iPod integration kit arrives: confirmed!
07-10-2006, 02:37 AM
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Bentley Continental GT 2004
iPod integration kit arrives: confirmed!
I have just been called by my local dealer with whom I ordered the above to inform me that it has arrived and awaits my visit to install the thing.
The workshop manager says it is the first one he has seen and is looking forward to trying out the installation. I will keep everyone updated.
The workshop manager says it is the first one he has seen and is looking forward to trying out the installation. I will keep everyone updated.
07-11-2006, 04:10 PM
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2003-E55
just got my baby from the only Audio shop in Dubai that can install an Ipod kit...(check link below) what do you think? its a DENSON kit and it sounds great...no static....i dont like the display showing the radio frequincy...88.8fm...what can i do about it........ please post your pictures to compare and learn from each other...
http://my-e55.blogspot.com/
http://my-e55.blogspot.com/
Last edited by E.fifty.5; 07-11-2006 at 04:16 PM.
07-13-2006, 11:53 PM
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The kit has been installed and works as it is meant to. BUT..
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
Last edited by hcwong; 07-14-2006 at 02:49 AM.
07-15-2006, 03:31 PM
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Does the ipod dock inside the car, or is there simply a cord installed inside the glove box? any pics of the system in action would be greatly appreciated!
07-15-2006, 10:26 PM
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Originally Posted by hcwong
The kit has been installed and works as it is meant to. BUT..
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
thanks
07-16-2006, 02:48 PM
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'07 S550, '03 FXDWG
Originally Posted by weeeza
how do you play dvd's on the command, do you play the dvd in the navigation slot or do you have an after market device
thanks
thanks
Personally, this is my preferred method. I have over 22 gigs worth of music on my computer, so technically, five DVD MP3 discs could hold my entire library...and the car has six slots to hold discs. Not bad.
I do have a small complaint regarding the "random tracks" feature of listening to discs. I find that once the randomizer has picked a folder full of music, it'll stay within that folder for 2-5 tracks before picking a different folder. I prefer true randomization. At first, I thought the solution would be to put all the music into one folder, but the limitations of the system only allow the first 255 tracks to be read. At an average of 4 megs per track, 255 tracks would only utilize 1/4 of a DVD MP3 disc. Oh well... still damn cheap and easy to use this method versus the iPod or PCMCIA solution.
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07-16-2006, 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by JAdmiral
He means Audio DVDs... you can either burn them as music CDs, or as data disks, burning the actual MP3 files. Considering a DVD holds 4.7 GIGS worth of data, that's a LOT of music. By the way, the navigation on the S550 is now hard drive-based, so there is no more dedicated navigation disc slot.
Personally, this is my preferred method. I have over 22 gigs worth of music on my computer, so technically, five DVD MP3 discs could hold my entire library...and the car has six slots to hold discs. Not bad.
I do have a small complaint regarding the "random tracks" feature of listening to discs. I find that once the randomizer has picked a folder full of music, it'll stay within that folder for 2-5 tracks before picking a different folder. I prefer true randomization. At first, I thought the solution would be to put all the music into one folder, but the limitations of the system only allow the first 255 tracks to be read. At an average of 4 megs per track, 255 tracks would only utilize 1/4 of a DVD MP3 disc. Oh well... still damn cheap and easy to use this method versus the iPod or PCMCIA solution.
Personally, this is my preferred method. I have over 22 gigs worth of music on my computer, so technically, five DVD MP3 discs could hold my entire library...and the car has six slots to hold discs. Not bad.
I do have a small complaint regarding the "random tracks" feature of listening to discs. I find that once the randomizer has picked a folder full of music, it'll stay within that folder for 2-5 tracks before picking a different folder. I prefer true randomization. At first, I thought the solution would be to put all the music into one folder, but the limitations of the system only allow the first 255 tracks to be read. At an average of 4 megs per track, 255 tracks would only utilize 1/4 of a DVD MP3 disc. Oh well... still damn cheap and easy to use this method versus the iPod or PCMCIA solution.
07-18-2006, 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by hcwong
The kit has been installed and works as it is meant to. BUT..
