MDI/ipod interface issue

[shoE30]

I just had the ipod cable installed (glovebox) last week. Everything was working fine as I was driving around and testing it. Then I ran into a problem. I had the interface freeze up on me. I could get the system to recognize that the ipod was there, but couldn't get any info off of the ipod (playlists, artists, etc..) and it wouldn't play anything. All the screen said was "please wait". I tried a reset setting from the settings menu but that did nothing except erase all my presets and sound settings. I turned the radio off, and no change. I turned the car off, and no change. Each different thing I tried I also disconnected and reconnected the ipod. I also tried completely turning off my ipod as well. By that time I had returned home I gave up futzing with it. I figured I'd call the dealer this morning. Then I get in the car this morning and everything is fine.

Has anyone else had this issue? Can anyone explain maybe how to do a reset or fix this if it happens again?

FWIW I was using an 8gb itouch. I also tried using my wife's itouch and it did the same thing so it's not a ipod issue.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I just had the ipod cable installed (glovebox) last week. Everything was working fine as I was driving around and testing it. Then I ran into a problem. I had the interface freeze up on me. I could get the system to recognize that the ipod was there, but couldn't get any info off of the ipod (playlists, artists, etc..) and it wouldn't play anything. All the screen said was "please wait". I tried a reset setting from the settings menu but that did nothing except erase all my presets and sound settings. I turned the radio off, and no change. I turned the car off, and no change. Each different thing I tried I also disconnected and reconnected the ipod. I also tried completely turning off my ipod as well. By that time I had returned home I gave up futzing with it. I figured I'd call the dealer this morning. Then I get in the car this morning and everything is fine.

Has anyone else had this issue? Can anyone explain maybe how to do a reset or fix this if it happens again?

FWIW I was using an 8gb itouch. I also tried using my wife's itouch and it did the same thing so it's not a ipod issue.

yeah, the system kinda sucks IMHO.

I've messed around with it for nearly a month now and i am getting more and more frustrated with it.

 

[fleuger99]

I just had the ipod cable installed (glovebox) last week. Everything was working fine as I was driving around and testing it. Then I ran into a problem. I had the interface freeze up on me. I could get the system to recognize that the ipod was there, but couldn't get any info off of the ipod (playlists, artists, etc..) and it wouldn't play anything. All the screen said was "please wait". I tried a reset setting from the settings menu but that did nothing except erase all my presets and sound settings. I turned the radio off, and no change. I turned the car off, and no change. Each different thing I tried I also disconnected and reconnected the ipod. I also tried completely turning off my ipod as well. By that time I had returned home I gave up futzing with it. I figured I'd call the dealer this morning. Then I get in the car this morning and everything is fine.

Has anyone else had this issue? Can anyone explain maybe how to do a reset or fix this if it happens again?

FWIW I was using an 8gb itouch. I also tried using my wife's itouch and it did the same thing so it's not a ipod issue.

I've experienced similar behaviour with my 16GB iPhone 3GS. It works fine the first time I use it but then if I stop for an errand and restart the car and reconnect the iPhone it sees the phone and looks like it's about to start playing then it goes all grey and I cannot get it to play again. I've found the only fix is before I restart my car I also restart my iPhone. Once the phone has been "rebooted" and then I restart the car it works fine. It is a pain in the @ss to have to do this every time I restart my car.

That being said, I'm not sure if the error is with the MDI software or maybe the phone its self? I'm hoping a software update for either the Nav unit or my iPhone will correct this.

 

[chadwick]

yeah, the system kinda sucks IMHO.

I've messed around with it for nearly a month now and i am getting more and more frustrated with it.

Ditto.

I've decided the Bluetooth Audio option from the iPhone is the best overall solution for it.

 

[Red Lion]

We have been using a 16 GB SD card in the radio works great!

 

[AusTexRocker]

We have been using a 16 GB SD card in the radio works great!

Cool. I just ordered a 32 GB card and should be able to get a large part of my CD collection on it.

 

[l3it3r]

Ditto.
I've decided the Bluetooth Audio option from the iPhone is the best overall solution for it.

