I've just bought an ex-demo Rapid SE and was hoping to be able to control my iPod from the satnav screen.

The car has a USB-in port which fits the cable which I use to connect the iPod to the computer but it doesn't seem to work with the car.

Any ideas what cable I need to make this work?

Hi

I am not an expert but I believe that you need and MDI unit and associated cable to able to "control" an iPod from the sat nav.

Try doing a search for MDI on the ICE form and it may throw up more information for you

you could probably plug the ipod in the control the music using the ipod but not the other way round.

You need a way for enabling the headunit to control the unit. I expect this isnt going to be cheap, if its possible at all

An mdi does allow this but not not currently with the ipod with the 8 pin fitting (see my other post here)

Cheers

Adam

The MDI isn't the same as in other Skodas, the brochure says this:

" MDI (mobile device interface)

Standard on SE

and Elegance, connect your mp3 player through

the USB and control the music through your

stereo controls. Optional on S, standard on SE

and Elegance."

I can use my white ipod cable which I use to connect the ipod to the computer and the car then charges the ipod but I get a message which (very!) briefly flashes up on the Amundsen screen which says something along the lines of "the current device is not functional/not readable"

I'm wondering whether my iPod is an old format which the Amundsen can't communicate with? It's an 8gb iPod classic, must be 6 or 7 years old I think.

It could be that the iPod is of the older generation and can't be read but as a thought, and I've not tried it personally, is there a setting within the Media to enable/disable USB connectivity?

If I get 5 minutes I'll check our Rapid.

Thanks Lee, that would be great. As there are not many Rapid owners yet there is not much expertise round these parts regarding it yet!

I don't think the USB connection is turned off as such but I could have missed something.

I should start this by saying, if any further replies come in, abandon reading this one, as the others probably know what they're talking about - I don't, I'm just guessing out loud.

If there's nothing specific in the manual, I would agree with what Lee has said & start searching on the unit for a menu item.

My clumsy reasoning for this is that, if Skoda has started using USB as the MDI, this is bound to cause problems as Apple are very strict about what & how devices can talk to the Ipod (they clearly don't want people sharing music for free - the gits).

You will notice with Itunes, that Itunes has to be 'legally married' to your Ipod & it has to name it (e.g. Fred's Ipod) before talking to it. Thats why my confused logic suggests the HU & your Ipod may have to be 'paired' some way if using USB.

Many will tell you that an Ipod cannot be read as a mass storage device - it can, I've done it to dump an Ipod's contents to my computer & import to a new version of Itunes (can't remember exact details, but easy to Google). (P.S: I've done this with the standard Ipod to PC lead, so this lead can clearly read all the data).

If I've not already talked enough nonsense, if it was me & I couldn't find anything in manual/or in settings, I might just be tempted to try something very random:

Now this probably won't do diddly-squat, but I'd try it before buying new leads. In Itunes, turning off the auto-synch mode actually makes your Ipod behave as a mass storage device (you can now simply drag & drop individual files where you want). Now whether it does this via a setting in Itunes or on the Ipod, I've no idea. If it changes a setting on the Ipod and if the Ipod retains this setting after being ejected, it would make it much easier to be read by other devices. All pie in the sky & extremely doubtful, but it would only take 5 mins to find out.

Edited 28 March, 201313 yr by Skoda Al Coda

Thanks for the tips Al Coda. I tried your ideas but unfortunately with no sucess. I am going to try my friend's iPod tomorrow to see if it's ay different. A quick internet search confirms there are problems with trying to drive Apple devices through USB from car entertainment systems, but that some of them can be "jailbroken" to cure this.

By the way, I think you're going to pleased with the transition from 1.616v to 1.2TSI - I've just done the same and the engines are lightyears apart!

By the way, I think you're going to pleased with the transition from 1.616v to 1.2TSI - I've just done the same and the engines are lightyears apart!

Yup, loved the 1.2 when I test drove it. Had no real issues with the 1.6 but have always felt it was a bit rough when pushed hard (& thirsty).

Selfishly, I'm hoping my new Yeti won't have this new style (USB) MDI (MDI became available on Yeti only a few weeks ago) as I want to use an Ipod classic too.