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
..in practice it is rather tedious to use if you have a very large music library. To search for a particular artist you have to navigate up and down through the artist list using the up/down arrows on the steering wheel, and since there is no scroll wheel control, this rapidly becomes most tiresome since each up/down arrow click only takes you one artist up/down! And the problem is made worse since every time one goes into the 'artist' menu it always starts at the top of the list!
One could perhaps short cut this to some extent by creating playlists but that seems a bit of a bother. If only they had made use of the COMMAND controller to provide scrolling the problem would have been solved
Having satisfied my curiousity about how it works, I have gone back to playing my MP3 DVDs. There are several reasons for this.
One is organisation and management. Since Apple iTunes burns DVDs by default in a very logical way with folders created automatically thus making it very easy to find the music I am looking for very quickly, navigating by turns and clicks of the COMMAND wheel.
Another reason is the presentation of song information on the COMMAND screen is far more informative and graphic, hence attractive then the iPod display which only shows in the middle of the speedo.
In terms of capacity, once one starts using DVDs with MP3 encoding, the car's DVD changer has tremendous ability to hold music, since a blank DVD has capacity of 4.7Gb multiplied by 6 discs in the changer to give a total of 28.2Gb. My 60Gb ipod has 4000 songs and has used less than 20Gb of hard drive!
Great comments about the specifics of the system. I figured that only displaying iPod song info on the MFD (Multifunction Display - the speedometer screen area if that's what they still call it in the 221) would have limitations. I didn't anticipate some of the other items you mentioned though. It's one of those examples of needing to try something in person in order to better understand how it works.
The lack of ability to navigate an iPod list other than by one by one button presses to advance to the next/previous item will be an issue for large collections. On my 220 now, COMAND navigation of a list of MP3s burned onto DVD (using the single DVD drive behind the COMAND screen) is a little tedious but not bad because they inclue page up/down soft buttons on the COMAND screen in addition to just up/down one by one. I never thought about how the COMAND Controller on the 221 would make this even easier and more "at your figertips". I've been meaning to go take a burned disc to a local showroom to play around with the sound system a bit more. Now I definitely want to try this out. Playlists would help but as you allude to, if you're doing that as a way to workaround interface control limitations, you're not getting the most out of the iPod's capabilities.
It does make you wonder if a generic aux jack would have been far more effective. Sure, it's not as slick with onscreen song display and steering wheel button navigation but as you describe there are certainly compromises to what they've come up with. I like the idea of iPod integration over DVD burning, memory card slot usages, etc because of things like podcasts and audiobooks. In either case, managing those sources is more tedious to do with either disc or memory card vs transfer to an iPod. This will give me something to think about though.
Just as an FYI, it's worth checking to see if the 6-disc in-dash DVD changer can read dual layer burned DVDs as well. If you have a burner capable of buring to DL discs, you increase capacity to 8.5GB per disc. That should be large enough for most collections. You might want to give a little forethought to how you organize them so you can easily remember what stuff is on which disc. Maybe I'll burn a DL disc to take with me to play with the COMAND system next time I make a visit to teh dealership. I'll let you guys know if it works.
Jeff
Last edited by rgbyhkr; 07-18-2006 at 07:08 PM.
07-18-2006, 08:08 PM
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McLaren 570S, G12 BMW 750Li, GLE63s AMG Coupe
Just a question about apple itunes.....most of my files are in a mp4 format....will command dvd recognise this? If not, how do i convert it to mp3 format?
Thanks.
Thanks.
07-18-2006, 09:37 PM
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2004 S55
COMAND will only playback MP3 files. Are your MP4 files purchased from the iTunes Music Store (ITMS)? If so, your conversion options are a bit more cumbersome, but it certainly can be done. iTunes can convert files from one format to another. However, iTunes will only convert protected MP4 files purchased from ITMS into standard WAV files for creation of audio CDs capable of being played back in any standard CD player. That limitation has to do with the agreements Apple has with the record companies.
However, once you have converted MP4s to WAV and burned them to a CD, you can re-import the burned CD into any format you like including MP3. There have been programs created that will let you remove the DRM protections from the MP4 files and then convert the MP4s to MP3 directly. I think those vulnerabilities were fixed in the latest versions of iTunes. The MP4 to CD to MP3 still works though and probably always will.
