News: General

BMW Now Handles Your Music as Well as It Handles the Road

by Keith R. Wheeler

11/10/2004

The forward thinking engineers at BMW have found a way to meld the “Ultimate Driving Machine” and the ultimate music machine, the Apple iPod. If you haven’t ever used an iPod, here’s a crash course. The new iPods can store literally thousands of songs which are transferred into the unit via your computer. The music generally plays through headphones or different adapters into your home or car stereo. Here’s how the BMW idea works. A special adapter from BMW is installed in the BMW’s built-in car stereo. A cable with an iPod connector on the end runs from the stereo to the glove compartment where the iPod gets stored. The car stereo and control mechanisms on the steering wheel are used to control up to five special BMW playlists (which the user creates with their choice of songs) on the iPod as well as the tracks and volume. The display on the face of the car stereo shows the track information in a similar fashion as the display on the iPod itself. BMW claims that the driver can control and enjoy the music on the iPod without taking their eyes of the road or their hands off of the steering wheel – extra fun disguised as a safety feature.