NC Ipod connectivity

Gdub · Postby **Gdub** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:14 pm

Hey all

Has anyone got Ipod connectivity in their NC? Ours has the factory BOSE system and i want to be able to run the ipod through it.

I have heard no good reports about the factory ipod adaptor. It is very expensive and most say it sounds shizenhaussen and is clunky to use.

There is a cable on Ebay at present that apparently will suit the NC Bose head unit.

Anyone tried it or can recommend anything else?

G

CoffeeBoss · Postby **CoffeeBoss** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 12:00 pm

Hey there,

I have the factory connector in my NC. Some gripes:

- doesn't always recall where it was up to; sometimes if you leave the car for a while, jump back in, and it starts playing from the first song on the first playlist again (haven't been able to consistently replicate this, so not sure what causes it)

- works with iPhone 3G, but doesn't charge iPhone 3G (old connector with different pins, however you can get an adaptor). Cool thing is the phone rings through the stereo while playing, so if you have a Bluetooth headset you can answer the call, complete the call, then the iPhone will carry on playing music where you left off from. I usually have my iPod connected into the adaptor, though. It's a 4?G one, so it charges.

- Largest gripe? The stereo display, despite having a dot-matrix LCD, does not display any text information from the iPod. Disc changer buttons toggle between play by album/playlist/artist/genre etc, but you have no way of knowing what mode your in unless you can memorise the order in which the stereo toggles through them. Furthermore, you cannot choose music on the iPod while it is connected. The only way around this shortcoming is either A. unplug iPod, start playing from album/playlist of your choice, then plug into connector, or B. don't care too much, just stab buttons at random until you hear something suitable. I use both these methods depending upon mood

Sound quality? Well, i rip everything in Apple Lossless, and against a CD, there's little discernable difference. Thing is, it's an open top car, it's not the ideal acoustic environment anyway. The BOSE system does an exceptional job despite this IMHO.

All in all, most forums seem to recommend the Audiolink aftermarket solution, it at least enables you to select tracks on the iPod while it is connected. There have been some reports of issues with the steering wheel controls with this connector, however only some report this.

More info in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=31762

Gdub · Postby **Gdub** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:19 pm

Thanks for taking the time to write such an objective and informative opinion.

Anyone else have any experience with these?

rockitman · Postby **rockitman** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:35 pm

I have the factory adaptor fitted to the NC 06 Bose system.

I can live with most of the compromises involved with the adaptor except for the fact that there is no compatibility for charging the ipod.

On a long trip the ipod dies after 4-5 hours. I then listen to some CDs while I charge the ipod via an ipod car charging adaptor.

As for music selection I just load up some playlists with my favourite songs and toggle between playlists. Much easier than trying to manage a songlists containing hundreds of songs.

CoffeeBoss · Postby **CoffeeBoss** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 7:48 pm

Charging works with older 4th(?)G and earlier ipods, might be worth picking up a second hand one for the car.

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Sat Apr 18, 2009 8:17 pm

Here's my hi-tech MP3 connector solution. Fitted in seconds and I kept the original stereo. :mrgreen:

Gdub · Postby **Gdub** » Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:17 pm

Not much use in a NC, there is no tape player!

I used one of them on the early 90's to connect my CD walkman in the car. They sounded crap and you could hear the tape heads running between tracks!

Thankfully technology keeps moving

Artificial Life · Postby **Artificial Life** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:34 pm

I had the audiolink one, but when connected to an iPhone 3g it burnt itself out.

I've since replaced it with the GromAudio one, which works well.

Gdub · Postby **Gdub** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:20 pm

I ended up buying an adaptor from optionalextras on ebay. Actually works pretty well.

The only fault if any is that it can take up to 10 seconds to start playing music from the ipod when you first start the car or plug in the ipod. Certainly no big deal though.

At $189 its a heap cheaper than the factory option one and from the bad reports i have heard couldnt be any worse!

I'm happy with it

G

TonyB · Postby **TonyB** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:43 pm

I just purchased the audiolink for my 06 NC MX5, and alas all I can get it to do at the moment is charge the ipod! :roll:

Zohxoco · Postby **Zohxoco** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:34 pm

I have the audiolink one from MX5parts.co.uk. It only works in analog anyway, ie. it only connects to the 3.5mm jack on your audio device, and then you set the stereo to CD EXT. That's all it supports as far as I can see. Anyway in that mode it works well enough. You pay a lot and get very little, but at least it does work.

I gave up on "ipod" connectivity (ie. controlling the ipod/iphone throught the head unit) after I got badly burned with Alpine's so-called state of the art rubbish in my old car. They are just too buggy and they are never supported. The original firmware is all you get, no upgrades. In any case you can't do better than the original ipod interface. just plug in your 3.5mm aux and go. If you need a large screen, mount an ipad or ipad mini in your car. I just don't see the point of head units at all, unless it does satnav as well. All you need is your idevice, an amp and speakers. Solves the security problems too, no more carrying around head unit fronts and other 90s throwbacks. Just take your phone with you /rant

Zohxoco · Postby **Zohxoco** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:47 pm

TonyB wrote:I just purchased the audiolink for my 06 NC MX5, and alas all I can get it to do at the moment is charge the ipod!

audiolink doesn't claim to support ipod. It supports an external USB drive which contains mp3s. Although the ipod connects via USB, and it even may allow its storage to be used for files accessible by USB, it doesn't present as a drive full of songs from it's itunes database.

TonyB · Postby **TonyB** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:52 pm

Zohxoco wrote:
TonyB wrote:I just purchased the audiolink for my 06 NC MX5, and alas all I can get it to do at the moment is charge the ipod!

audiolink doesn't claim to support ipod. It supports an external USB drive which contains mp3s. Although the ipod connects via USB, and it even may allow its storage to be used for files accessible by USB, it doesn't present as a drive full of songs from it's itunes database.

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/audiolink-ipo ... -2567.html
"It's finally here! Now we have the iPod / iPhone Audiolink for the Mk3.5!"

not sure if i'm missing something more here?

Postby **NitroDann** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:14 am

All these measures are bandaids at best.

Getting a new deck will solve it.

Also, iProducts suck for this sort of thing, a usb drive is far better, or better yet any phone that isnt an iPhone, just use mass storage mode and the deck will treat it as a usb drive.

Or aux.

Dann

Zohxoco · Postby **Zohxoco** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:58 pm

NitroDann wrote:All these measures are bandaids at best.

Getting a new deck will solve it.

Disagree. See my post. Fancy heads are thief magnets, and they can't be upgraded. A large capacity phone or tablet provides endless upgrade potential, can also be used for satnav and a million other apps, and is portable- so no theft worries. With a head unit, if you have integration issues (eg. bluetooth, remote control of iDevice etc), you are stuck with it. Nothing you can do except bleat on alpine forums or whatever manufacturer you are unfortunate enough to jump in on. YMMV.