's defense, they aren't the ones writing the software and developing the audio and nav systems. That's done by whoever is designing the head unit (Alpine, I believe). Granted, they have the power to tell their supplier that what they're giving them is crap, but they're not the ones directly developing it. Yeah, I know this is sorta splitting hairs, but it's still a distinction that should be made.

 

You're absolutely right, but MINI is still charging for a feature that's defective, so that makes them accountable for getting it right and making their customers happy.... They need to use their leverage to force software updates with the vendors.

 

I agree with you-- too slow to be useful. Have an '08 Cooper w/out nav & an 80G Ipod connected via USB/AUX cable. The Ipod is 80% full of music.
Very fun car-- but the issue of scrolling is killing my buzz. Would love to see the phonebook alphabetacially set up for albums & artist.

 

So are you guys just bailing on the USB connection and controlling your playlists via the iPod itself (just using the AUX jack)? Seems to be the best plan-b solution, but you wouldn't be able to charge the iPod that way.

 

If you managed to avoid having to listen to Vertical Horizon as a result, I'd say that's not a bug, but a feature!

 

I don't leave my iPod in the car, so I just pick what I'm going to listen to before I plug it in. It's definitely a plan-b solution, and it doesn't really work for long car trips unless you have the playlist pre-programmed. When I went to Vegas this weekend, I just listened to podcasts the whole way so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

 

Yes, very slow, I agree. Whats most annoying is scrolling down to a list, and getting the "empty" error that kicks you back. Have to keep remembering to let the ipod "load" and sit there for a minute.

As far as the solution to the sound I've become extremely impatient and took others advice to replace the speakers.

See this post for all the info!:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=134555

 

Wow, all of this really sucks.

MINI's configurator shows, for the "Bluetooth and USB/Ipod Integration ($500)" option, an Ipod in what looks to be the hidden compartment. It's the exact same image as the Comfort Bluetooth. I find it lame that they would charge these prices for a Y-adapter cable which should be included in the cost of the vehicle. I know you get Bluetooth integration as well, but who cares? These are two completely different technologies and should not be combined.

What's worse that MINI messing this all up is the MA's complete ignorance on the subject. My MA couldn't tell me the difference between any one of the three options.

In the end, I opt'ed for the Bluetooth and USB ($500) option thinking that it would keep my cockpit clean from cables and provide Bluetooth in case my BT headset ever died. (It will be illegal to use a cell phone without some hands free technology in California in June) My current car is a mess with power cables and Ipod adapters and I didn't want this mess. I didn't opt for the Ipod adaptor dealer installed option ($330 + $170 install fee) since my MA told me it was the same thing only you got BT for free if I ordered the factory option.

All these issues offend my techno geekiness and make me want to go back to the cassette tape adapter. I'd love to hear if anyone rigs an extension to the USB adapter and hides the ipod somewhere.