Jun
21
2004iPod your BMW… barely.
21
2004
Apple has announced an arrangement they’ve made with BMW, to “integrate” the iPod into BMW cars. A cool concept, but the implementation is a bit weak.
Basically, you pay $150 - PLUS installation - to have a little dock-type cable run into your glove compartment. You then just sort of chuck your iPod in there (check out how pathetic this looks on the Apple page), and you use the BMW’s CD changer controls to select between and jump around within 5 playlists that you have to set up in advance. The 6th “CD” accesses your whole library. But if you’ve got 20 or 40 gigabytes in there, that’s a lot of “next… next… next… next…” to listen to ZZ Top.
There’s not a whole lot of innovation here… You’re just turning your iPod into a virtual CD changer. There’s zero reason why this couldn’t be done with any other car on the market. But “iPod your Civic” doesn’t really have the same ring to it, does it?