I use the BT from my phone as well.. that seems to be the best option other than a large SD card and a few CDs full of MP3s

 

[dzcad90]

How is the sound quality from the BT audio?

 

[l3it3r]

Its perfect on my phone, I'm not using an iPhone though, so I can't speak to that. I use an HTC Touch Pro 2

 

[Red Lion]

We have alot, but not all of our CD's on a 16 G card....all the advantage of a I-Pod with out the $.

 

[l3it3r]

I just loaded up an 8GB SD card with some tunes and I have to say, the SD card reader is SUPER nice to have in a car!

 

[lordscarlet]

I just loaded up an 8GB SD card with some tunes and I have to say, the SD card reader is SUPER nice to have in a car!

Yeah, I don't even bother with my ipod.

 

[jeffyr]

Just got my TDI last week. It came with the ipod adapter and I have an iPod Touch 8GB. The system is slow to respond to requests with the touch screen, and when going from 1 song to another the first second or two of the song does not play and is skipped. Additionally when I navigate the menus the song list always comes up-and not the album list or artist, which is difficult because of the number of songs. I tried my sons iPod Nano and it worked perfectly.
I think I will try the SD card-ad others noted it should work the same and be much larger than my 8BG touch. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Red Lion]

I filled my 16GB SD card...put it in the radio and only seem to get about half of whats on the card. It shows everything A to L, and nothing after L. I am going to play with it see what I can find out, the manual for the radio said it could support 32 GB. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[lordscarlet]

I thought it could only support 8GB? I will check the manual tonight, but it's possible that one of the other radio models supports larger. Which unit do you have?

 

[Red Lion]

I have a JSW, as far as I can tell there is only one radio that comes with the car unless you have the Nav. It is a Premium 8 radio, and I don't have the Nav. On page 3 of the radio book, it states "SDHC cards with a capacity up to 32 GB are suported." I thought a 16GB shouldn't be a problem. I saw a post from AusTexRocker, "Cool. I just ordered a 32 GB card and should be able to get a large part of my CD collection on it." I wonder how he made out.

 

[lordscarlet]

I have a JSW, as far as I can tell there is only one radio that comes with the car unless you have the Nav. It is a Premium 8 radio, and I don't have the Nav. On page 3 of the radio book, it states "SDHC cards with a capacity up to 32 GB are suported." I thought it would thought 16GB shouldn't be a problem. I saw a post from AusTexRocker, "Cool. I just ordered a 32 GB card and should be able to get a large part of my CD collection on it." I wonder how he made out.

Yes, the Nav is a different radio. That's what I meant about which unit.. nav or not.

I'll look at the book tonight and see if anything is obvious. I have only tried 8GB because I had one around. I also recall reading somewhere that there may be a limit on the number of folders, but I have no idea where that was if so.

 

[Red Lion]

Found the answer, page 22. The radio can handle a maximum of 512 folders, and 2048 files. Time to rework my card.

 

[eggspoogas]

I just had the ipod interface installed and I will be returning it this week. Very similar issues that other people have had here. Skips first second of songs, very slow to respond, usually resets when I turn the car off, bad sound quality, if a song plays and ends it skips a second. Also same issue with the 16G card. Uploaded songs and got A through L. Had to divide into folders for each letter in the alphabet and thats a huge pain. I was a little confused that it can accept up to a 32G but can only read a certain number of artists and songs. What would be the point of having anything bigger than an 8G then? Man I am totally amazed how VW cant do this right. Now a days if you buy a car it comes with a aux and usb for ipod standard. I had to buy mine and it doesnt work worth a crap. Totally absurd.

 

[jeffyr]

I tried a 1GB card I had in the desk drawer and found that there were 2 of each song on the card but only 1 could play-the other was dark gray.
This may be because I copied the files on a Mac and not a PC.
Has anyone else had the duplicate file issue?
I would like to work this out since my iPod touch is not working right.

