[Jimbobdibob]

Hi guys

New to this forum - just had my new Alfa Giulietta Veloce 1.4 Multiair delivered yesterday and I'm now trying to get my Sony Xperia Arc S to pair with the Blue&Me.

I've paired it fine and can make calls without any problems. But I can't seem to work out how to play music that I have stored on the phone, through the Blue&Me system. If anyone can provide a step by step guide, it would be massively appreciated. I have connected the phone via USB, but still can't seem to get it to work.

Please help!!

 

[paulmacs]

Cant you just connect the phone to the aux port?

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Thanks Paul. yes I could do that. However, I'd rather have it setup so I can use the steering wheel controls to change tracks etc.

If anyone is able to suggest a solution...?

 

[paulmacs]

Sure. Understand. Best place to get your answer is to ask your question in the Blue'n'Me part of the forum. You'll get a quick response for sure.

 

[ptcoll]

You don't play music through the Bluetooth pairing, you do it by physically connecting your phone to the USB port in the glovebox.

You can do both at the same time !

Pete

 

[ptcoll]

Sorry - misread your post.

When you connect your phone to the USB port, you can then select music using the steering wheel buttons. It is all laid out in the manual.

Pete

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Thanks all.

Pete, the problem is that whatever I put into the USB socket, it doesn't get recognised and the options don't come up on the steering wheel options.

Looking online and after speaking to the dealer, I'm going to try disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes and reconnecting, which seems to solve a lot of problems. After that, I'm hoping it will reset the Blue&Me system and start to read USB devices again.

I've been told I may also have to install the updates 5.5 and 5.6, so that the latest software is on the Blue&Me. I can do this by downloading the updates from the Blue&Me website and sticking onto a USB stick, then plugging into the car USB socket - then it should work (fingers crossed)!!!

Will try this as soon as I get home tonight (in about 15 minutes!!)

 

[diamond72]

I was led to understand from the dealer that, as long as you could configure the phone to act as a USB hard drive, then you would have no problems. I'm on android ( Galaxy S2) and it doesn't work! Personally, I just bought a USB stick, dropped my music onto that and plugged it in, that way it stays in the car all the time, no cables to get in the way and no hassles.

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Thanks Diamond - I think there might be a problem with the USB port itself as the system doesn't react to anything I insert into the USB port. I've disconnected the battery earlier this evening then tried everything from scratch to no avail.

I will take it to my local dealer over the next couple of days and see what they do, then post the answer to my problems on here, probably on Thursday after it's sorted.

By the way, for anyone who wants to unplug their battery, it obviously resets the timeclock and the radio channels, but it also turns on a load of warning lights. These turn themselves off once you lock the steering wheel at full turn, or drive down a straight road for more than 200 metres (I read this in the manual and it worked). BUT MY USB PORT STILL DOESN'T!

 

[Alfred TI]

Thanks Diamond - I think there might be a problem with the USB port itself as the system doesn't react to anything I insert into the USB port. I've disconnected the battery earlier this evening then tried everything from scratch to no avail.

I will take it to my local dealer over the next couple of days and see what they do, then post the answer to my problems on here, probably on Thursday after it's sorted.

By the way, for anyone who wants to unplug their battery, it obviously resets the timeclock and the radio channels, but it also turns on a load of warning lights. These turn themselves off once you lock the steering wheel at full turn, or drive down a straight road for more than 200 metres (I read this in the manual and it worked). BUT MY USB PORT STILL DOESN'T!

You will have to reset your windows too (its a microsoft car :lol
Hold a window button down till the window is down and keep the button pressed for 10 seconds. pull the switch up till the window is closed and hold up for 10seconds. Repeat this on the other 3 windows to get the 1 press open/close function to work.

I hope you get your usb fixed soon.

 

[AndersHJ]

If there ever was a good reason to get an iPhone, it's the seamless integration with B&Me. Playing Spotify through USB works flawlessly with track IDs appearing on the radio + steering wheel controls. Strange how Apple-friendly the system is, considering it's Microsoft developed.

Bluetooth is for phone calls only, i'm afraid.

 

[Tirreni]

If there ever was a good reason to get an iPhone, it's the seamless integration with B&Me. Playing Spotify through USB works flawlessly with track IDs appearing on the radio + steering wheel controls. Strange how Apple-friendly the system is, considering it's Microsoft developed.

Bluetooth is for phone calls only, i'm afraid.

I have an iPod plugged in to the USB port (it was cheapest Generation 6 one I could find at the time on Amazon, & frankly it's the car's iPod now! :lol: ) and it too seems to work seamlessly with with the ICE system. I'll admit that I haven't used it that much yet as I'm still getting myself attuned to the engine note in various gears etc, but I plugged it in, B&M learnt the library seemingly instantly, I control it via the tom-tom, and the track name (albeit slightly truncated) shows on the radio, and fresh track titles pop up on the tom-tom. So far so good.

I also took the "risk" of not configuring the iPod as a hard drive, but left it as an iPod, copied all my music from iTunes, including album art, and it still works beautifully. (I had read some reports that album art could confuse B&M, or that iTunes music didn't work well either, but...)

I've paired my iPhone 4 (IOS 5.1) with B&M and that works really well too, but I will only use that as a phone - voice control takes a little getting used to but it works, and again it can be managed via the tom-tom. (The range on the bluetooth connection is quite good - we have an integrated garage and a few ties when I've been in the car and my phone has been at the other end of the house - it's quite a long bungalow - the connection has been made. Text to speech doesn't work, but that's just about the only draw back of the iPhone-B&M marriage that i can see. (And is that actually die-in-a-ditch important? Presumably anything really urgent wood be a phone call rather than a text...???)

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Car is in to be checked first thing in the morning so will post update tomorrow night. Nothing I plug into the USB port is being found by the system, but the orange light around the USB port is on, so it's an odd one. Maybe just a bad connection.

 

[ptcoll]

Have you tried plugging in a USB stick with just 1 MP3 track on it ?

When you plug something into the USB port, and then press the Media button on the radio, do you get a different set of items to scroll through compared to when you have nothing connected to the USB port ?

Pete

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Hi Pete

Thanks for the post. I've tried a USB stick with 2 MP3 tracks on it, in fact it's been plugged in over the last two trips (in the hope it might just spring to life) but no luck as yet. The media options don't change unfortunately from what they do when nothing is plugged in.

I've played around with it for a few hours now in total, over a few sessions, so I'm pretty sure I've tried everything (unplugging battery, trying updates, trying Ipod, Sony Ericsson phone, USB stick etc.) but still no luck.

I'm really hoping they can sort it tomorrow morning and I'm just doing something really stupid, but I'm not that hopeful. I'm not the most tech savvy, but I'm not bad and you can usually find the answer online - just not been able to this time...

Will update tomorrow, but appreciate the suggestions.

 

[Jimbobdibob]

ps. loving the car apart from this - what a great car - love the dashboard and it's great to drive!

 

[Jimbobdibob]

Right, I've had the car in this morning and apparently the whole Blue&Me ECU needs replacing - luckily under warranty!

 

[mudster]

blue and me

I have an alfa mito and have paired my phone with blue and me, I don't understand why you can't simply play songs without connecting via a usb port. I work in a Vauxhall garage and I have used Bluetooth on many Vauxhall's, all I do is pair my Bluetooth and the music automatically plays, why isn't it the same with blue and me?? seems a bit pointless when you have to mess around with a usb stick !