Eureka! In our last episode, our 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300's lack of an operator's manual entry on the subject of iPod use or clearly labelled buttonage had left many confounded. There just had to be more functionality from this dedicated iPod connection than we were seeing.
And indeed there is. The key to the whole thing is the small button on the right-hand side of the steering wheel with the telephone icon on it. Once you discover this little nugget, the dedicated iPod connection in the Merc goes from "This sucks!" to "Wow! This is great!" in 5.1 seconds.
Here then is our own Operator's Manual entry:
Step 1: Connect your iPod.
Step 2: Use COMAND to choose AUX as the source.
Step 3: Scroll left-right until "Audio" appears on the central speedometer display, then press "OK."
Step 4: See track info here.
Step 5: Press the telephone hang-up key under here (under my thumb) for iPod menus. The choices will temporarily override the track information in the central display.
Step 6: Press up-down to scroll through the high-level menu choices, then press OK to select. Once in play mode, this will also switch between adjacent tracks.
Once you know what the telephone hang-up button on the right-hand side of the steering wheel does, the C300 iPod connection makes a whole lot more sense.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle testing @ 7,665 miles
PS: Enough iPod already. Next we'll talk about driving the beast.
jr1m90 says:
06:10 PM, 05/ 5/08
Very nifty, and that's one of many benefits of using the iPod's dock connector for your listening pleasure.
These entry's have got me thinking though, I know that when you buy a lot of new computer hardware (for example, a computer or an LCD monitor), you don't get a paper manual, you get a CD or a file saved to the hard drive that is your manual. So with all of the capabilities being built into navigation screens, has any maker tried to include the owner's manual within the system? I'm sure it'd be possible and would probably save money over printing an owner's manual, though it probably wouldn't go over well with a lot of people (for example, it's not very useful to have the owner's manual for a BMW be built into iDrive if the owner is confused about using iDrive). Anyone care to weigh in on if they've seen this feature?
Potentially, you should be able to just type a search for "iPod" into the program and have it pull up the entries relating to iPod integration right on the screen, although I don't know if anyone's tried it.
Edit*: I just saw the last sentence in your post, and after the Benz's performance during the introductory track testing, I'm intrigued. Bring on the driving!
dougtheeng says:
06:13 AM, 05/ 6/08
What a hideous instrument cluster.
louiswei says:
08:59 AM, 05/ 6/08
"Enough iPod already. Next we'll talk about driving the beast"
What beast? This thing is seriously underpowered...
cheslin says:
12:23 PM, 05/ 6/08
So the dealership didn't give you a manual for the iPod kit? Email me and I can download one from my Mercedes dealer website and email it to you.
estreka says:
09:13 PM, 05/ 6/08
Cheslin - If there were more salespeople like you the world would be a much better place.
reni1 says:
03:05 PM, 09/ 2/09
hi
i cant get to the ipod to work, and i cant even find the AUX on command. i dont have the pop up screen, just the regular. it is SOOOOOO frustrating. please help if you know the way to make it work:)