Yesterday I bought a new Ford Sporttrac and the Ipod and bluetooth phone system blows away our system. My son is the one with the iPod and he figured everything out within minutes. Now I want one.
How do I hook up an iPod in my 2007 S600? I have not gotten out of the CD age and am way behind the times when it comes to electronics. I have never messed with mp3 and ipod players and would like to play these in my car now.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

I have the ipod in my 2007 S600. The interface and control for the ipod is slow and cumbersome using the steering wheel controls only and displayed below the speedometer.

You do need the ipod integration kit that is mounted in the glovebox, so if you didnt get that option you wil ahve to bring it to the dealer to get it installed.

That said I just got a new X5 BMW and the ipod and phone intergration in the X5 cannot even compare to the S class. The full ipod info comes up on the large screen and the voice command works perfect. You say what song to play and it never fails. It is also very fast.

Mercedes needs to take a good look at what BMW did with phone and ipod control..

 

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the Ford works the same way as the BMW you spoke of. I can't believe the connections have to be purchased after the fact on our Benzes as much as they cost.!!!

My wife's C350 automatically came with it.

 

Apparently, during S/CL development, MB originally didn't want iPod capability until late in development process (prob thought buyer base is generally too old to want iPod stuff...perhaps reasonable assumption; BTW, Porsche still doesn't offer iPod capability, even though buyer base is similarly old, but wants to be youthful, yet Ferrari, w/a similarly old buyer base, has offered a seamlessly integrated iPod for yrs)....so Harman had to put together essentially a patchwork solution at last-minute....

Not surprisingly, iPod interface in S/CL is rather lame....

If ordering iPod on new car, it's only a ?$400 option (installed at port), but it's a ?$1500 option if dealer needs to install....

As much as I enjoy latest-tech cars, have zero interest in consumer electronics....almost never watch TV/listen to music, etc even at home.....never was much of a car audiophile (often enjoy driving and listening to exhaust note rather than any stereo/CD/iPod/sat radio....and on wkdays often busy w/business calls on Btooth) but rcvd an iPod as a gift last yr and rather underwhelmed w/iPod interface as I like driving w/dig speed readout (know all the spots on my routes where precise speed is more useful, esp if busy on spkrphone) not a cluttered readout of what's playing on the iPod....

Not sure I'd pay $1500 for an iPod install, given the lame interface S/CL currently has.....suspect it'll be a std, more seamless feature on even '09 S/CL (seems like audio/telematics are being revised on even old-tech cars like '09 SL).....

 

The ipod is still nice. Yes MB did it as an afterthought and you can't pick the song you want, you have to scroll through it. It will likely improve in the model years ahead,...
On my '07 S 600 the dealer installed the interface and the part plus labour was around $500.
Once you plug in the ipod though, it's simple to scroll to it:
Audio on the Navi screen, scroll to "aux" and click
Left steering wheel button you have to hit the right side twice to scroll over to "audio from the trip and navi screens on the speedometer,
Right steering wheel button (that has the telephone sign) press the left side of it .
then with the left steering wheel button, you can scroll throught "playlists" on the ipod and scroll through that.

...It all sounds like a big hassle, but like everything else with this car, it becomes second nature and easy.
Depends what you have on your ipod vs. 6 cd choices in the car.
Bottom line:
Ipod not all that necessary, but nice to have.
My teenage drivers tend to like using it since they bring their own ipods into the car when they take it out. I prefer it over the cd functions.
Like you say, roll down the windows and enjoy that nice sound of the motor...

 

What is that slot for just below the CD entry slot? What is that for? It is the 2 inch wide slot just below the CD disc slot.

I'm like you WSH, I've grown away from listening to music and buying music because most of the stuff today really is crappy. Sometimes I just like the peace and quiet provided by the BENZ. However, I got interested in my son's Ipod thanks to the new Ford truck I just bought and because he has a lot of 70s, 80s, and a few modern songs that are worth listening to on it, and I thought that on a long trip this would be nice to have.

