DIY: Bose Touring Stereo (NON NAV) iPod Interface Upgrade: iSimple Media Gateway

neko · 02-01-2012, 07:15 PM

I have a few questions about the iSimple Media Gateway.

1) After you turn off the car and turn it back on, will it keep your last setting? Meaning if you leave it on iPod will it stay on there next time? Or do you need to go through the steps and set it back on the iPod everytime?

2) When you go through each track (example Artist or Album), are the tracks only in alphabetical order?

3) Does random still work?

4) Is your lag between tracks only when you use your steering controls? Or both steering and head unit?

Im trying to justify getting this gateway or just by a new head unit.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Augustus

Gateway received and installed. +1 for the instructions. Truly excellent write-up. This should be stickied. Kudos.

A few of notes...

1) How do you remove the shift knob? Yes, I have a MT. I tried to unscrew mine and it wouldn't budge. Rather than forcing it, I gave up and just worked around it. Doable, yes, but not quite as easy. (Edit: Nevermind, found a few threads where people are talking about difficulties removing their shift knob. Apparently not so simple.)

2) I ran the cable to the glovebox too. I tried to gently pull the glovebox out per the instructions, but unfortunately when it finally came loose, I had to use so much force that I pulled it out completely, which disconnected the tethering strap. Doh. That was a PITA. I managed to re-connect it and get the glovebox back in place. Don't want to do that again

3) Hooked it all up, tested it, worked fine. Put the dash back together, fired it up again - no Satellite, no iPod.

Damnit. Had to take it all back apart again. The iPod connection cable had come loose at the interface, apparently when I tucked the cables back there. Fixed, put things back more carefully the second time around.

4) While I did have to do the airbag trick to extinguish the light, I didn't have to re-teach the windows. Even after an hour of no battery, they 'remembered' their settings - the auto up/down & door open/close blip worked just fine. Likewise, much to my surprise, the radio remembered all of my presets and the Homelink mirror was still able to control my garage door. Nice. The only things that appear to have reset are my display preferences (shift light, maintenance reminders, gauge backlight brightness, etc) and the clock.

5) Do you guys sometimes have a hard time selecting iPod vs. Satellite? It seems like sometimes I have to toggle back and forth between AM/FM & SAT+Track-Up several times before it allows me to chose the source. Is there a trick I'm missing? Or is it just a bit laggy here sometimes? More practice is needed.

6) I am happy to report that Pandora does work. Sort of. I have to select the channel on the iPhone itself, but it does send the sound through the gateway AND it displays the artist/track info on the head unit. Super cool. But, unsurprisingly, there doesn't seem to be a way to control the "station" or even skip tracks.

But anyways, it was worth the $100 and a couple hours of my time. Sound quality is excellent, and no more cables strewn about the cabin. But I am a little disappointed in the amount of lag between selecting songs or playlists. It takes 1-2 seconds between every input for it to respond, which can take quite a while to scroll through an artist playlist.

My Z's is now a very expensive iPod dock.

adampetrasek · 02-01-2012, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neko

I have a few questions about the iSimple Media Gateway.

1) After you turn off the car and turn it back on, will it keep your last setting? Meaning if you leave it on iPod will it stay on there next time? Or do you need to go through the steps and set it back on the iPod everytime?

2) When you go through each track (example Artist or Album), are the tracks only in alphabetical order?

3) Does random still work?

4) Is your lag between tracks only when you use your steering controls? Or both steering and head unit?

Im trying to justify getting this gateway or just by a new head unit.

Thanks!

1) Yes. it will pickup where it left off. In the middle of the track and all.
2) When you "view all" from the artist section, i think tracks are alphabetical, but if you select an album then the tracks are in the order of the album.
3) There is Random Off, Random Song, and Random Album
4) I haven't noticed much of a "lag" with anything, but i think your referring to having to hold the steering wheel's track up and down key for a second or two to change tracks. That only happens on that one switch. If you change tracks on the stereo itself, its instantaneous .

Good luck with your choice....

Augustus · 02-01-2012, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neko

I have a few questions about the iSimple Media Gateway.

1) After you turn off the car and turn it back on, will it keep your last setting? Meaning if you leave it on iPod will it stay on there next time? Or do you need to go through the steps and set it back on the iPod everytime?

Yes, it stays where you left it. Leave it in iPod, and it'll pause the track. Resumes right where you left it on restart.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neko

2) When you go through each track (example Artist or Album), are the tracks only in alphabetical order?

Yes. Ninja Edit: Adam's right - the tracks themselves are ordered by track # in the album.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neko

3) Does random still work?

Yes, but you don't access it through the random button

. I think you hit SCAN. It's in the instructions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neko

4) Is your lag between tracks only when you use your steering controls? Or both steering and head unit?

Both, and the same lag. Steering wheel controls are actually worse because you have to hold down the next/previous button for ~2 seconds before it changes. It's not horrible, but it's there. Takes about a second between each input. Sometimes a "next track" command instantly flips to the next, sometimes it takes 1-2 seconds to start playing. Worse than the lag is that there's no fast-scrolling, and you have to hit the button each time to advance - you can't just hold it down. Getting to ZZ Top in your Artist list would take me 5 minutes.

You really gotta do playlists. And don't do what I did and first name them all "Z" something. Z-Crusin, Z-Rock, etc. Doh!

Buddy at work has a touchscreen Pioneer deck in his car. It's a much easier/better iPod/iPhone experience.

Honestly... I'm thinking of returning mine. I'm undecided but growing less impressed with it. It's very nice that one's iPod is charged & hidden. SQ is quieter but otherwise fine. But the interface is so pokey that it's faster (arguably safer) to just do it on the iPod directly. I'm also not pleased at how it screws up my XM display; to make a long story short, on the *first* startup after sitting for more than a few minutes, my XM display only displays 8 characters of songs/artists/channel. With the iSimple removed, the display returns to normal. So if I want XM with full characters, I have to hit ACC before I start the car. Not so cool, as I listen to XM as much, if not more, than my iPod.

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