Sunday, March 22, 2009

Mercedes Benz iPod connection/dock connector mystery solved! Make the ipod work in your car-recognize the iPod & finding the AUX mode

The Mercedes Benz iPod Connection Mystery...SOLVED!
How to make the iPod Show up on your dashboard in under 2 minutes... I just got a new 2009 c300 sport...yes, I know...poor me! After spending a week and a half on Google, (re)reading the (formerly missing on 2008 and earlier models w/ a factory installed iPod connection in the glovebox) iPod for Mercedes manual...and rereading it...

I went to the dealer, and finally found out what everyone else was missing or not answering on the other sites! If you don't have a multimedia package or navigation system (i.e. steering wheel controls the dashboard display and phone & the area above the cd player is occupied by a screen with your radio stations, cd titles, etc), then this $375 option may seem like a $375 pointless glove compartment cable. It's remarkably simple...and yes, you don't have to go to the dealer and have their entire service department laugh like it's so funny you couldn't figure it out (really, it's not that easy if you don't know how get to AUX...and there's no AUX button by the buttons for the radio, disc, tone, etc).

How-to make it work!
  1. Have car on (at least the battery should be on...aka key position 2 or engine on)
  2. Plug ipod into dock connector in your glovebox
  3. On the buttons below the cd player, select disc
  4. *important* Think of that round knob (that has buttons with "back" and "clear" on either side of the knob) by your shifter like a joystick-- it moves clockwise, counterclockwise, can be pushed in, AND Can be pushed forward, toward the windshield, back toward the back seats, left toward the driver, and right toward the passenger seat.
  5. Push that knob back (toward the back seats) and you'll see "mp3" or "cd" on the left and "Sound" on the right.
  6. Select the left CD (or whatever you see on the lower left side of the screen) by pushing down (the usual in/down, toward the road) and then turn the wheel clockwise or counter clockwise to change the items highlighted in the menu...at the very bottom, you will find AUX! Push the wheel down, and you've now selected AUX!
  7. Now, go back to your steering wheel, on the left side, press the left or right button and then scroll until the "audio" text appears, hit "ok," (in the center) and YOUR IPOD NOW WORKS!
  8. Each time you turn your engine off, you'll need to go back and do step 7 again ... meaning, back to the left side of your steering wheel, hit the right arrow button twice (at least, that's how I do it on my wheel based on the display on my dashboard), then "ok," then use the phone to navigate backward from the song you were just playing to the menus for larger sets of songs/podcasts/etc on your ipod.
  9. Using the up and down buttons on the left of your steering wheel you can select "Albums," "Artists," "Playlists," etc and hit "ok" in the center of the arrows to choose which ever selection you want (it's just like the menu construct for the iPod itself) and then narrow by scrolling with the up & down arrows, and hitting ok to get to the next.
  10. When you hit the last of the options to get a song/playlist/album, and you hit ok, the music will begin!

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