 

[lordscarlet]

I tried a 1GB card I had in the desk drawer and found that there were 2 of each song on the card but only 1 could play-the other was dark gray.
This may be because I copied the files on a Mac and not a PC.
Has anyone else had the duplicate file issue?
I would like to work this out since my iPod touch is not working right.

It's probably because you copied them directly from your mac. I used an app called iTuneMyWalkman that so far has worked well.

 

[l3it3r]

I just had the ipod interface installed and I will be returning it this week. Very similar issues that other people have had here. Skips first second of songs, very slow to respond, usually resets when I turn the car off, bad sound quality, if a song plays and ends it skips a second. Also same issue with the 16G card. Uploaded songs and got A through L. Had to divide into folders for each letter in the alphabet and thats a huge pain. I was a little confused that it can accept up to a 32G but can only read a certain number of artists and songs. What would be the point of having anything bigger than an 8G then? Man I am totally amazed how VW cant do this right. Now a days if you buy a car it comes with a aux and usb for ipod standard. I had to buy mine and it doesnt work worth a crap. Totally absurd.

to be honest with you, if you want more than 8GB on the SD card, get a BT Audio capable device. I have over 12GB of music on my phone! Another cool thing about the BT Audio is that I can hand my phone to my daughter and she can watch a movie on the display, but hear the audio through the stereo. My phones support video out too, I plan on getting some rear seat video displays so that the kids can be entertained on trips (and I can rest easy about possible damages to my phone!)

 

[jeffyr]

It's probably because you copied them directly from your mac. I used an app called iTuneMyWalkman that so far has worked well.

Thanks lordscarlet.
I am going to give iTuneMyWalkman a try. I previously copied the original MP3's and also through itunes with the same result.

 

[lordscarlet]

Thanks lordscarlet.
I am going to give iTuneMyWalkman a try. I previously copied the original MP3's and also through itunes with the same result.

It hasn't been perfect, but it got music on the card without the extra files.

 

[MonkeyTDI]

Found the answer, page 22. The radio can handle a maximum of 512 folders, and 2048 files. Time to rework my card.

With a limitation of 2048 songs... there is no point of getting a card larger than 16GB (unless you have HUGE music files).

Better Quality => 8mb x 2048 = 16384mb = 16GB
Lower Quality => 4mb X 2048 = 8192mb = 8GB

Of course, this also depends on song length, etc...

 

[elcaminokid]

With a limitation of 2048 songs... there is no point of getting a card larger than 16GB (unless you have HUGE music files).

Better Quality => 8mb x 2048 = 16384mb = 16GB
Lower Quality => 4mb X 2048 = 8192mb = 8GB

Of course, this also depends on song length, etc...

This is an excellent point, I am glad I read this post, I was on the verge of buying a 32GB car, this should be like a sticky to warn everyone.
Card are so easy to swap a few 8 gigs or two 16s would def be a better route.

 

[jeffyr]

iTuneMyWalkman worked on the card. No more duplicate files.

I went to the dealer to pick up my plates last night and asked about it and they tried to deny hearing about the problem. Then said some ipods have the issue, and then said that nobody has ever complained about it.
Looks like I am stuck with a $200 cable worth $0.

 

[eggspoogas]

Jeffyr did you buy your cable after you purchased your car? I did and spent over 500 for the interface and to have it installed. I am returning mine because nobody should have to spend that much money for it to not work perfectly. Honestly you could buy a new aftermarket touch screen radio that works and sounds better for that much.

 

[jeffyr]

It was a $200 option that was preinstalled-can't buy one without it in my area. I looked at 3 dealers and they all had them installed.

 

[mojo]

Portable hard drive

Has anyone tried using a small portable hard drive with the MDI? My new Golf TDI arrives next week and I was thinking about getting the mini-usb adapter rather than iPod adapter -- figured I can get a 100gb+ hard drive for around $50 and have all of my music with plenty of room to spare. Would this have the same folder/file limitations as the SD card slot? I'd assume not since most iPods in use are probably bigger than 16gb, but it would be a very disappointing discovery. Thanks for all of the info in this thread!