[derek0480]

finally got ahold of my CA today

looks like you indeed do need the Y connector to make the ipod work properly.

it is standard if you ordered the 6FL connector from the factory...they just forgot to give it to me. Figures.

Anyhow my CA is overnighting me one and hopefully this corrects the issue.

[LEDZEP]

... and centuries after Shakespeare's death, children are still learning English in school just as if it were brand new.

[Kev]

I have a E90 335xi and a brand new 4GB nano (Mac formatted, Firmware 1.1.3 = most updated one).

I'm having the exact same problem as you guys. When I connect using the Y-cable given by BMW (USB+minijack), the screen just shows "ok to disconnect". When I go into the AUX menu, the USB logo is not highlighted (meaning that the car does not recognize the presence of the iPod). I can't get the car to recognize the nano even if I just plug in the USB cable. However, it plays fine if I unplug the USB connection.

I'm totally stuck at this and will probably bring the car into the dealership next week to that checked out. In the mean time, I guess I'll format the iPod to PC format and see if it helps.

[Kev]

Hmm....... the iPod suddenly started working. Now it is absolutely fine with all the playlist and track info on iDrive. I really don't know what the heck went wrong in the first place. I'm totally confused now, but as long as it works, it's ok with me.

[Bimmerforlife]

gotta love all this technology in our BMW's but when it doesn't work, argh!!

[nightops]

Originally Posted by Kev

Hmm....... the iPod suddenly started working. Now it is absolutely fine with all the playlist and track info on iDrive. I really don't know what the heck went wrong in the first place. I'm totally confused now, but as long as it works, it's ok with me.

so you're saying the Ipod will work even if it's formatted for the Mac? hmmm maybe I'll try it...

[petros15978]

Originally Posted by Kev

Hmm....... the iPod suddenly started working. Now it is absolutely fine with all the playlist and track info on iDrive. I really don't know what the heck went wrong in the first place. I'm totally confused now, but as long as it works, it's ok with me.

What happened to you is the normal behaviour of a newly connected device with quite a few mp3's in it. I'm guessing now (maybe I'm wrong again) that whenever you connected your ipod nano, you did not wait for it to load it's contents properly (it may need more than 10 minutes) to the radio cd of your car. Now that the nano stayed connected for the required initial time (it will not need that time every time you connect it, unless you load many new songs on it) it will respond instantly and show up on your screen as ipod.

[LEDZEP]

Originally Posted by nightops

so you're saying the Ipod will work even if it's formatted for the Mac? hmmm maybe I'll try it...

Yes, as long as you are using the iPod cable.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by petros15978

What happened to you is the normal behaviour of a newly connected device with quite a few mp3's in it. I'm guessing now (maybe I'm wrong again) that whenever you connected your ipod nano, you did not wait for it to load it's contents properly (it may need more than 10 minutes) to the radio cd of your car. Now that the nano stayed connected for the required initial time (it will not need that time every time you connect it, unless you load many new songs on it) it will respond instantly and show up on your screen as ipod.

With all due respect, those are incorrect assumptions:

1. Initially, I had it hooked up to my car through the CORRECT splitter cable for a 50 mile drive on the Mass Pike (from Backbay to Natick then back to Logan to Allston to Backbay), which definitely took more than 10 minutes (I did not turn on the mass storage mode at that point)
2. I have 9 hours of music in my 4GB iPOD Nano (~30% capacity filled with music)
3. So, I went home, look up the info posted here, tried the hard reset and didn't work
4. At long last, I changed the setting of my iPOD to mass storage (per instructions found here), leave it in the car with iDrive running while I went grocery shopping. When I went back to check on the car, the iPOD connection worked.

So, it is true that it would take time for the iDrive to sync with the iPod. However, without tweaking the setting on the iPod, it didn't matter how long I have had it hooked up to my car. It just wouldn't work. My apparent guess would be that the problem lies within having to change the iPOD's setting to mass storage device and this was not mentioned in the Owner's Manual (yeah, I read that thing after I picked up my car)

[MoreCowbell]

How do you change it to mass storage?

[Kev]

Do you use a Mac or a PC? In the Mac, when you open iTunes with your iPod plugged into the USB port, iTunes will open up the main menu of your iPod. It is the last option check box (4 of 4) at the bottom of the screen.

[MoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by Kev

Do you use a Mac or a PC? In the Mac, when you open iTunes with your iPod plugged into the USB port, iTunes will open up the main menu of your iPod. It is the last option check box (4 of 4) at the bottom of the screen.

I use a Mac...

[Kev]

Originally Posted by MoreCowbell

I use a Mac...

I use a Mac now as well (since Oct '06). Wife is now getting a little impatient with her Windows Vista Ultimate experience so might need to a get a MacPro at home pretty soon. :rocks:

[MoreCowbell]

This is my first Mac as well...I'm loving it so far...

And the Ipod has worked well in your car?

From what others have said...no matter how the Ipod is formatted...if you leave it plugged in with the BMW long enougn, it will work...Am I incorrect?

[Kev]

Originally Posted by MoreCowbell

This is my first Mac as well...I'm loving it so far...

And the Ipod has worked well in your car?

From what others have said...no matter how the Ipod is formatted...if you leave it plugged in with the BMW long enougn, it will work...Am I incorrect?

It is now working fine with my car. I can see all the songs, playlists, genre, artist, etc

You just need to change your iPod to mass storage mode in iTunes and connect it through the Y-CABLE supplied by BMW to the iDrive. Leave them alone for a while and go for a long drive. They should be able to sync then.

[MoreCowbell]

Thanks. I will try it.

Usually when I plug my IPOD into the MAC, Itunes launches automatically.

That is when I will see the menu on the IPOD?

[Kev]

Yep, that's correct. If not, just click on the iPod in the side menu on the left hand side of the screen. That should bring up the main menu of your iPod. Then you can see 4 options with check boxes in the middle of the screen towards the bottom. Check the last one.

Note: once you do that, you would need to drag the iPod logo on your desktop to the trash before you unplug it. Failure to do so will result in data loss!

[MoreCowbell]

Cool...thanks again!!!

I am going to try this...

[jmonier]

Originally Posted by Kev

You just need to change your iPod to mass storage mode in iTunes and connect it through the Y-CABLE supplied by BMW to the iDrive. Leave them alone for a while and go for a long drive. They should be able to sync then.

If you use the Y-cable you should not need to have mass storage mode enabled (although it doesn't hurt anything to have it that way) and it should not take a long time to sync up everything. It's only with the straight USB cable (no AUX connection and no black box), that mass storage mode is necessary and that's also the case where it takes a long time to read all the ID3 tags from your songs.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by jmonier

If you use the Y-cable you should not need to have mass storage mode enabled (although it doesn't hurt anything to have it that way) and it should not take a long time to sync up everything. It's only with the straight USB cable (no AUX connection and no black box), that mass storage mode is necessary and that's also the case where it takes a long time to read all the ID3 tags from your songs.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=31

I don't know if it's the difference between PC formatted and Mac formatted file system that makes the difference. I had the iPod hooked up to my car through the Y-cable for over an hour during a drive on the Mass Pike and nothing happened. However, once I turned on the mass storage mode, it somehow started working.

[jmonier]

Originally Posted by Kev

I don't know if it's the difference between PC formatted and Mac formatted file system that makes the difference. I had the iPod hooked up to my car through the Y-cable for over an hour during a drive on the Mass Pike and nothing happened. However, once I turned on the mass storage mode, it somehow started working.

That's interesting. Mac formatted is supposed to work fine with the Y-cable. It's with mass storage and the USB cable that it not supposed to work. Since the iPod does all the disk access with the Y-cable (and the car electronics cannot even access the disk directly with that cable) all that seems to make sense, but mine is PC formatted so I can't say for sure.

In my case, I hooked up the iPod during delivery and it immediately started playing from where it had left off.

[Kev]

Originally Posted by jmonier

That's interesting. Mac formatted is supposed to work fine with the Y-cable. It's with mass storage and the USB cable that it not supposed to work. Since the iPod does all the disk access with the Y-cable (and the car electronics cannot even access the disk directly with that cable) all that seems to make sense, but mine is PC formatted so I can't say for sure.

In my case, I hooked up the iPod during delivery and it immediately started playing from where it had left off.

Good for you and I'm glad that mine started working as well