[Patrick BMW]

Originally Posted by iBeech

The Infamous BMW Y Cable


How can i buy one?
You should only buy one from your BMW dealer, or if you are 100% sure you are buying an original from eBay or Amazon or similar. This is due to BMW's fantastic idea to put a chip in the split on the cable, ensuring that it will only work properly with an OEM cable.

I got 12.5% discount on the item, which resulted in it costing me £37. Make sure you ask nicely

I asked nicely and my dealer gave me one for free.

[Patrick BMW]

I have the standard DAB radio, ie not Professional nor Nav
I have the standard bluetooth too, so the iPhone works fine as a telephone.
I cannot play music off my iPhone using bluetooth...why not?
If I connect using the BMW Y-Cable, I can play the iPhone's music...but it snot convenient...I'd much prefer to use bluetooth. Any information would be useful.

[washy]

Originally Posted by Patrick BMW

I have the standard DAB radio, ie not Professional nor Nav
I have the standard bluetooth too, so the iPhone works fine as a telephone.
I cannot play music off my iPhone using bluetooth...why not?
If I connect using the BMW Y-Cable, I can play the iPhone's music...but it snot convenient...I'd much prefer to use bluetooth. Any information would be useful.

You need to spec the bluetooth audio option 6NF to get cable free music through the phone.

[Patrick BMW]

Thanks for the info

[Bolton1]

I brought a y cable from amazon which someone on here reccomended however sometimes it loses connection from my iPhone and then finds it again a few seconds later which then I have to select my iPhone on the idrive again and it will continue to play from where it stopped, doesn't happen often but often enough to be annoying anyone had same problem??

[washy]

What confuses me about all this is that I have had 4 BMW's since they introduced the th USB option and evertime they have given me a Y cable. They even threw one in with the MINI we have too. So I assumed they were part of the deal.

[Patrick BMW]

Mine was given for free, but I was quoted £40+ initially by the parts department!

It just seems strange that while you connect the phone using bluetooth, you can't connect the music.

[gsmon]

Having read through this thread, it seems I don't have a lot of options. I have hands-free Bluetooth phone functionality with USB and aux-in inputs. I don't have the extended Bluetooth package.

I want to play audiobooks stored on my iPhone through the USB cable but I don't think that will work directly. The Y-cable is not ideal because I'm planning to get a new phone soon. It seems I have 2 options:
1) Either put the audiobooks on a USB thumb drive
2) But the darn Y-cable.

Anyway to play audiobooks/podcasts stored on an iPhone (3GS) through the USB connector?

This should not be so difficult BMW, come on! Thanks in advance.

[papertiger]

Originally Posted by gsmon

Having read through this thread, it seems I don't have a lot of options. I have hands-free Bluetooth phone functionality with USB and aux-in inputs. I don't have the extended Bluetooth package.

I want to play audiobooks stored on my iPhone through the USB cable but I don't think that will work directly. The Y-cable is not ideal because I'm planning to get a new phone soon. It seems I have 2 options:
1) Either put the audiobooks on a USB thumb drive
2) But the darn Y-cable.

Anyway to play audiobooks/podcasts stored on an iPhone (3GS) through the USB connector?

This should not be so difficult BMW, come on! Thanks in advance.

you should be able to use your standard white apple usb cable
I have the extended bluetooth, but I use the standard apple usb cable to connect my iPod nano to te idrive, as sort of a permanent music library. I have full functionality with this cable, no need for the Y-cable.

[gsmon]

Originally Posted by papertiger

you should be able to use your standard white apple usb cable
I have the extended bluetooth, but I use the standard apple usb cable to connect my iPod nano to te idrive, as sort of a permanent music library. I have full functionality with this cable, no need for the Y-cable.

Thanks. I tried playing the audiobook by connecting the iPhone to the USB connector. Mind you, I don't have iDrive. The system didn't detect any media on my iPhone through USB. It could be because audiobooks have a weird directory structure on iPhones?

[papertiger]

yeah, that may me. It should work if you put them on a usb-stick

[tawia]

Was using iPhone with Y cable but switching to USB stick loaded with WAV files. I noticed the difference with USB through the HK system in my car. Can't go back now! It just sucks that wave doesn't carry much info in its files, album and artist now always unknown but song name is there, which will do.
It's also a shame BM doesn't support apple lossless files as I could have had quality and details.
Yes 320k AAC is good but it's still not as smooth as WAV

[chrisko]

After researching for a long time, I've deduced a few things (from a non-gps standpoint at least). Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

• It seems like with an iPhone, you need a y-cable. I tried an old 3GS but nothing happened when plugging only with iPhone cable (not even detectable when I try to select USB input)
• If it's an iPod, you only need the Apple provided USB cord
• The BT function I purchased comes with a similar y-cable theory of USB & Aux, and I'm assuming has the sam Aux audio quality loss

I know my old iPod can be read without a y-cable and songs get displayed


but I think it's so old that songs show up as 1XY4L, just a random assortment of letters/numbers.

If this is the case, I'm seriously about to just go buy an iPod.

Thanks for your help & clarification!

[logiclee]

Originally Posted by chrisko

A

If this is the case, I'm seriously about to just go buy an iPod.

If you are doing that why not just by a £20 64gb usb memory stick?

Lee

[chrisko]

Originally Posted by logiclee

If you are doing that why not just by a £20 64gb usb memory stick?

Lee

Call it lazy but then I have to manual drag and drop each song into folders within the USB. It would be a bit redundant since I would have to numerically order them by changing the file name, opposed to having everything organized in one unified place via iTunes.

If an iPod can work with via Apple USB cord and not require the y-cable, I can find one for relatively cheap! And it'll be convenient

[iBeech]

Originally Posted by chrisko

Call it lazy but then I have to manual drag and drop each song into folders within the USB. It would be a bit redundant since I would have to numerically order them by changing the file name, opposed to having everything organized in one unified place via iTunes.

If an iPod can work with via Apple USB cord and not require the y-cable, I can find one for relatively cheap! And it'll be convenient

no you wouldnt- because the idrive system sorts them by album / artist etc

[chrisko]

Originally Posted by iBeech

no you wouldnt- because the idrive system sorts them by album / artist etc

But if I put it on a USB it wouldn't sort by how it is in a manual configured playlist like on an iPod/iPhone or what have you. I don't know if iDrive is any different than the business radio I have.

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by chrisko

But if I put it on a USB it wouldn't sort by how it is in a manual configured playlist like on an iPod/iPhone or what have you. I don't know if iDrive is any different than the business radio I have.

You can also add manual playlists on the USB stick.

[BGM]

this is annoying, my car can't be changed now and i listen to a lot of internet radio via the TuneIn Pro app on my phone..

gah, should have specced extended BT

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by BGM

this is annoying, my car can't be changed now and i listen to a lot of internet radio via the TuneIn Pro app on my phone..

gah, should have specced extended BT

You can still do that by connecting a cable to the AUX input in the car.

[chrisko]

Originally Posted by ovekvam

You can also add manual playlists on the USB stick.

Like exporting it via iTunes?

[ovekvam]

Originally Posted by chrisko

Like exporting it via iTunes?

No, not like iTunes, but you can make you own play lists, and the car will understand them.