I have 2011 A3 with the simple aux-in jack in the center arm rest which allows for iPod connection but you have to control your song selection through the iPod itself. Is there an aftermarket or OEM part like a module that can be installed to allow my Head Unit to control the iPod? if So what kind of $$$ am I looking at?

Thanks

 

It depends on the radio that you have (or Concert 3 or RNS-E Nav).

The gateway are expensive. Audi produces its own gateways (see at the dealer). Otherwise, some aftermarket companies produce iPhone gateways. Look Dension Gateway 100 and Dice Electronics - DUO-100-AUD. Enfigcarstereo.com site should help you.

Personally, I prefer to directly control my iPhone via the AUX port. I use the wire: USB Car Charger 3.5mm AUX Audio Cable iPod iPhone 4. Do a search on eBay.

Like this one.



Enjoy,

FourCircle

 

Thx for the help FourCircle!

 

Just to verify this setup allows you to control your playlists..etc on the RNS-E screen?

My doubts are the only link from the iphone/ipod to the headunit is the AUX connection where the USB is connected to the cigarette lighter adapter, correct?

Tks in advance

 

o, nevermind, I re-read your post, I get what you mean now, you are controlling your music collection directly on your iphone/ipod, tks

 

Yeah, in fact, you can only control your music directly from your iPod / iPhone / iPad screen. The interest of this wire is to charge your device while listening to your music (in the USB port connection). The RNS-E will display "auxiliary port".

For cons, I regularly synchronize my iTunes library on a 32GB SDHC card that I insert in my RNS-E. For cons, I don't have access to my iTunes Genius playlists, but the song information is displayed on the RNS-E screen.

The best is to have Audi MMI module with the connector in the glove compartment or buy an aftermarket gateway, but it is a relatively expensive investment.

FourCircle

 

Does anyone out there have an adapter for their iphone for the A3? Or are we all just using aux cables?

 

Hi All,

I'm living in Denmark currently and just picked up my A3. Similar to MGGTI who started the thread, i have the Concert radio with only the 3.5mm jack in the arm rest to connect my ipod/iphone. Even with the volume on my ipod at max, i can often only barely hear the music while at highway speeds.

Is it possible to add the Audi Music Interface to this head unit at this point or can this only be done at the factory?

Thanks,

Scb

 

Whatever you do, don't bother with the official Audi iPod interface that they put in the glovebox. It's absolutely useless. You can't see the name of the song or artist - you only get a 2 digit "track" number 01-99 but there could be hundreds of songs in your playlist and whether it's song 233 or 433 - it will only show as song 33. It only handles 6 "playlists" which emulate 6 CD discs of the Audi head unit. Absolute garbage.

Controlling your iPod via the center aux input is by far the best option unless you replace the head unit with a new chinese DVD/GPS/iPOD/TV/etc. unit. then you can run an iPod wire from the back of the Chinese units into your glovebox - very easily. It will give you full control over your iPod and the screen will show artist names/songs/etc.

As regards Audi's so-called iPod "solution" - Nobody could have designed anything worse. It's an absolute disgrace.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the feedback JFH! How would i go about getting one of the chinese head units and how much would it cost (ballpark)? Would it just plug in to my existing factory wiring harness??