I realize there is a TON of discussion regarding the iPod interface with MINI but I haven't seen anything with regards to operation the iPod through the iPod itself. My former car radio had this feature to toggle from stereo interface and iPod interface so I'm thinking MINI was smart enough to include this feature.

Otherwise it seems that I would just simply unplug the iPod from the MINI, get to the album by scrolling the iPod itself and replug it back in.

Any other thoughts? ideas? hopes for the future?

 

I don't believe you CAN control the music through your ipod when it is plugged into the MINI. You must use the MINI controls to scroll through the songs/albums/artists. It is quite the pain in the butt too, especially if you love your music and have 3000 songs on your ipod. What most of us do is make a bunch of playlists and that makes it easier than having to scroll for a particular artist or album.

Hope this helps.

 

How do you get to the playlists on your ipod?

 

You have to create a playlist in I tunes first, then synch your Ipod.
There should then be a menu for playlists you created on the Ipod.

 

Hey fellow Motorers, Im too am looking for an Ipod set where I dont have to control it through stereo. I seriously thought i was the only one who wanted that option cuz i too havnt heard anyone complain about it. I want to be able to just control it through my Ipod(while have it still be able to charge obviously). The adapters that I have seen online all have to be controlled through the stereo. My brother has one for his 04 scion XA, but I cant remember the brand it is. It too was about the same price as the one for MINI AND you can control it through the ipod itself. Im not about to buy a different stereo either!, why the hell couldnt MINI make this option available!!

 

I think the DICE adapter lets you control the iPod through its own controls.

As for accessing playlists through the MINI's head unit, create playlists in iTunes with titles that begin with "MINI1" through MINI5". After transferring these playlists to your iPod, you can access them directly from the head unit by using the "1" through "5" presets. Preset "6" will play the entire contents of your iPod.

The playlist titles can be longer than just "MINI1", "MINI2", etcetera, as long as they start with "MINI" followed immediately by a number from 1 to 5.

 

I spoke to a guy from crutchfield.com and he suggested that i should use the USA spec ipod interface. He said this one has a little switch on it that you switch to make it so u can use the ipod itself rather than do it through the radio. he did however say both that one AND the Dice allow you to control the music through you ipod, but the dice still works off of reception and doesnt give as good of quality as the USA spec. The USA spec one still has to connect to that plug in the trunkand u can route it wheverever you like, for instance the front console(if you ever find out how to do so)

 

I half-installed a Scosche AXIPBW iPod adapter in my 2006 S Cabrio. Only $60 plus shipping on Amazon. Much cheaper than anything else available. I can confirm it works, but probably has the same limitations I've seen on other adapters (no text display on the radio).

You can set switches to control the iPod/iPhone from the radio or the iPod. I opted to control it from the iPhone since that allows me to play Pandora and other music apps. I control only the volume through the head unit (and steering wheel). It seems to be charging the iPhone 3G just fine so far.

The "half-installed" is because the box is still sitting in the trunk with the iPod cable coming out under the back seat. I wanted to make sure I was happy with it before running the cables under the carpet or whatever. Wow, what a pain to get to the CD changer harness in the Cabrio!