iPod hole!

[alfaholism]

Hi Guys,

Only a matter of hours left until I collect my 159 - this has been the longest week of my life!!

Just a quick question before I do though - does the 159 (lusso - 07 plate) have a hole to plug in an iPod or am I back to burning CD's again?!

Thanks in advance..

[Viking Dad]

If it had Blue & Me fitted then there is a USB port in the glovebox. Otherwise it's CDs.

If you have B&M then you have to convert all AAC tracks to something Windows Mobile recognises (eg. MP3) and reformat your iPod to work with a PC and not a Mac.

[m.barn]

If it has no blue and me there is a shelf in the glove box for an ipod with a small removable panel that allows you to easily fit a dension or alfa branded ipod lead if you remove the stereo and feed the wire through FYI the lead branded for the GT and 156/147 fits and works fine. It plugs into the blue plug on the back of the headunit.

[alfaholism]

Cheers guys,

I'll have to check on that when I collect it in the morning, not sure if it has blue&me, sounds like a bit of a faff though - but I guess nothing is ever simple with Alfa's, but then again would we want it to be? Probably not!!

Cheers

[2ndtimearound]

It is both more simple and more painful than fitting same to a BMW...

Dension iPod leads and a retractable iPod lead are available from

Audio, Visual : Partsworld-uk.com, Car Parts and Accessories for Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Hyundai, Kia Seat and Suzuki

Seems a lot of faffing about when you could just listen to the engine

[159john]

My 57 plate 159 Lusso has B&M; so i imagine your probably will too

[alif]

Originally Posted by m.barn

If it has no blue and me there is a shelf in the glove box for an ipod with a small removable panel that allows you to easily fit a dension or alfa branded ipod lead if you remove the stereo and feed the wire through FYI the lead branded for the GT and 156/147 fits and works fine. It plugs into the blue plug on the back of the headunit.

Are you saying the following will fit a standard 159 headunit?
ipod connector

[baggieboy68]

I had the Dension ICELink plus in my 156, this worked fine, will it's replacement the Dension 100 work on the 159?

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by 159john

My 57 plate 159 Lusso has B&M; so i imagine your probably will too

B&M was (and is) an optional extra, so not all cars have it.

[bimjim]

Originally Posted by baggieboy68

I had the Dension ICELink plus in my 156, this worked fine, will it's replacement the Dension 100 work on the 159?

I moved my Dension ICELink across from my 156 to my 159 without any problems. So I would guess its replacement should be fine too.

[alif]

Originally Posted by alif

Are you saying the following will fit a standard 159 headunit?
ipod connector

Does the dension do more than the cheaper generic units?

[bimjim]

Originally Posted by alif

Does the dension do more than the cheaper generic units?

Don't think so. Mine took the first 6 playlists on the iPod and treated them like CDs in a changer, which I think is the same as most other systems.

[baggieboy68]

I had my Dension playing in Ipod mode on the 156, this meant you selected tracks on the Ipod but steering wheel controls worked, can you do that on the 159. You accessed Ipod mode by selecting CD2 when starting I think!

[bimjim]

The steering wheel controls work on the 159 as they did on the 156. The iPod is accessed by selecting 'Changer' as the source.

[Redtreble]

Originally Posted by Viking Dad

If it had Blue & Me fitted then there is a USB port in the glovebox. Otherwise it's CDs.

If you have B&M then you have to convert all AAC tracks to something Windows Mobile recognises (eg. MP3) and reformat your iPod to work with a PC and not a Mac.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's Blue & Me? I've just got a 159 and noticed it has a Windows Mobile socket in the glove box - it looks like USB. Can I plug my ipod into that and it should work? I'm pretty sure everything on my ipod is mp3 format...

[ACAPULCO AL]

yes, you should be able to just plug and go, using your ipod's usb cable

[Redtreble]

Originally Posted by ACAPULCO AL

yes, you should be able to just plug and go, using your ipod's usb cable

Excellent, thanks. I'll give it a go!

[Redtreble]

Okay, it plays but it seems to take control over my iPod and I can't access its controls, and it just plays entirely random tracks! Can I control it from the stalks? I'm not helped by the fact I live in Belgium so all the controls are in French and I barely speak a word of the language!

[cj romeo]

Originally Posted by Redtreble

Okay, it plays but it seems to take control over my iPod and I can't access its controls, and it just plays entirely random tracks! Can I control it from the stalks? I'm not helped by the fact I live in Belgium so all the controls are in French and I barely speak a word of the language!

It does take control - change the language and through the steering wheel buttons you can take control through the media player menu

[Redtreble]

Originally Posted by cj romeo

It does take control - change the language and through the steering wheel buttons you can take control through the media player menu

Thanks CJ, I'll just have to try and work out how to change the language on the control then. Wished I'd paid more attention to French at school!

[Alfalancia]

Having read the various threads on this subject I decided to take the plunge and get the ipod kit for my 59 plate Brera. Managed to find the ipod interface (part 50903120) on eBay and followed CJs excellent step-by-step fitting instructions. All seemed to go well, got the little Alfa logo on the ipod, reference to playlists etc, but, the display on the stereo unit won't show up as 'Changer' as it apparently should, instead it just has 'Aux' and no sound?

Is my head unit not compatible with this kit (later car?) or have I got some other kind of problem?

[cj romeo]

Originally Posted by Alfalancia

Having read the various threads on this subject I decided to take the plunge and get the ipod kit for my 59 plate Brera. Managed to find the ipod interface (part 50903120) on eBay and followed CJs excellent step-by-step fitting instructions. All seemed to go well, got the little Alfa logo on the ipod, reference to playlists etc, but, the display on the stereo unit won't show up as 'Changer' as it apparently should, instead it just has 'Aux' and no sound?

Is my head unit not compatible with this kit (later car?) or have I got some other kind of problem?

It can sometimes be fickle, plug the ipod in with the engine off and restart to see if it recognises it (it does this with changers too)

Its possible I suppose that as I done my guide nearly 4 years ago that the firmware has changed - and the part number I used was actually for a 147 - as Alfa hadnt listed one for a 159 (mine is actually in the 147 now - and just as fickle! - as I have B&M on my present 159)

I would plug it in tonight and see if it works in the morning, from memory, you access it through the 'CD' button on the head unit.

In theory (at least) it should work as the specified changer it emulates hasnt changed since launch.

[Alfalancia]

OK, cheers, I'll try that.

btw there was a typo in my original post, it's a '57 plate Brera (January '08) not a '59 - just in case that makes a difference.

[cj romeo]

Shouldnt make any odds, if youre around glasgow city centre one lunchtime I can take a look if you want.