One more thing I like about the truck as opposed to the Benz is that when you turn off the engine on the truck, my phone is disconnected from the truck system and I immediately can use my Razr phone independently. I don't know why Benz thinks the phone must stay connected for 30 foot distance outside of the car. This is a major problem because after I leave my car, enter the house, sit in the den, the phone is still hooked up to the car and I'm missing calls. Yes, I know I can turn the phne off in the car before leaving it, but this is a hassle to remember. Also, my phone hooks up to the Benz even when I just walk through the den /garage area with no intentions of getting in the car. This happens even when I turned the phone off in the car's system.
My only option is to change the options on my phone for manual connect instead of automatic connect. This too is a hassle to remember each time I get into the car. So, long story I know but I just can't seem to find the best system for car phone at the moment. I wish I had kept the original docking system I had to begin with and stayed away from bluetooth. The reason I don't like bluetooth in our cars is because when it is not docked, you lose the car's antenna range and you also don't get the charging ability. Hmmm, what do I do, just what do I do???

 

It just blows my mind that we have to pay for this but I guess I'll get it eventually. Thanks for the input on how to operate it. Sounds like it will be easy to get used to.

I was tutored again by my son on the truck's system and it just blows my mind how that "Sync" system works so well and intuitively. He has 300 songs on his iPod and the system recognizes his commands: "Van Halen's "JUMP"" is all he says and the system knows it's the artist and knows the song without any errors!!!!
The Benz makes you program a name and number with your voice before it will store it. On the Ford, you just say the name or number and it dials it.

Which reminds me, I did that "voice individualization" feature on our cars and after that , it is having a hard time recognizing me. It didn't before!!!! So I recommend skipping that procedure. I'll probably delete it and go back to what was working.

 

I just spent an hour in the car in the garage trying to program my brain to be able to use the iPod integration without having to think about it and lose concentration. It is not as intuitive as you might think. I will now drive around with the iPod in the car so I can try it out on the road over the next few days.

 

For me it's the best thing - It's a PCMCIA slot (I know old technology - but it works great. I have a PCMCIA SD adapter (Sandisk) and a 4 GB SD card with my MP3s organized however you like. When you select MP3 there they are - Not having an IPOD (I do have the adapter - for the kids) I use other software to download music - but can directly transfer the MP3s from my laptop (Vaio has an SD slot) to the card. The Only downside is that on startup it seems to read the card prior to playing where it left off - can take 20 sec of silence - that's only if you leave it on MP3.

These cards/adapters are inexpensive (Best Buy etc) and I'd recommend you give it a try. If you have any additional questions let me know.

 

If you have an auxiliary in port on your radio (mine's in the glovebox) you can always plug the iPod into that. But you need a special cable and power source. When you get the iPod integration kit, the aux in is disabled. I would like to be able to use both. But I didn't have a choice. The car already had the iPod integration kit.

While I was at the dealer today waiting on my free carwash, I checked all of the cars on the lot (it's a small dealer). Every E-class and S-class I checked had the iPod integration kit. It's a $470 option. And every E-class had the free sport package. iPod and sport package were two things I could have done without. But I didn't want to order a car and wait, so I took what they had.

 

Thanks. I'll give it a try ASAP.

 

Sorry-my-spacebar-is-broken-but-i-have-never-been-able-to-download-my-ipod-or-rhapsody-music-to-the-PCMCIA-with-the-SD-card-what-am-i-doing-wrong?
John

 

What I do is convert the files to MP3's - there is program entitled "allmusicconverter" that will do it for music that you have downloaded and have the license for (I'm sure there are many others). I think the key is to get them into the MP3 format. You can then organize the MP3's however you like and drag them onto the SD card (just like another HD).

 

If relatively ambivalent re: music, would argue sat radio is more useful than iPod....I even struggle to recall artist names to buy songs on iTunes...sat radio has channels org'd by '80s-'90s, etc, so the music-clueless (like me) can just move around channels to find OK music....

Also, Playboy channel often has some entertaining talk shows...