Jeff
However, once you have converted MP4s to WAV and burned them to a CD, you can re-import the burned CD into any format you like including MP3. There have been programs created that will let you remove the DRM protections from the MP4 files and then convert the MP4s to MP3 directly. I think those vulnerabilities were fixed in the latest versions of iTunes. The MP4 to CD to MP3 still works though and probably always will.
Jeff
07-18-2006, 09:52 PM
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GL 450
I too have burned MP3 but the MFD only seems to recognize a single CD with no folders. The Command recoginizes the folders but the MFD does not show the song titles when multiple folders are used. I may not be making sense so heres the problem.
A single Chili Peppers CD with 13 or so tracks in MP3 format shows each song title on the Command and MFD.
A MP3 CD with 60 diffrent artists and approx 200 tracks only shows folders and song title on Command.
A single Chili Peppers CD with 13 or so tracks in MP3 format shows each song title on the Command and MFD.
A MP3 CD with 60 diffrent artists and approx 200 tracks only shows folders and song title on Command.
07-18-2006, 10:18 PM
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2004 S55
Originally Posted by hgelly
I too have burned MP3 but the MFD only seems to recognize a single CD with no folders. The Command recoginizes the folders but the MFD does not show the song titles when multiple folders are used. I may not be making sense so heres the problem.
A single Chili Peppers CD with 13 or so tracks in MP3 format shows each song title on the Command and MFD.
A MP3 CD with 60 diffrent artists and approx 200 tracks only shows folders and song title on Command.
A single Chili Peppers CD with 13 or so tracks in MP3 format shows each song title on the Command and MFD.
A MP3 CD with 60 diffrent artists and approx 200 tracks only shows folders and song title on Command.
Jeff
07-19-2006, 11:31 PM
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Bentley Continental GT 2004
Refering to your comment on the aux jack, I was surprised to discover that the iPod integration kit connects to COMAND (sorry about my earlier double M spelling) rather primitively through the system's aux jack. Indeed, to select the iPod, you go to 'Audio' on the menu bar at the top of the display, then click for a drop down menu to appear from which you select 'aux'.
The reason I consider this 'primitive' is that the Harman Kardon Logic 7 system makes a big deal of the way data is moved through the system in pure digital form. I suspect in listening to an iPod through the integration kit this entire advantage is rendered moot at the very first data transfer ie from iPod to COMAND via aux input.
Incidently, once the iPod is connect to the integration kit the iPod's own controls are disabled so in order to change any settings, for instance equalization. one needs to remove the iPod, change the settings and then reconnect it. Tedious again!
The reason I consider this 'primitive' is that the Harman Kardon Logic 7 system makes a big deal of the way data is moved through the system in pure digital form. I suspect in listening to an iPod through the integration kit this entire advantage is rendered moot at the very first data transfer ie from iPod to COMAND via aux input.
Incidently, once the iPod is connect to the integration kit the iPod's own controls are disabled so in order to change any settings, for instance equalization. one needs to remove the iPod, change the settings and then reconnect it. Tedious again!
Originally Posted by rgbyhkr
It does make you wonder if a generic aux jack would have been far more effective. Sure, it's not as slick with onscreen song display and steering wheel button navigation but as you describe there are certainly compromises to what they've come up with. I like the idea of iPod integration over DVD burning, memory card slot usages, etc because of things like podcasts and audiobooks.
Jeff
Jeff
07-19-2006, 11:45 PM
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Dual layered discs would yield a total capacity of over 50GB. I think most of us would have difficulty using even half that in MP3 format!
Refering to your comment on a little forethought how to organize disc carrying a large number of songs, when I insert a blank dvd into my computer it prompts me to name the disc. This name then shows up on the slot by slot list of the changer contents: magic!
As each dvd easily holds over 50 cds, I have four dvds in my changer, they are called 'Rock', 'Pop', 'R&B' and 'Jazz', and there are still 2 more slots for any other dvd title I can think or make up later.
Once I select the disc from the changer based on the above, then the artists are arranged in alphabetical order and I can scroll through them quickly using the COMAND wheel. When I click on a particular artist it will open the album title or titles. When I click the album I want it will open up the song titles in the original order they appeared on the parent CD.
