For those of you wondering about the OEM iPod Adapter and how the installation goes, MF reader Stephen Phillips has you covered with this great review!

One of the unfortunate side effects for those of us who took early or first delivery of a 2007 Mini was the lack of accessories that could be included in the car at the time of ordering. One of the biggest areas that seemed to have no options available was in the audio department. The prospect of receiving the next generation iPod adapter seemed a daunting task. Luckily, my salesmen, Dave, assured me that as soon as it was available, he would notify me. Late May, nearly four months after taking delivery, they became available and I began my quest to have the iPod adapter installed in my R56 Cooper S.

The Install

Mini quoted me $375 for the adapter and between 2 and 4 hours for the install. This may vary from dealer to dealer because the part is still so new that they don’t seem to have a proper pricing structure for the installation. Word to the wise, make sure your car has the CD Changer Prep in the car. If not, it could be even more expensive. My car’s spec sheet said it did, but it turns out that it did not. Those of you with the locked upper compartment, make sure you specify that you want the ten dollar stowage box installed and the cables routed to that. The standard installation puts the iPod in the already too small glove box. Unfortunately BMW/Mini sent my dealer the wrong software update for my radio and ended up with an error code. Two days later, Mini figured out the problem and reloaded the correct software. After having the car for a week, they ironed out all the kinks and I received my car back with the iPod adapter properly installed. At this point I must thank all of the guys at Morristown Mini (especially Dave and Fred ) for their help and patience with me, seeing as I called every day asking for an update on the car.

The Interface

Those who own or have driven a 07 Cooper know interface of the new 07 radios is not the most intuitive. Navigating the radio stations and the CD player can seem a little overly complicated . With the addition of the iPod adapter the interfaces dials and buttons start to play a bigger part in the operation of the radio itself. If you want to try this out for yourself burn a Mp3 Cd in Itunes (Windows Media Player does not organize the music the same) and insert it into your cd player.Tthe menu system is the same except for the ability to sort the music.

Upon plugging the iPod in to the adapter a mini logo appears on the iPods Lcd and warns you to not disconnect the iPod. Interestingly it only says to not disconnect when the iPod is selected as a the current audio selection, i.e. you can disconnect it if the FM Radio is playing.

The iPod takes the place of the CD changer in the interface selection menu.

Options 1-6 allow you to browse your music via Playlist, Artist, Album , Genre, Podcast, and Audio Book.

Thanks for sending this in Stephen! We’ll have more about this adapter and how it works with the Nav equipped R56 in the coming months.