iPod/iPhone: How do you select other playlists, artists, albums

[PrimoM3]

• 135i with factory iPod interface option
• Standard Headunit (no Navi)
• Issues are with my gen 1 Nano and my iPhone 3G

Folks, when my iPod or iPhone are plugged in via the BMW iPod interface I can only selct < or > to go the the next or previous song. It was my assumption that you could move to another artist, playlist, album, etc directly from the headunit. Is this possible? When my device is playing a song, the headunit shows the song title and the buttoms below read "Genre", "Artist", "Album", etc. If you press one of the buttons, one would think that you could drill down and move to that music - I can't. It just shows a "+" symbol but nothing seems to happen.

Thanks in advance for your help guys.

p.s. Just ordered this for my new iPhone 3G and I plan to do a review when it arrives. I hope it doesn't look cheap and cheesey most of all. Functionally it should work great based on reviews. My plan is to put it in the cupholder closest to the aux and USB port so it's not in the way of my shifting. Because the holder articulates, it should allow the iPhone to stare right up at me so I can quickly glance down at it when someone is calling.

[jbvan]

What I have been doing is. Say you select the artist button, it will show the artist with a + symbol. Then press the round knob on the top right of your stereo.This will let you scroll by turning the knob. When you see the artist or song you want press the knob again. Then song will start playing.

[PrimoM3]

This worked perfectly... Thanks!

[JB135i]

Sounds like I have a similar set up to you. Standard radio, but I have 1st gen iPhone.

The interface is clunky, can't scroll backwards, noway (that I have found) to search alpabetically such as through artist/album- you are forced to scroll through them all, knob-scrolling lags behind or doesn't move if you turn the knob too quickly, doesn't keep the previous selection when setting up anew.

Really best for longer trips because getting where you want to go is kind of a hassle.

A few notes-

I haven't messed with it a bunch yet, there may be a way to get through the alphabet easier than raw scrolling, I hope there is.

Better planning/setup of multiple playlists could partially solve some of the hassle of set up. This can/will be a way I workaround some of the setup hassles. It's a long way between Abracadbra - Steve Miller Band to (The) 9:45 Wake-up Call - P.M. Dawn with 1689 songs in between with just one monster playlist.

This isn't an issue within iTunes or even on the iPhone itself, but when forced to use the radio interface, it's a mess.

[bigmicj]

Yeah, this is definitely one drawback of the ipod interface. I've just decided to make an "BMW" playlist so I can get to the stuff I want to hear faster.

[Xin1120]

Originally Posted by Primo135

[LIST]
p.s. Just ordered this for my new iPhone 3G and I plan to do a review when it arrives. I hope it doesn't look cheap and cheesey most of all. Functionally it should work great based on reviews. My plan is to put it in the cupholder closest to the aux and USB port so it's not in the way of my shifting. Because the holder articulates, it should allow the iPhone to stare right up at me so I can quickly glance down at it when someone is calling.

I have an iPhone 3G too and have been using it in the 135. You'll find that the iPod Y cable is too short to be extended to the first cupholder after its been connected to the iPhone. I've been keeping my phone in the "ditch" between the cupholder and the aux&usb jack. Its a perfect place to put the phone. Gives easy access to the screen if needed and does not really move when turning plus the armrest hides the phone if case you forget it in the car (which I do at least once a day).

As far as switching music goes, I've been creating more playlists on iTunes and decided to just switch on random after selecting a playlist before driving. But I do agree that the iPod/iPhone interface could be much improved such as scrolling through artists/songs from the steering wheel.

[danmcg]

I have gone in and changed the Genre tag on all my songs to be the first letter of the artist name. Then you can choose Genre and you get the letters. Choose a letter and all the artists are under each one. Since I never have used the Genre tag this works perfectly. I read about it on here somewhere. That seems like it should have been done to begin with to make it easier to navigate, but whatever...

[JB135i]

Originally Posted by danmcg

I have gone in and changed the Genre tag on all my songs to be the first letter of the artist name. Then you can choose Genre and you get the letters. Choose a letter and all the artists are under each one. Since I never have used the Genre tag this works perfectly. I read about it on here somewhere. That seems like it should have been done to begin with to make it easier to navigate, but whatever...

Great idea!

Will be a hassle to run through at first but from then on you are golden.

[syenisch]

I have an Alpine deck in my Integra that also allows control of the iPod through the deck. For a while I thought I had to scroll through all the artists one by one, but then I found that pressing the preset buttons jumped to a certain letter. My Alpine deck has 6 presets, and I believe "1" jumps to 1/6 through the artist list, 2 jumps to 2/6 through the list, etc. Check and see if there's a similar features in the 135i!

[Xin1120]

Originally Posted by syenisch

I have an Alpine deck in my Integra that also allows control of the iPod through the deck. For a while I thought I had to scroll through all the artists one by one, but then I found that pressing the preset buttons jumped to a certain letter. My Alpine deck has 6 presets, and I believe "1" jumps to 1/6 through the artist list, 2 jumps to 2/6 through the list, etc. Check and see if there's a similar features in the 135i!

I will check this out when I get back home.

[syenisch]

Xin,

Did you get to check it out? I'm excited to hear if I have made my first meaningful contribution to 1addicts community! :thumbup:

[warmtoes]

I will check this out as well. But, what I have done is make a lot of playlists. I needed this on my previous vehicle as the iPod adapter there only let you look at the first 9 playlists.