Quick and easy!
Refering to your comment on a little forethought how to organize disc carrying a large number of songs, when I insert a blank dvd into my computer it prompts me to name the disc. This name then shows up on the slot by slot list of the changer contents: magic!
As each dvd easily holds over 50 cds, I have four dvds in my changer, they are called 'Rock', 'Pop', 'R&B' and 'Jazz', and there are still 2 more slots for any other dvd title I can think or make up later.
Once I select the disc from the changer based on the above, then the artists are arranged in alphabetical order and I can scroll through them quickly using the COMAND wheel. When I click on a particular artist it will open the album title or titles. When I click the album I want it will open up the song titles in the original order they appeared on the parent CD.
Quick and easy!
Originally Posted by rgbyhkr
Just as an FYI, it's worth checking to see if the 6-disc in-dash DVD changer can read dual layer burned DVDs as well. If you have a burner capable of buring to DL discs, you increase capacity to 8.5GB per disc. That should be large enough for most collections. You might want to give a little forethought to how you organize them so you can easily remember what stuff is on which disc. Jeff
Last edited by hcwong; 07-20-2006 at 12:05 AM.
07-20-2006, 12:00 AM
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Bentley Continental GT 2004
The iPod connects to a cable in the glove compartment. This is neither neat nor elegant. A fixed dock would have been far better. Another reason why I am somewhat disappointed with the integration kit.
I will try and get a picture up.
I will try and get a picture up.
Originally Posted by MrMBenz1
Does the ipod dock inside the car, or is there simply a cord installed inside the glove box? any pics of the system in action would be greatly appreciated!
07-20-2006, 07:57 AM
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Originally Posted by hcwong
Refering to your comment on the aux jack, I was surprised to discover that the iPod integration kit connects to COMAND (sorry about my earlier double M spelling) rather primitively through the system's aux jack. Indeed, to select the iPod, you go to 'Audio' on the menu bar at the top of the display, then click for a drop down menu to appear from which you select 'aux'.
The reason I consider this 'primitive' is that the Harman Kardon Logic 7 system makes a big deal of the way data is moved through the system in pure digital form. I suspect in listening to an iPod through the integration kit this entire advantage is rendered moot at the very first data transfer ie from iPod to COMAND via aux input.
The reason I consider this 'primitive' is that the Harman Kardon Logic 7 system makes a big deal of the way data is moved through the system in pure digital form. I suspect in listening to an iPod through the integration kit this entire advantage is rendered moot at the very first data transfer ie from iPod to COMAND via aux input.
So, I don't think there is any way to use the iPod as a digital source. The only way I can think of is to use the iPod as a USB source drive. Basically, you're just accessing the data files on the iPod without making use of the menus, etc. The data files would then need to be decoded externally from MP3 for output as audio. I think there may be a few dock solutions like this being used for home theater and multi-room audio solutions in homes. The external device not only converts the MP3s but also recreates a song/artist/album/etc menu to give users the ability to browse the collection. Official iPod integration kits like the one you have from MB are different in that they are directly accessing the database information on the iPod rather than creating their own and letting the iPod do the MP3 conversion work.
Jeff
07-21-2006, 10:04 PM
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Originally Posted by rgbyhkr
What does the MFD show for discs with folders? Is it blank?
Jeff
Jeff
Meanwhile the COMAND screen shows a large amount of information, including song title, artiste and album name (all in truncated form due to space constraints), a linear graphic of progress through the song being played, below which is another linear graphic of that songs location and progress along the album, and song elapsed time.
When playing the iPod the COMAND screen is blank, and the MFD will show song title, as well as artist and album name.
Last edited by hcwong; 07-21-2006 at 10:09 PM.
07-24-2006, 10:51 AM
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Originally Posted by akburton
Does the S550 read DVD+RW discs?
07-24-2006, 05:43 PM
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2004 S55
Originally Posted by hcwong
The MP3 dvds my Macs burn using iTunes shows song title only on the MFD (ie in the middle of the speedo).
