OK, since my 2007 E350 is equipped with the iPod Integration kit I decided to purchase an iPod Touch. Question: Is it possible to change albums via the buttons on the steering wheel, or can you only use those buttons to change songs within that album. Also, the sound quality is not near as good as when playing the actual CD. Perhaps I'm missing something.

 

To change playlists, use the tel button on the wheel, then you'll see your playlists, which you can scroll through. I believe you touch the 'end call' button to get back to songs, but I can't remember. Play with the tel buttons on the wheel and you'll figure it out. I wish I had the instructions, my dealer must have kept them.

And yep sound quality is not as great as the CD, I don't know why - a bit muffled. I don't know if the IPOD settings can be transmitted through the car, I may play with the IPOD later.

Smash

 

Did you change the sound setting on the COMAND from Starndard to Logic 7. I thought the same thing with my iPod plugged into the AUX until i changed the setting.

 

The controls are on the wheel like Samsh indicated. As far as sound quality goes, that's when compressed audio shows it's weaknesses. No biggie if you're listening through headphones, once you try to make it go through speakers it can all go to hell. I hated it when I first got it until I started playing with various settings-for one, make sure the EQ on the iPod itself is set to "off" or "none" when you mix the different EQ settings on the device with the Surround on the car you get a mess.

I played around until I got it to an acceptable level-still not anywhere close to a CD, but listenable. Then you run into the problem where some MP3/AACs are recorded differently and the levels are lower, etc. etc. The iPod in the car is simply a convenience-if you want good quality you're better off burning CD's off of your CD's.

 

It is possible to use lossless compression or just copy wav files from CDs to your iPod. The problem that iPod analog circuits are no good. The best sound quality you can get only from iPhone.

 

Thanks guys. Guess I won't trash my cd's yet.

 

Just to let you know, the Mercedes IPOD interfaces is far better than the BMW one. The BMW one (at least the one in my 325i) was very limited and setting up playlists was a pain.

I had to dig up the special IPOD manual for the E350 to see that the telephone controls are used. Once you start using, you can choose by Artist, Album, Song, Playlist, etc.

 

Sound quality has nothing to do with the type of iPod. Its all about the Bit Rate of the song. I use an old standard 20GB iPod. But, all of my songs are downloads from iTunes at 256KB (standard CD is 128KB). The sound of my iPod on the Comand set to Logic 7 IS UNBELIEVABLE!

Here's a quick rundown of the iPod steering wheel controls

Press Audio on Comand and Select AUX
Use menu scroll button (lower-left) on the steering wheel to get to the iPod menu.
The phone button left side is "back"
The phone button right side is "select"
The arrow down button is "next" as in next song or next menu option
The arrow up button is "previous" as in previous song or previous menu option

So, lets say you are listening to a song and you want to go to a different album. You would press left phone button once to get to the album you are listening and once again to get to the iPod menu (playlists, artists, albums, etc).

Now, use the down arrow button on the other side of the steering wheel to scroll through the iPod menu options until you get to albums. Once you see albums, hit the right phone button to select that option. Continue using the down arrow button to scroll through the albums on your iPod. Once you find the album you want to listen to, use the right phone buttom to select it.

It sounds kind of complicated, but it's very easy to use once you get the hang of it.

Hope this helps!

Jose

P.S. Just to CMA, do all this at your own risk. Don't try while driving. Don't blame me if you wreck your car because you were playing with your iPod! :-)

 

+1 on what Baxterdown says above, my Ipod sound is incredible in my car going via the Euro Command and the controls via the wheel is excellent.

 

Cool! Thanks guys, I'll definitely try tomorrow. Lots of good info.

 

I havent gotten the ipod intergration kit yet... But has anyone noticed while plugged into the Aux port... that If your Heated seats are on you get interference noise when you touch your itouch?