Yonosai

Hello,

I'm evaluating to buy an iPod for my music on my car.
I'm wondering how good is the iPod integration with the new comand online system (with media interface).

Can you tell me the pros and cons?
(Is the iPod fully manageable it via Comand Online interface? How good are the playlist displayed?...)

Thank you

acr2001

I can't answer your question because I didn't see the point of paying for the iPod interface in my 2012. If you are considering buying the iPod *just* for music in your car then you are making a big mistake. It makes much more sense to just buy a large SD card or hard drive (USB port in center console). The system will support MP3s WMAs and I believe AAC files. It shows album art, has a knockoff of cover-flow, allows you to create playlists, sort by artist, album, etc and even use the voice command system to search for music (if you have COMAND).

wireless200

Exactly. The USB stick works fine. The cool thing is you can just bring it back in the house erase stuff, add to it, whatever.

Also my phone streams bluetooth to the stereo system and that sounds very good.

chad88

Hey Yonosai

The iPod integration is seamless, you can access your playlists from the command screen and it will also display the song name, artist and album cover.

I think its much easier than a USB as you don't have to worry about transferring everything into folders.

Also if you download new music onto your computer you just simply connect the iPod to the computer and your music will be uploaded automatically.

With a USB you will need to add the music into a folder and go hunting for that new song when your in the car.

However both get the job done it all comes down to personal preference. However to take advantage of the iPod interface you need to plug you iPod into the car, as I use my iPhone for this I much prefer to use bluetooth streaming.

If you plan to keep the device in the car it won't make much difference weather you use iPod or USB unless you have multiple playlists. That is where the iPod will shine!

Hope this helps

acr2001

Good points. But I think multiple playlists works as well from a SD card / USB drive.

Audio quality is also better because it's digital right up to the amp which isn't the case for the ipod (unless they changed that for 2012?)

Audio quality on the iPod interface used to be abysmal - it is better now but chad will have to attest to how much better it is.

chad88

Some very valid points. While the ease of use is debatable, like i mentioned earlier it comes down to personal preference.

In regards to the audio quality I personally can't tell the difference between USB, iPod or bluetooth in the car? However I do notice the audio difference with a CD.

acr2001

With USB the audio quality varies depending on bitrate of the song - same as CD (assuming you burnt it yourself).

Bluetooth audio is the lowest quality choice, but I must admit it isn't bad in the '12!

Yonosai

Thank you for your replies.

Major points for me is:
- taking care of my music library on a single point (itunes)
- be able to play easily itunes playlists (ie genius playlist)

As audio quality is pretty important for me can you tell me if mp3s stored on the usb or sd card (in 320kps) will sounds better that the same files from the ipod (actually is the iPod interface limited in some way in term of quality)?

Thank you

JaCe88

Theoretically it should sound a bit better if they are on SD card or music register (i.e. kept in mp3 format) but there's an insignificant different between that and iPod given the quality of the iPod audio output (being more than sufficient for 99.9% of people). Bluetooth streaming audio on the other hand sounds alot closer to FM radio at least when I tried using an iPod Touch 4G and the 2012 COMAND Online system.

For me, I've just used old iPods in my various cars because iTunes is great at ensuring everything stays updated and Playlists are managed in the comfort of my home on a laptop or desktop as opposed to using the horrid interface on the COMAND system. Yes it is a good UI but at the end of the day, the knob system is no match for a computer when it comes to setting up playlists, changing order of tracks, or even finding things to add/delete in a long list. Given that old iPods, even without battery capacity (so your friends/family might be willing to give you old ones for cheap or even free!) I think it's a great system and is a bit like the old CD changer days except you don't need to worry about doing much other than plugging it into your PC. If you already use an iPhone which you sync regularly then your playlists are already set up which makes it even more convenient.

wireless200

The memory stick is pretty easy to use. I plug it into my computer and pull folders or songs over to it, in no particular way. It's very easy to navigate to whatever folder or song you like using the MB nav.

I never went with Apple on any products especially music because you have to buy into their ecosystem lock stock and barrel. Everything is proprietary with them. I have my computer audio in either mp3 or flac (lossless). I have some decent stereo equipment at home and a good-sized music collection. I wouldn't want to be limited to hardware or systems that are limited to iTunes format. I keep everything in flac if I have the original source.

I wouldn't imagine the sound quality is any different between mp3 and iTunes if the bit rate is comparable. But you have to use their store or convert to their format. Not for me.

But if you don't need to get outside their way of doing it, I think it'll be fine. I considered buying an ipod if that was going to be the best way to use the new stereo but it did so well with the mp3s, that it's out of the question now.

acr2001

Some good points made in previous posts. I think it all boils down to this:

If you've already bought into Apples system and have all of your music on iTunes / buy your music through iTunes it is going to be a lot easier to just use an iPod.

If you download your music or manage it outside of iTunes then it is probably easier (and cheaper) to go with the SD / USB method.

Sound quality between MP3 and iTunes downloads (are they MP3 or AAC?) is absolutely identical, as long as you are getting high bit-rate MP3s. Sound quality between iPod connection and SD / USB is going to be better over SD / USB. I can't tell you how much better, might be negligible.

lemonstand

Agree with acr2001. If you've been using iTunes to add metadata to ur mp3s u should probably use the ipod integration. if you haven't been using iTunes then your files should have all metadata attached to it and you would be fine with usb. Another snag with usb though is for some reason about 25% of my songs (~5k mp3s) aren't recognized by COMAND. I think it has to do with DRM and the music I've purchased with iTunes.