iPod console

I just find it a pain in the *** deciding on what to listen too.

cal1470 said:

Heres something to think about. 5 playlists with 99 songs on each playlist.

Hmmmmm 495 songs. Thats an awful lot of albums.

Ok you cant see the track names etc. But can you with a cd changer?

People moan saying "how will i know what im playing" or " how can i tell whats next"

Trust me, you WILL get used to it. Some people can't even remember whats in there 6 disc changer.

We moaned when cd changers first came out and i'm sure we'll moan about the next new technological wonder.

My humble opinion....If it doesn't do EXACTLY what you want it to...DONT FIT IT!!!.

Maybe someone will invent a way of running cd changers in series and we could link 49 of them together.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Just got the iPod dock installed Thursday and it'll do for me. Some points:

• I have the Symphony II. As you know no track names, artist etc. But then even the Dension doesn't show this; limitation of Symphony II head unit as far as I know. Would be nice if there was some kind of firmware upgrade to do this for Symhony II. Artist is displayed on iPod though as track is being played. I find it great fun swerving all over the road reaching for the glovebox to find out which artist is playing (only kidding!). I'm ok with this as I like the idea of the iPod being out of sight.
• I was originally told by Audi that I'd lose the 6CD Changer functionality. Not true! You'd only lose the CD Changer if it's external. Symphony II has internal 6CD Changer and it still works with iPod dock fitted. Just press the CD button to flip between iPod and internal 6CD Changer. Mind your speakers especially if iPod track is quieter than CD or vice versa.
• iPod Dock!?? Where? Well mine is just a cable in the glovebox with an iPod plug on it. Was expecting to see a docking unit in the globebox. A bit steep for £180 for what it looks like. I find navigation on the head unit a bit sluggish using my own iPod 30GB Video, but it seemed a little quicker using my wife's iPod 4GB Mini.
• I think it's only suggested to do playlists 1 to 5 as I think the iPod Dock will use the first 5 playlists on your iPod whatever they are listed as alphabetically / numerically.
• I've seen some comments about saying that it's a hassle to set up the playlists 1 to 5 on the iPod. iTunes couldn't make it easier. Just dragging and dropping your music from the iPod in the order you want. I did this in 5 mins (before going to the dealer), but in relation to d3fy's comment on what to listen to, I could easily end up spending ages thinking what to put in the playlists (decisions, decisions....).
• Some of the tracks on iPod aren't MP3s meaning there's no need to bother converting them to MP3 for MP3 CDs. Just drag it into the playlist of choice and "Robert's your Dad's brother".
• Charges your iPod as you go.

Final verdict:
Sounds great, rather pricey though. Navigation of, and skipping through tracks can be sluggish and irritating. It's not great but it'll do until the next car. Looking forward to my trip away with my wife next week down to South-East England near the coast + a day in France. A lot of driving, and will be at least pleased to hear my music.

Cheers to all those who helped with the advice on the iPod dock.

staz1000 said:

Like missm I have a connects2 cable fitted to my mp3 player. It's sony however they do Ipod cables too.

I have the cable coming out from under the base behind the ashtray and each album on my mp3 it's shown as a CD. CD+ to go up one (in alphabetical order) CD- to go down. Once it gets to CD6 it starts from CD1 again. Tracks are selected as normal of course.

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(Probably being thick but...) I find the part about CD navigation confusing. Does CD+ & CD- navigate through your entire album collection, or just the first 6 albums? What does CD1-CD6 do, are they mapped to playlists, like the Audi/Dension icelink ipod interface?
Does the Connects2 interface offer anything functional that the Audi/Dension doesn't? I see some people are getting lag time when navigating tracks on their unit, does the Connects2 interface suffer similarly? What about ipod controls locking - does it do that, or allow you to still control the ipod when connected?

Also just wondering - anyone have anything good or bad to say about FM transmitters? (Perhaps not a fair comparison though - they won't charge your mp3 player or allow use of HU/MFSW controls.)

