Ipod in fiat 500 help

[skinner05]

My mum has a fiat 500 and we got her an ipod for christmas and i thought seens as the car has a usb slot it would be as simple as connecting the ipod up and it would play out of the car speakers. However it seems more complicated than that. When connected up the ipod turns on and is charging so obviously it is recognised by the car but when you go in to the computer in the car and chose media player, the voice command says "no media found". Obviously it is found because it is charging but it wont play anything. Thinking it might be to do with licencing and some songs being restricted which is stopping the whole ipod playing but not sure. Any ideas?

[Alfa_75_Steve]

skinner05 said:

My mum has a fiat 500 and we got her an ipod for christmas and i thought seens as the car has a usb slot it would be as simple as connecting the ipod up and it would play out of the car speakers. However it seems more complicated than that. When connected up the ipod turns on and is charging so obviously it is recognised by the car but when you go in to the computer in the car and chose media player, the voice command says "no media found". Obviously it is found because it is charging but it wont play anything. Thinking it might be to do with licencing and some songs being restricted which is stopping the whole ipod playing but not sure. Any ideas?

Does it have 'Blue & Me'? - ISTR that's what gives you iPod compatibility.

If you do, then is the iPod PC or Mac formatted? - Blue & Me is a Microsoft system, so won't read Mac formatted drives.

[trooperiziz]

Isn't the USB slot on Fiat 500 a Microsoft slot? If so then it won't work with an iPod, you'll probably need a Zune player or something like that.

Just because the iPod is charging doesn't mean it has a connection, just that it is drawing power from the USB slot, you could stick it into any powered USB slot and get the same.

I use an iTrip with my iPod, which works extremely well in my current car, but was crap in my last car. Might be worth a try?

[KTiM]

You'll find lots of similar threads to this but in a nutshell the Fiat Blue & Me USB electoconnectorthingummy is Microsoft and therefore won't work with an Apple iPod (as opposed to a PC iPod).

Edited by KTiM on Tuesday 6th January 15:21

[jamieboy]

The music files on the iPod have to be MP3 or WMA, and I think Steve is also right that it has to be formatted as PC rather than Mac.

The "Microsoft vs Apple - it just won't work" posts are wrong - it's just a bit more fiddly to get an iPod to work than if you just stick in a memory stick, but it's not impossible.

Have a look at this thread:
http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/ice-and-blue-and-me...

It's on the Alfa Owner forum, but the B+M system is the same.

[aldojack]

Hi quick question relating to this, I have a Fiat 500 which isn't "Blue & Me", Whats the best suggestion if i wanted to get an iPod dock for this?

[briang9]

Not sure but Dension seem to be leaders in Ipod interface technology, probably worth looking at what they have to offer

[Patch1875]

I'm sure mines worked on my alfa using a blue&me adaptor?

[Squadrone Rosso]

If it has B & M but is a pre-2011 car, it'll need an adapter from a FIAT dealer.