[Creative Native]

I stopped listening to the radio (and watching television) in the 1980's. So, as long as I have been driving, I have relied exclusively on my vehicle's ability to play the music I prefer to listen to (cassettes, CDs and now iPod). Since I have been driving my 2013 Touareg with the RNS 850 unit, my routine is to crank the engine, then hook up my iPod in the glove box. Almost every time, the iPod will default to Buffy Sainte-Marie, even when I was not previously listening to her music. This is not a major inconvenience, but it does seem to me that it is not normal operation. Have any of you experienced this quirk? If so, do you know of a solution?

 

[Creative Native]

UPDATE: For those of you who are viewing this thread, I believe the way to remedy this situation is to hook up my iPod BEFORE I crank the engine.

 

[fincher]

You should leave the iPod connected in the glove box. This will solve the issue. I use an old iPhone 3GS as my iPod. I have an old SIM loaded to avoid the 'no SIM' message. I also have the VW 30-pin purple cable which passes through album artwork to show on the screen. If you're iPod has the lightning cable, pretty sure the Apple 30-pin adapter will work.


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[Creative Native]

Thank you for useful information again, Mr. Fincher! I will look into buying another iPod, but because I only have one, I use it in my home and take it along with me when I am driving. I really am not proficient with technology/computers, so I look often to others for advice. I do not know how to use a phone to store music, but I can learn. I have never owned an iPhone, but will look into finding one to dedicate to music. The 30-pin purple cable sounds just like what I need! I would love to see the album artwork on my screen. I just returned from my TDI buyback appointment and while at the dealership, I spoke to the parts department about the purple cable and she couldn't find any information on it. Would you happen to have a part number for it? My iPod does have the 30-pin connector.

 

[fincher]

Album artwork should work if the album artwork shows in your iTunes. The artwork is there if you purchased your music. If you ripped from CDs, you can download the artwork within iTunes (Gracenote) or make a custom one from Google Images. 500x500 pixels.

Here you go:

 

[Creative Native]

Thank you very much for the information. I have hundreds of CDs that I imported into my computer/iTunes and also have hundreds of songs that I have purchased directly from iTunes. As of now, with the black iPod cable that came with my Touareg, I have no album art visible; my screen looks just like yours, but without the album art. By the way, "Brain Salad Surgery" was a great album!

 

[fincher]

Greg Lake. RIP.

The black cable came with mine, too. Typical bean counting by VW. The tagging was one of the features (do not know how to use tagging and do not care) but it also had the Apple chip or code to allow artwork to pass through. I can rant for an hour on the cost-cutting VW did on some of the details with the Touareg. But cutting corners on the cable was flat-out silly. Plus, I spent weeks messing with how to get the artwork on the screen. It was easy with SD cards but then I had to use a Mac app to get to mirror my playlists. Tricky and I will not do it again. Then, someone here got the cable and the artwork showed. Forgot the user but it was a long time back.

Good luck!

 

[DoctorTouareg]

Never even thought about keeping it plugged in always. I always took my old ipod with me when I got out of the car. Thank you for the info.

 

[fincher]

I have mine sitting in the mesh netting at the top of the glove box.


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[Creative Native]

I now have a new iPod 7th generation that I can dedicate to leaving hooked up in my Touareg and keep my old Nano Classic inside the house. Now I am trying to find the correct cable or adapter for my new iPod with the lightning connector. I am leery that the 30-to-8 pin adapters may not allow for the tagging feature that my VW purple/maroon cable provides. I've not found any adapters that specifically indicate they will allow tagging, so I can only assume that they don't. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mmmike]

I tried varying combos of old ipods and iphones with different cables, both 30 pin and lightning, in hopes of making the album art display. I finally threw $11 on eBay at an Audi cable that supposedly worked in the Q5, and lo and behold, success! (This is using an iPhone 7)

 

[Creative Native]

Mmmike, thank you SO much! This is exactly what I needed to know. I was about to just break down and take my chances on the VW lightning cable, but now I will look for one of these yellow cables.