Always funny how consumer tech often has features like mobile music/video/web browsers/games/ringtones/nav/cameras, etc etc that appeal more to kids and others (like those who have 2hr+ daily mass transit commutes in cities like NYC) w/more time than money....

Suspect most S/CL buyers, no matter how young (I've been driving new CLs since my 20s), tend to use very few of the car's infotainment features except Btooth, esp during daily commute...

 

LMAO. You know, I think it's easier to read that way.

 

LOL........I-may-not-get-it-fixed-after-all........
John

 

Thanks-Eddie-I-will-try-that.
John

 

ooopsminejustbroketoo

 

I have the iPod hookup in the S too...I used it 1 time with my iPhone and it is TERRIBLE. It's much easier to burn 6 DVDs full of MP3s...which gets you about 50 GBs. More than enough music for a few years!! There is always the SD card option if you are going to be updating the collection often.
Either way...they are both substantially better than the ipod hookup.

Getting the phone disconnected -- i recently figured out that if you hold down the mercedes logo on the bluetooth puk, it will disconnect the phone and not direct every call to the COMAND system. It kind of sucks that this was after 5 minutes is trying to make the car let go of my phone so I could leave. But it's a pretty decent solution instead of going through the system menu to disable bluetooth.

 

What I am trying to get used to doing is scroll onto "telephone", press down, and select "telephone off". It usually takes two attempts to accomplish this because the first time you press down, you get the phone screen to come up. One more scroll to "telephone" , press down allows you to see the option of "Telephone On" or "telephone off". Select the latter and then the Motorola is disconnected immediately. The only problem is I can't always remember to do this.

 

the ford sync system *is* the new standard for vehicle telematics and it will be emulated by everyone. Additionally there is a misconception about how easily vehicle electronics can be changed: The big issue stems from the fact that automakers develop in five year cycles wheras consumer electronics are at the most 18 months out on their products. The reason for this is because avergae consumer electronics get used for a year or two and then upgraded where a vehicle electronics must last at least five years if not longer. Mercedes saw that ipods were big and started with these band-aid add on ipod solutions... expect to see proper ipod sloutions for 2010 MY.

 

What setting in the command would you go to to play your ipod using the integration kit if AUX is diasabled?

 

Interesting points...though I struggle to believe that a co. that has never engineered a safe/reliable/innovative auto...and a monopolist that has consistently engineered awful software can engineer the best telematics....

Suspect today's faster tech cycles are forcing auto mfrs to accelerate their formerly more lethargic product cycles....isn't tech and competition great for the consumer?

Recall that as recently as ?3-4 yrs ago, few mfrs offered decently priced 2yr leases.....today, in some major mkts, 90%+ of new S65s, etc are $0-down, 2yr leased....suspect lots of new S65/CL63 buyers are also accustomed to getting a new Blkberry every yr or so....

And, just as prices of tech goods keep decreasing per unit of perf, would observe that a new '08 S65 only costs about as much as a new S500 did back in '92, after adjusting for inflation, interest rates, etc.....

 

You use the AUX setting. But even without an iPod connected, the aux in jack does not work when you have the iPod integration kit. The kit takes the place of the aux in jack. The jack is there, it just doesn't work. I would like it to recognize the iPod only when it is plugged in to the kit. Then I could use the aux in jack for satellite radio.

 

Please don't waste your money on the IPOD kit. It is truely woeful in day to day operation. It is so slow that if you have any decent amount of albums on your IPOD it takes far to long to navigate.

What you should do is get the 6 disc Mp3 compatible DVD changer and burn 6 Dual Layer DVD's from ITunes in MP3 format (if you have this much music). It will give you 48 GB of music and it is all instantly accessible from Comand.

All I needed was two discs to cover most of my music collection. Unfortunately I didn't get the stacker, I went for the expensive Ipod solution. I hardly ever use it now. It would have been better for MB to allow full Ipod control via the Ipod and mount the Ipod on an airvent or something. It's really the only let down in the electronics on an S-Class I just wish I'd know about the DL DVD option prior to spending the money!