So... Not wanting to pay Apple £35 for the privilege of an 'official' lightning to 30 pin cable to make my iPhone 5 work with my MDI, does anyone know if there are any cheap alternatives that will work?

eBay lists a number of £2 alternatives but they all seem to say they won't do audio. I can use Bluetooth streaming but then I lose my steering wheel controls.

Any ideas?

ever since the ios7 upgrade, unauthorized lightning cables and adapters where bricked as they switched the authentication key in the embedded chip in the cables.

 

i had 3 cheapo lightning cables which now are useless since upgrading to ios7.

Try this ?

http://m.cultofmac.com/cultofmac/#!/entry/ios-7-killed-off-some-unlicensed-lightning-cables-but-heres,523acf932ce9351e049e794a/1

Thanks for the replies. Looks like the only reliable way is to hand over cash I guess. Even then the cable isn't long enough to be useful and I'm not sure there's an extension lead available... Bit carp really. :(

i dont know if this is much help but i have a new gen ipod nano and tried two cheaper converters and non of them work either on the car or my orbitsound bar. ive been trying to find out if vag do the cable with a lightning connector. 

i dont know if this is much help but i have a new gen ipod nano and tried two cheaper converters and non of them work either on the car or my orbitsound bar. ive been trying to find out if vag do the cable with a lightning connector. 

 

Heard a rumour (google search revealed someone else in another forum writing...) they were working on one, but not available until later this year. Hopefully that's true because I'd rather get that than have to fork out £35 for an Apple converter cable.

 

And it's still not clear to me whether I'll be able to play iTunes match music through the thing. Anyone know? Does it work with a 30-pin and iPhone 4/4S?

I'll post you a genuine one for £15 if you like?

oops , sorry, mine is the old iphone connector, wont fit the 5....

You could always use bluetooth instead... I find the MDI to be pretty rubbish with my iPod - crashes, loses connection, doesn't 'see' all the music etc etc.

I didn't spec bluetooth when i got my car, so i bought this:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009NLTW60/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Works superbly, highly recommended

Has anyone tried using a bluetooth receiver with the old 30pin connection?

Don't think I can post links so the eBay number is 191065123849

Will it work?

Just an update - iTunes Match DOES work over lightning -> 30 pin -> Swing radio.

 

Unfortunately, with over 150GB of music in the cloud, using the stereo to navigate through everything is far too slow.

 

Instead I have the phone mounted in a cradle and use that to navigate the music collection. You can still use the stereo and/or steering wheel controls to skip tracks etc.

 

Of course the stereo is still perfectly usable to go through playlists etc.

also I managed to get a genuine VAG 1.5 metre MDI to 30 pin cable on ebay that makes the MDI->30pin->Lightning viable by making the lead long enough for you to mount a cradle somewhere sensible (next to the stereo on a bracket in my case).

Edited 9 February, 201412 yr by louisv6

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-RCD510-RCD310-RNS510-MEDIA-IN-MDI-Interface-Adapter-Cable-5ft-for-iPod-iPhone-/140838658587?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item20caa3621b