Howdy! I bought a 2009 Mini and was trying to hook up my iphone 4 to listen to Pandora. Plugged in my iphone cord to the usb port, but it says it's empty. Then I found this forum and got so excited. But I'm hearing conflicting answers. Do I need to buy a y cable or do I need to get something else?
Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Angela

 

In my experience, you need either the MINI / BMW Y-cable (because the head unit will only interact with the OE part due to some coding mumbo-jumbo, aka an excuse to make you buy their $70 aux cable) or a plain ol' 3.5mm stereo cable to run off the iPhone headphone output. If ALL you want to do is play Pandora, then I'd just go with the 3.5mm - it's a lot cheaper, a lot simpler, and Pandora doesn't work with the dash interface or steering wheel controls anyway (IE, the USB portion of the y-cable does nothing for Pandora). Kinda tricky to get Pandora to work on a Y-cable anyhow, as the head-unit usually kills it in favor of the iPod function.

 

Thanks! So I would just need a 3.5mm cable? Would it plug into the aux?

 

3.5mm male-male "aux" cable, from iPhone headphone-out to MINI aux-in. HOWEVER, I'd like revise my original statement a bit: Prior to this afternoon, I'd not yet sync'd my new 4S with the MINI via Bluetooth. After doing so, I gained a much greater level of integration when using Pandora and other 3rd-party music apps. I can now skip songs in Pandora via the steering wheel, and the head unit no longer tries to kill whatever app you have running to get to the iPod. Turning the head unit off will effectively pause a live Pandora stream, and it will even resume where you left off upon starting the system again (I used to have to reboot Pandora every time I shut the stereo off to keep it from tripping the iPod function)! In light of that new information, I would say the OE Y-cable is absolutely worth it.

FWIW: I have a brand-new iPhone 4S running iOS 5. My old brick 3G running iOS 4-point-something did not have the advanced functionality in 3rd-party apps I mention above, even when sync'd via Bluetooth. I would assume that any model iPhone with iOS 5 will work as described, but I cannot confirm that to be true.

 

On my 2011 I could control and see the music thru the deck after the iOS 5 update

 

I take you you guys have the NAV and or Mini Connected?

 

Big changes were made between the 2010 and 2011 model years in the functionality of the iPod/iPhone in the MINI.

2007-2010 are rather limited and MUST use the OEM Y Cable

2011+ seem to work well with just the standard USB to iPod connector cable.

 

I ask again, is this for NAV/ Mini connected cars or IPhone/Bluetooth equipped cars with standard display?

 

Well to actually answer your question would mean we have to know what post you are talking about as the OP has a 2009 and MINI Connected was not available at that time so no it would not be for a connected vehicle.

The only post about a car after the 2011 upgrade was from Dark Chili and he/she does not state what they have for a system in the car.

But the reality of the mater is that it really does not matter what system you have in the car if the car is a 2008-2010. They all work the same.

As for the 2011+ cars if you have No NAV or NAV they will work the same. If you have MINI connected it will work slightly differntely.

But as for what the thread is about for a 2009 car well you have to have a OEM Y Cable. As for after the upgrade in 2011 you do not.

 

Thanks schatzy. I have a 2012 with ipod/bluetooth without connected and without NAV. I'll try it with the iPod cable to see what happens. How would you access Pandora with this set up? Otherwise I guess it's back to manual control on the iPod and the minijack cable.

 

The only way to get it started is via the iPhone. But you should be able to control the track with the steering wheel track control. But that is the only real function that will be added.

 

The car only had the standard iPod/BT

 

Tried using my standard white apple supplied iPhone/iPod cable and the car tells me that the cable isn't supported for use in the vehicle. Oh well, I guess it's 3.5mm cable for me.

 

For the record, I have a 2009 JCW and using my iPhone 4S, oem Y cable, I am able to control Pandora through the radio controls. No Navi or Mini Connected.

 

How do you activate Pandora?

 

Forgive my ignorance, but do you mean how do you activate a Pandora account or how do start the Pandora app after pluging in the phone to the oem cable?
As long as you are running iOS 5.xx it will work. All I do is plug it in, hit the home screen and then I can open Pandora.

 

ok i guess you mean turn on pandora on the phone, then plug it into the car, then choose ipod from the car radio?

 

When I start playing Pandora, it just starts playing through the radio.

 

Here is what I have. 2012 Mini Cooper with Mini Connected with Navigation. The regular cable that they supplied did not work. I took it in and they tried a snap in cable (which fits into the armrest). That kind of worked but it didn't stay connected. So they sold me a $298 cable today, that plugs into the cigarette lighter, it's a big square box, and then plugs into the regular area where the one it came with plugged in (two ends). Why is this so expensive and why are others saying they have no trouble with the basic cheapie cable? Mine is the iPhone 4S.

Oh, and I don't know how to get Pandora working.

 

[QUOTE=Z06C5R;3427366]3.5mm male-male "aux" cable, from iPhone headphone-out to MINI aux-in. HOWEVER, I'd like revise my original statement a bit: Prior to this afternoon, I'd not yet sync'd my new 4S with the MINI via Bluetooth. After doing so, I gained a much greater level of integration when using Pandora and other 3rd-party music apps. I can now skip songs in Pandora via the steering wheel, and the head unit no longer tries to kill whatever app you have running to get to the iPod. Turning the head unit off will effectively pause a live Pandora stream, and it will even resume where you left off upon starting the system again (I used to have to reboot Pandora every time I shut the stereo off to keep it from tripping the iPod function)! In light of that new information, I would say the OE Y-cable is absolutely worth it.

So you're using Bluetooth and the USB connection?? I thought you were hooked up to your phone with one or the other.