iPod, Apple CarPlay, Blech.

[Tubro]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here although I've been reading a lot over the past month or so in preparation for buying my first BMW. I drove SAAB's for many years and then when they went under moved to passat diesel, which i loved for the MPG but they sort of cheated Mother Earth and all that. So i bought a 328d sportwagon. I'm loving everything about it - what a machine - but for the music and phone integration, which is bizarre. I'm sure this has been covered a lot here but my searching didn't come up with anything on point. So maybe y'all can guide me a little. I'll appreciate it greatly.

first, my iPod. I'm old and this is the way i like to listen to music. I have a fairly current - maybe the last one they made - ipod classic 160 gb with a 30 pin connector. How can i hook it up to usb so that the system reads it and i can control song selection with the idrive selector? When i hooked it up via usb only, the ipod screen displayed the bmw logo and the input options in the car showed the ipod by name but didn't load the data. I can listen thru the 1/8" mini jack aux input but of course there's no on screen info there. I bought a cable online that claimed to have the right chip in it. It plugs into the 30 pin jack on the device and has a 1/8" mini and a usb plug. But that didn't do a thing except power the ipod thru the usb and activate the aux input.

Second, apple CarPlay. Does it just plain suck? No matter what I'm listening to, when my phone gets a call or a text the system switches to CarPlay and that's that. No more music. Reads me my message. It's ridiculous. Speaking into the phone or the system sometimes mutes source I'm listening to and sometimes doesn't. Also ridiculous. Are there settings? Or does it just suck? For now I've got my phone hooked up via Bluetooth but not apple play and it seems fine. I have iphone 6Splus.

I think that's it for now. Please treat this newbie kindly. I'm swimming in complicated car stuff - not my usual comfort zone.

Best, Larry

[DennisCooper]

Hi,

Have you checked the owners manual to see which external audio sources are supported? With Apple Carplay widely available, it may be that it'll playback music stored on the phone itself (the phone behaves like an ipod in this regard). The 'actual' ipods are now at best some years old and perhaps they're not supported in the way you are thinking? Also, speak to your BMW dealer as well as they'll know what the setup is capable of. Check also the specific section for these brand new cars to see what other's are reporting about the setup etc.

Cheers, Dennis!