MDI niggles

[G-rig]

The price shouldn't be any different, in fact dealer fitted can be cheaper.

Why would it be cheaper than factory - the dealer would still have to pay roughly $348 for the MDI and $60 for the ipod cable, plus labor fitting it (my guess 1.5hrs).

I'm not sure how you can get the cable to be on the dash without the glovebox being open...

I use a separate 80GB ipod i leave in the glove box (bluetooth still works while connected if ur using an iphone). Shouldnt' really be playing with the phone while driving anyway.

[Maverick]

The price shouldn't be any different, in fact dealer fitted can be cheaper.

So dealer labor is free? And it costs nothing to send MDI kits through the spare parts channel? Awesome.

I'm not sure how you can get the cable to be on the dash without the glovebox being open...

It's a cable, you can reroute it inside the dash, you can put it where-ever you want in the car (in the back, under the seat and so on).

[Corey_R]

The price shouldn't be any different, in fact dealer fitted can be cheaper.

This is just completely incorrect. Sorry.

The official dealer accessory price for the MDI (as listed by VW Australia) is $396. If you need the iCrud cable, that's $83.

So on top of that $396 you have labour.

But as has already been pointed out, it's much harder to retrofit than it is to just install it during the build process (much like recabling or replacing pipes in a house!).

[kennyc]

This is just completely incorrect. Sorry.

The official dealer accessory price for the MDI (as listed by VW Australia) is $396. If you need the iCrud cable, that's $83.

So on top of that $396 you have labour.

But as has already been pointed out, it's much harder to retrofit than it is to just install it during the build process (much like recabling or replacing pipes in a house!).

All dealers have told me it's around $500 for the dealer fitted MDI in the glovebox.
I actually wanted that but the car they had on hold for me was factory fitted and i didnt really want to wait 6 months for mdi in the glovebox as they have to order a new build.

My dealer and sales manger both told me that the iphone connector and usb connector for the mdi will come with no extra cost.

[G-rig]

I'd prefer factory fitted given the choice and it's cheaper too @ $270 and also in the arm rest.

Not worth delaying the order though as they are easy to fit later just not as cheap.

ipods are good corey haha. (USB/HDD & SD card mode is crap and has gaps in between the songs).

[Stoney!]

Ipods are not good and far from it, I prefer to buy Creative products as they were doing well till apple brought out their un-necessarily flashy looking but overpriced overated, unreliable pieces of crap.

Stoney!

[hooba]

un-necessarily flashy looking but overpriced overated, unreliable pieces of crap.

Stoney!

We hear you Stoney, we hear you.

If get one more person asking me about the iPad.....

[Tux]

Ipods are not good and far from it, I prefer to buy Creative products as they were doing well till apple brought out their un-necessarily flashy looking but overpriced overated, unreliable pieces of crap.

Stoney!

Some people must like 'em though. Just give in and go to the DARK side!

[Maverick]

I'd prefer factory fitted given the choice and it's cheaper too @ $270 and also in the arm rest.

Depends if you want the storage space that you lose when they fit the MDI in the arm rest or not. I'd rather have that storage and fit the MDI where it suits (ie access from the glovebox, storage in front of the gear selector or in the drawer next to the ignition switch).

ipods are good corey haha. (USB/HDD & SD card mode is crap and has gaps in between the songs).

Fanboi. Icruds offer nothing that USB/Hard Drive and SD card do not other than an overpriced piece of locked in hardware. Who cares about an un-noticeable gap between the songs? I'd rather buy a product that meets my requirements, that uses standard off the shelf hardware and buy it at a competitive price than purely based on brand.

[G-rig]

Ipods are not good and far from it, I prefer to buy Creative products as they were doing well till apple brought out their un-necessarily flashy looking but overpriced overated, unreliable pieces of crap.

Stoney!

I used to hate them as well and would go out of my way to buy anything else, but they actually work ok and at the time there weren't any other players with large capacity.

I agree that itunes sucks but its better to have a music manager than copying folders manual once your player is bigger than say 4Gb. Copying mp3 to the RNS/RCD via Sd or DVD is pretty slow which is why the MDI is good.

Not many other players have a true line-out either, just substandard headphone outputs.

[G-rig]

Depends if you want the storage space that you lose when they fit the MDI in the arm rest or not. I'd rather have that storage and fit the MDI where it suits (ie access from the glovebox, storage in front of the gear selector or in the drawer next to the ignition switch).

So you wouldn't tick MDI with your next new car order for $270? Lot better than stuffing around fitting it and I dont use that space in the arm rest anyway as you cant fit that much in there but dont think the MDI takes up the whole lot anyway.

Fanboi. Icruds offer nothing that USB/Hard Drive and SD card do not other than an overpriced piece of locked in hardware. Who cares about an un-noticeable gap between the songs? I'd rather buy a product that meets my requirements, that uses standard off the shelf hardware and buy it at a competitive price than purely based on brand.

You may not notice with the stock speakers/amp but there was a noticeable difference in my car between mp3 and Apple Lossless with the ipod/MDI. I dont really use mp3 anyway.

The ipod is obviously better processor than the head unit if it can do gapless playback.

[Corey_R]

So if you have an iCrud, and you've got it plugged into the MDI (not via the analog input), does gapless playback and Apple Lossless actually work?

I would have thought for this to work the headunit would need to have supported both of those.

If it DOES work, that at least explains the need for the specific iCud MDI cable rather than the USB cable. Because that would mean that the iCrud is actually doing all the processing, and it is simply passing along the digital audio output and the 'song information' to the head unit, rather than allowing the head unit to access the files, as per the USB method.

[G-rig]

Re: MDI niggles

Yep it works, so I assume the iPod is doing the processing.

[Maverick]

So if you have an iCrud, and you've got it plugged into the MDI (not via the analog input), does gapless playback and Apple Lossless actually work?

I would have thought for this to work the headunit would need to have supported both of those.

If it DOES work, that at least explains the need for the specific iCud MDI cable rather than the USB cable. Because that would mean that the iCrud is actually doing all the processing, and it is simply passing along the digital audio output and the 'song information' to the head unit, rather than allowing the head unit to access the files, as per the USB method.

You're sort of correct. The icrud(tm) is doing all the processing and passes the signal as an analog signal. The only difference between this and using the standard analog input is that the MDI controls the functions of the icrud(tm) and charges the unit.

IMO a large usb memory stick or SD card is a better proposition if you don't need gapless playback (it is a car after all and not a media room in your house) and don't feel the need to jump on the icrud(tm) bandwagon with the rest of the sheep.

The methods you mentioned earlier don't work as the icrud(tm) is locked down by apple to prevent access in ways that they can't control. This is also why you can't plug in your icrud(tm) usb cable as apple don't allow access that way. Kindoff like the way they don't allow you to change your own battery.

Meanwhile in a galaxy far far away apple the evil corporation has multiple lawsuits pending to prevent any open source alternatives to the icrud(tm) through dodgy patents (only recognised in the USA and Australia) on areas like multi touch (heck apple though it up and as such only apple users can touch something twice at once) and open source (where is the money to be made from allowing multiple manufacturers to produce decent hardware if you're giving away the OS - goodbye to billions of dollars a year in revenue from the sheep).

[G-rig]

I was already running Rockbox firmware on an ipod Video 5G but doesn't work on the new classics etc. Drag and drop was good and the sound was slightly better, but would use more battery and the interface was quite primative (dos like) in comparison. Being open source it was good for the nerds and ipod haters.

Unfortunately didn't work with the head units I had so just rolled with the iPod firmware.