Mr_P said:

(Probably being thick but...) I find the part about CD navigation confusing. Does CD+ & CD- navigate through your entire album collection, or just the first 6 albums? What does CD1-CD6 do, are they mapped to playlists, like the Audi/Dension icelink ipod interface?
Does the Connects2 interface offer anything functional that the Audi/Dension doesn't? I see some people are getting lag time when navigating tracks on their unit, does the Connects2 interface suffer similarly? What about ipod controls locking - does it do that, or allow you to still control the ipod when connected?

Also just wondering - anyone have anything good or bad to say about FM transmitters? (Perhaps not a fair comparison though - they won't charge your mp3 player or allow use of HU/MFSW controls.)

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With the Symphony II (with 6CD internal changer + cassette) and the iPod dock it treats the iPod like a 2nd CD Changer if that makes any sense. When it's playing actual CDs the Head unit and DIS will show CDx TRACKx. When you flip over to the iPod it will show CDCx TRACKx. iPod is locked when it's connected.

Sorry can't answer about how other systems suffer lag, or FM Transmitters.

I used to use an iTrip years ago and it wasn't very good. I found it hard to find an FM station with absolutely nothing on it. When you thought you'd got it cracked a relatively short trip would spoil the tunes as the odd crackle and noise would creep though and that's not good at high volumes.

I now have the factory ipod console, which is a little temperamental oh and no track names. I gave up in the end and now use SD cards in the RNSe.

Regards, John.

Nelson_Wilbury said:

If the Audi iPod intergration is so crap and doesn't display track names. Buy it from another supplier...

...but of course, don't think that will be any better as its the CD Changer interface in the headunit that causes the lack of track names. Not the iPod connection itself.

Audi have had a fixing kit for Gen 2 iPod's since about April, get with the programme!

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Please elaborate! ... Thanks

hi Folks
am just mostly a reader on this forum and lately even more cause i am considering a S3.

anyway been reading this post with amazement and thought to just share my opinion because i was considering the ipod option. (not anymore!!)

people ever driven a beemer will know this already:
in a BMW if you have an Ipod interface it will be fully functional with your MFSTW and will display all info on the HU display. Also it will give you the choice to search for a song, album, artist, or playlist.

Only little thing is that it can only read max 265 albums/artists/playlists.
So on my Ipod video, i cant find all my albums i have on there but still 265 is pretty much.

this is not to say that BMW is great, but to show that a lot more is possible than what Audi has settled for...
i can't believe the poor performance of the Audi interface and am disappointed with it!! At least don't have to look for that option then.

Could somebody with Satnav+ clarify if he/she sees any info on their screen?

And lastly: does anybody know what the biggest card is accepted by the sysem(how many gb)?

thx rgds Robert

I can manage to get my ipod Dennison set up so that it plays all the
songs on the ipod randomly through the Hu,then when a song plays off a
album i want to listen to i just knock it off random on the Hu and i can listen to that album...which i have no problems with...but like a few people have stated is that when you turn off the ignition or hu,it either goes back to user
interface or goes on pause so very annoying...mine is docked on the cable
so now and then just pull it out of glove box on the cable and skip through it that way...again not perfect but does sound great!!

Had a ace hu in my previous car for the ipod..could search albums ...songs etc etc lighting fast..but i didnt fit it in the Audi cos it was silver and woulndnt look right.

RPSXR said:

Could somebody with Satnav+ clarify if he/she sees any info on their screen?

And lastly: does anybody know what the biggest card is accepted by the sysem(how many gb)?

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Sorry, no actual track names from the iPod, just Track 1, Track 2, etc... It's connected via the CD changer ports so there is no way to get the data from the iPod into the RNSe.

I believe 4GB is the largest size (largest available SD card) and the RNSe wont work with SDHC cards. Don't forget you are also stuck with the 512 file, folder and playlist limit.

JohnS3 said:

... It's connected via the CD changer ports so there is no way to get the data from the iPod into the RNSe.

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this is what i dont get, cause thats the same in beemers: either cd-changer or ipod, through the same port...
does the actual headunit play MP3's?