I want to play music from my blackberry through the bluetooth. Is there something I can buy (like a bluetooth adapter) to plug in the ipod receiver to make this work.

 

Yes, our AnyStream at Cartronics.com

 

or depending the year, 2010+, the factory media interface plus kit

 

are there any cheaper solutions, like the ones on ebay

 

The AnyStream works very well, sound quality is great. It is very inexpensive too. If you tried to go much cheaper, sound quality or reliability is going to suffer. Quality Chipsets and licensing cost a certain amount. Hard to go much less....

 

my 2 cents on the cartronics anystream:

2012 e coupe so very new firmware. I used the ipod connector cable which i verified as being the one 'supported' by cartonics (Mercedes part number A 001 827 82 04) http://www.cartronics.com/POM.html

My phone, htc desire hd running android 2.3, connects fine to the anystream and the led on the anystream flashes once every 6 seconds suggesting the connection phone<--->anystream is fine.

However the media interface on the car is stuck at 'activating device' and nothing else happens.

For the record, I called anystream and they took my call and were very polite. However the suggested 'solution' is to go and buy a composite av cable with authentication chip from apple to connect the anystream via usb - this costs very close to the price i paid for the anystream. With this in mind I may have opted for a different solution (like the motorolla gateway). I am also in Cyprus so sending it back is not really an option/feasible/cost effective. Thus I'm left with a $80 square of plastic. I may eventually go buy the composite cable but at this point i'm weary of spending more money on something that may or may not work. Caveat emptor.

 

However, as we explained to e_coup, elsewhere in these forums, several reviewers with the EXACT same car... it is working perfectly. This highlights the problem with some cars like a Mercedes Benz. Mercedes has continually come out with new part numbers AND software updates for the iPod systems in the cars... why? Because they are not always Apple compliant. If you will visit Mercedes Benz factory website, you will find many updates available for the cars. This is why we give several solutions to this problem. The Anystream is 100% compliant. e_coup, If you went and purchased a $800 iPad, it would not work in your car either without the updates or cables mentioned. So it is caveat emptor, but not for the reasons you mentioned. It is because your car needs the updates or proper cables to work. One must be willing to take the steps necessary to bring the car into compliance with Apples specifications if you wish to use an iPad, Anystream, or future iOS5 device (as the new Apple iPhone operating system coming out next month won't work in your car either).
Within the cable kit part number we give on our site listed above is a USB cable. When used with the USB cable and any iPod cable that contains the AAC (Apple Authentication Chip), it forces a non Apple compliant system to be compliant. It is a simple solution to a compatibility problem.
However, like we said before, other reviewers on this site have the same car, same year, same cable, and it works fine. It is because they have different software in the car, and it is compliant. It can be a complicated matter to understand, but there are easy solutions to the problem.
PLUS, the Anystream does come with a 100% money back guarantee should you decide to try it and not want to take the steps necessary should it not work. Even in Cyprus, the ANystream only weighs 1 ounce (28 grams), and can be put in a normal letter and mailed back for very little cost. You can recover your investment should you want to. For the record, only 3 Anystreams have ever been returned (with a little over 500 sold so far) - and 98% of those have been sold in the US where they can be returned for under 50 cents.

 

I tried to edit the original post but cant so I have to quote instead.

NOTE: fwiw cartronics.com are "good people" - even after my negative review and after some back/forth with them - they are still responding to my questions. I believe their 100% money back guarantee. I understand that many people have had success with this product. I'm in the process of trying to source an apple usb cable 'with authentication chip' (the apple store won't deliver to my country and not sure that the ones on ebay/amazon have the 'apple authentication chip' built in which is what I need). If I get my hands on one and try it out I'll post back here.