Slashdot Mirror
iPod Your BMW Officially Launched
chasingporsches writes "Apple today announced the iPod Your BMW campaign on their front page. According to the iPod Your BMW page, 'Connect with music like never before behind the wheel of your BMW 3 Series, and X3 and X5 SAV, Z4 Roadster or MINI. With the installation of an integrated adapter developed by Apple and BMW, you can now control your iPod or iPod mini through the existing audio system and multi-function steering wheel. Which means no loss of power. No loss of sound quality. No loss of control.' There is also a QuickTime TV ad available for streaming. Apparently it only works with 2002 or later BMWs and Minis, and the iPod connects to a cable in the glove compartment."
Rejoice!
Look out for the BMW's with white wing mirrors ;)
liqbase
the most expensive iPod accessory ever!
I can count to 1023 on my hands. Ask me about #132.
Become the 600th advertiser to mention iPod to get onto the front page of Slashdot.org!
The iPod doesn't even have a fancy cradle or slot to slide into. They just want you to lay it in your glove box. I suppose that BMW owners might be different than me but I don't have any room in my glove box after all the paperwork for the car, the manual, and the road maps (GPS is great, I use it all the time, but it doesn't solve ALL problems), I don't have room for that.
why do they have the ipod flopping around in the glovebox?
Really, is it so hard to make an in-dash stereo have a slot-loading ipod?
Just slide your ipod into your stereo like an 8-track tape.
Plus, that way you don't need to buy a BMW to use it.
Nothing more then rich, liberal, elite, yuppy, eurotrash, scumbags. Which is exactly why my 2002 325 is getting one as soon as my dealer has them in stock!
i really had no reason to drive my BMW until i read this... thanks apple!
My boss, with this announcement, is suddenly *really* interested in purchasing a BMW. He'd never talked about BMW before this... it's exactly the type of thing that luxury car owners use to decide which car to buy. BMW knows their market.
Peace
Yeah, it's called the Denison (or Dension, depends on where you look) icelink, check it out at http://www.densionusa.com/x/index.php?option=conte nt&task=view&id=375&Itemid=79
Support the true innovators!
sounds just like it
read about it here
it will allow the same thing this article talks about on alpine receivers. i can't wait for it!
i saw the baby, and the baby looked at me
as I hit the horn and spin the wheel maddly in a clockwise direction to cycle through my playlist.
Come on, you have to plug in a cable and throw it in the glove compartment? What a hack! I could modify my car to do that, and put an LCD screen on the dash to show me what I'm playing. Hell, you can probably buy that already. Before I watched the video, I though the BMW would have some sort of dock that either I sat my iPod in, or even cooler, a slot, like a tape deck, that I shoved my ipod in. Now THAT would be cool. This is not what I call "Seamless integration" I think in the future car stereo's are going to come with a media bay, just like printers do now. I slap in my SD/xD/MMC/Memory Stick or whatever and the stero reads the ID3's and playlists. Off I go. And laptops will come with built in FM transmitters to broadcast their audio to my home entertainment center or car stereo... I would love to sit in my living room, play a FPS and have it all come out the stereo. No Wires.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Just put an Apple logo sticker next to that big "R" sticker and you'll hardly tell the difference!
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
here is a way better solution plus a better vehicle
**ducks**
this sig intentionally left blank
It's better than leaving it out in full view of car thieves.
A friggin' "slide in" dock connector in my car console. So I can just insert the iPod and go. I don't want cables, and I'm certainly tired of the FM iTrip transmitter that fades out whenever you get near a strong radio station.
It's ironic that a "retro-tech" tape-cassette car stereo would afford me better sound than my CD player which has no external line inputs. (It has internal ones at the back but they want about as much money as my iPod for an adapter!)
Okay, ultimately what I want is a universal and OPEN dock connector so we can all have car stereos that will handle all of our Minidisc, MP3 or XM or whatever portable sound system players we have in the future. The connectors should handle hardware connections as well as provide a standardized software interface (uPNP maybe?) to display and select the track/album information inside.
(And it should handle cellphones too!)
(I think I'm going to switch to decaf for the rest of the afternoon now...)
Ever used an iPod? Then you know why it's the better product. Even my non-Apple friends have come to see how paying for quality can actually count. This from the PC-world that gives you bargain basement beige boxes. Apple is showing the world consumer electronics (and computers and such) can be pleasant to use experiences, not commodities.
Ever driven a BMW? Then you know why it's a great product that's worth the money.
1995 M3 -- best car I've ever driven in my life. Sad I had to sell it after 3 years, 40,000 miles, zero problems; happy about the good resale value.
I can't say every person who buys an Apple product is 100% pleased with it, nor can I say every BMW purchase is a happy one. But both companies are shining examples of how, with a little bit of extra attention to detail and engineering, a superior product can usually be produced. And yes, it will cost you a little bit more.
About the only thing dumber than assuming that more expensive == better, is assuming that more expensive == worse. Sure, there are plenty who buy iPods and Bimmers as status symbols, but don't discount those of us who have actually have taste. Do you listen to crappy music nobody's ever heard of, and then the day they get airplay claim they've "sold out" and then refuse to listen to them? Same principle, pal.
Oh, and this would not have worked in my 95 M3, nor would it work with my 1st gen 5gb iPod (still chugging away on original battery after almost 3 years!)
But I'll be buying a new iPod this year to have bigger capacity, and will be buying another (if not new-new) BMW in a year or so.
Worst thing about this new system, to me, is that you have to set up special BMW playlists, and then only access by track number. How hard would it have been to actually show track names, christ. Aftermarket companies have figured out how to integrate Valentine 1 alerts into the 5-series computer, which is a much bigger technical feat than hacking the cd changer into assigning track numbers to iPod playlists.. I think the Alpine system coming out soon will be better.
(By the way, if you wanted the status symbol thing to hold true, it should have been Mercedes of maybe Lexus. Sure Mercedes used to make decent cars, but not any longer -- Mercedes is the ultimate status symbol, not a driver's car. Tell me, how big is the Mercedes club's track or club racing program? Yeah, nowhere near as large as BMW, which is probably second biggest behind Porsche in the nation).
People here will cut their computer cases to pieces, slit ribon cables, attempt avoid burning up their over-clocked processor by putting WATERcooling in the case, but bitch and moan when a cable in their car is in a place they don't want it... Just move it to where you want it.
;)
I just don't understand sometimes...
iPod...nope
BMW...nope
Guess this means nothing to me
If God had had a computer it would have taken him 7 months to create the earth...if he even bothered to do it at all.
if I listened to the droning of the proles. Instead, I'm going out to shoot a peasant or a pheasant. Whichever I find on my estate first.
Hey look at that plain $45,000 x5, not a target.
WAIT JUST A MINUTE! It has a $250 ipod in it! Let's steal this shit guys!
-Reid
Is the iPod also easily spotted through the glove box door? After all, that's where the adapter is. ;-)
---- The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. -Thomas Jefferson
This translation brought to you by babelfish++.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
...to BMW 2002 or greater