Advantages of the Media Interface Cable?

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reflexboy

MB Enthusiast
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Feb 23, 2005
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Surrey, UK
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E350 CDi Sport&SLK250CDi AMG Sport
Hi all
My car has Command Online with the media interface ports in the centre armrest. I have an iPhone 4S which connects via Bluetooth for phone calls and I can stream music from my phone via Bluetooth too. Would there be any advantage of using the media interface cable to connect the phone to the Command system? Would it give me any further features?
 
Hi all
My car has Command Online with the media interface ports in the centre armrest. I have an iPhone 4S which connects via Bluetooth for phone calls and I can stream music from my phone via Bluetooth too. Would there be any advantage of using the media interface cable to connect the phone to the Command system? Would it give me any further features?

Yes. It will give you charging and track/playlist details etc if you dont have them.
 
Hi,

On my Iphone 5, connecting the media does nothing but charge the phone. It wont play an Iphone through the cable, only BT.
So I plug mine in the USB and dont use the cable
 
thebig1 said:
Hi, On my Iphone 5, connecting the media does nothing but charge the phone. It wont play an Iphone through the cable, only BT. So I plug mine in the USB and dont use the cable

I've just purchased a C220 with Comand system, and I have managed to get my iPhone 5s working well with the cable supplied with the car ( there were 3 types).
I had to buy a genuine apple 30 pin to lightning cable (£35) , and it now does everything except the online thing....
My car was recently updated after service at Salisbury Mercedes , and the very helpful tech guy said that as the Iphone 4 was the new phone when my 2011 car was built, and that I missed the upgrade by about 2 months.... Early 2012 models had the new connections to link with iphone 5 etc. He said it was not possible to update the software now, so it is all dependant upon the age of your car.
 
andysplasher said:
I've just purchased a C220 with Comand system, and I have managed to get my iPhone 5s working well with the cable supplied with the car ( there were 3 types). I had to buy a genuine apple 30 pin to lightning cable (£35) , and it now does everything except the online thing.... My car was recently updated after service at Salisbury Mercedes , and the very helpful tech guy said that as the Iphone 4 was the new phone when my 2011 car was built, and that I missed the upgrade by about 2 months.... Early 2012 models had the new connections to link with iphone 5 etc. He said it was not possible to update the software now, so it is all dependant upon the age of your car.

The music quality is better via the cable compared with Bluetooth , depending upon what quality you have on your iphone... I always copy using AAC as I have been advised its the best, although it takes a little more room on the phone... I've still got about 100 CDs on my 64 gig phone....
 
I wonder why mine doesnt work? I have the apple cable plugged into the USB media cable.
 
The music quality is better via the cable compared with Bluetooth , depending upon what quality you have on your iphone...
Absolutely true.
I always copy using AAC as I have been advised its the best, although it takes a little more room on the phone... I've still got about 100 CDs on my 64 gig phone....
AAC is still a lossy compression format, but it generally achieves marginally better sound quality than mp3 for any given bitrate. However...

In my experience, in a car it's pretty much impossible to ascertain a difference between files encoded as 192kbps mp3 vs those as 320kbps mp3, but easy to hear the difference between a 192kbps mp3 played via the media interface wired connection or via Bluetooth. By way of contrast, on my home hi-fi it's very easy to hear the difference between files encoded 192kbps mp3 and either the original uncompressed track on CD or a FLAC (lossless) copy. An mp3 encoded at 320kbps is less easy to identify vs the original uncompressed track on CD or a FLAC copy, but odd audio artefacts are still identifiable on some tracks.

So in summary, if you're listening to digital music seriously then use only lossless formats (FLAC, ALAC, etc.), but for in-car audio lower bitrate mp3's (or AAC's) are fine and take up much less space.
 
thebig1 said:
I wonder why mine doesnt work? I have the apple cable plugged into the USB media cable.

Are you using the Mercedes-to-30 pin iphone cable or the Mercedes-to-USB cable with your lightning cable plugged into the USB socket?

You need to use the Mercedes-to-30 pin iPhone cable with the OFFICIAL Apple 30 Pin-to-Lightning adaptor (the cheap ones off eBay don't work - they will let you charge but you can't play music through them). I have a 2010 E Class Coupe and an iPhone 6 that plays music perfectly using this set up.

Something else to consider, and what I've done, is buy a cheap second hand iPod Mini or Nano off eBay (you can get them in perfect working order for about £30 - less than the price of the adaptor) and leave that plugged in at all times.

Steve
 
richiemcfc said:
Are you using the Mercedes-to-30 pin iphone cable or the Mercedes-to-USB cable with your lightning cable plugged into the USB socket? You need to use the Mercedes-to-30 pin iPhone cable with the OFFICIAL Apple 30 Pin-to-Lightning adaptor (the cheap ones off eBay don't work - they will let you charge but you can't play music through them). I have a 2010 E Class Coupe and an iPhone 6 that plays music perfectly using this set up. Something else to consider, and what I've done, is buy a cheap second hand iPod Mini or Nano off eBay (you can get them in perfect working order for about £30 - less than the price of the adaptor) and leave that plugged in at all times. Steve

Exactly what I was going to say! Cheap iPods are available and version 5 and below had better components purporting to make a better sound
 
Hi All, i have a 2014 C220 new model . I have the Iphone5,s which when plugged in with USB does not work unless I resset the phone . Then it works perfectly and I can see the album art and search albums etc . Then when I leave the car and return it simply does not work again unless I reset the phone. I guess I need to purchase the correct cable from mercedes . The alternative as suggested would be a cheap Ipod . The whole thing I find very frustrating as my previous car BMW just simply worked . Any further advice would be appreciated . I dont want to waste money on something that does not work
 

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