Meanwhile the COMAND screen shows a large amount of information, including song title, artiste and album name (all in truncated form due to space constraints), a linear graphic of progress through the song being played, below which is another linear graphic of that songs location and progress along the album, and song elapsed time.
When playing the iPod the COMAND screen is blank, and the MFD will show song title, as well as artist and album name.
Meanwhile the COMAND screen shows a large amount of information, including song title, artiste and album name (all in truncated form due to space constraints), a linear graphic of progress through the song being played, below which is another linear graphic of that songs location and progress along the album, and song elapsed time.
When playing the iPod the COMAND screen is blank, and the MFD will show song title, as well as artist and album name.
On the other hand, COMAND can't read ID3 tag info from MP3s burned onto disc or on memory cards (this is noted in the manual - page 105 of NevadaJack's 221 pdf download). So, the only info being displayed about these files on COMAND are file names and folder names. When you burn MP3 CDs in iTunes, it is creating discs with a folder structure using artist and album names and the song files themselves use the track name. The result you're seeing on the COMAND screen may look like traditional ID3 tag info, but it's really more like an abbreviated replication (true ID3 tag info has many more fields and is completely contained as data within the song file itself). My guess is that since the system can't assume that all discs will be burned with a folder structure that contains artist and album names, they are only passing the file name along to the MFD.
I hope that helps.
Jeff
07-26-2006, 07:48 AM
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2004 S55
Yesterday I got a chance to play with the COMAND audio system a bit. I brought along a burned DVD with MP3s that I had been using in my W220 and also an SD card with a PCMCIA adapter. The latter was a no go as the SD card was one I use in my Treo 700w and, as such, had many more files than just the 2 folders of MP3s I put on there to play with. The system showed a message saying something about the files not being MP3s. No big deal.
The DVD worked perfectly though and was sooooooo much easier to use on the 221 thanmy 220. The COMAND controller makes a world of difference navigating folders, scrolling through song lists, etc. I also liked the nice touch ability to see a single list of all songs on the disc alphabetically, even though they were separated into a bunch of different folders. The speed was also a welcomed improvement. The disc loaded quickly (as opposed to the 2 minute wait I have on my car every time the disc loads) and the overall experience was just much more enjoyable. It just goes to show how little tweaks can make a huge difference from one generation to the next. I forgot to bring a DL disc with me so I didn't test that, but I'll go ahead and burn one for the next time I'm near the dealership.
By the way hcwong, you mentioned the issue of trying to navigate a long song/artist/album list with the iPod kit using the steering wheel's up/down arrows. I was wondering about something related to that. If you hold down the up/down arrow on the steering wheel, will the system continue to scroll up/down through the list or is it limited to one button press to move one space? Thanks.
Jeff
The DVD worked perfectly though and was sooooooo much easier to use on the 221 thanmy 220. The COMAND controller makes a world of difference navigating folders, scrolling through song lists, etc. I also liked the nice touch ability to see a single list of all songs on the disc alphabetically, even though they were separated into a bunch of different folders. The speed was also a welcomed improvement. The disc loaded quickly (as opposed to the 2 minute wait I have on my car every time the disc loads) and the overall experience was just much more enjoyable. It just goes to show how little tweaks can make a huge difference from one generation to the next. I forgot to bring a DL disc with me so I didn't test that, but I'll go ahead and burn one for the next time I'm near the dealership.
By the way hcwong, you mentioned the issue of trying to navigate a long song/artist/album list with the iPod kit using the steering wheel's up/down arrows. I was wondering about something related to that. If you hold down the up/down arrow on the steering wheel, will the system continue to scroll up/down through the list or is it limited to one button press to move one space? Thanks.
Jeff
07-26-2006, 10:59 AM
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You can navigate the iPod easier than you think. Say you are in Artist Mode, and you have a lot of artists. Rather that hitting the down button a thousand times you can hold down the button for 5 seconds and the menu will skip alphabetically.
07-26-2006, 11:09 AM
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Originally Posted by toolboxjesse
You can navigate the iPod easier than you think. Say you are in Artist Mode, and you have a lot of artists. Rather that hitting the down button a thousand times you can hold down the button for 5 seconds and the menu will skip alphabetically.
Jeff
