Car Tech forum: Audi Music Interface - iPod help

Are you just leaving the iPod plugged up in the car for weeks at a time? Or does the device come and go with you? Also, what generation/capacity is the iPod Classic?

When you put your key into the car and crank it up, the stereo comes on as the key passes the accessory position (ACC), then blinks off for a second as the car attempts to start. Once the engine is running, the stereo powers back on and resumes operation. If you're the kind of person who turns the key quickly, this process (On-Off-then On again) could happen a second or two.

Here's what it sounds like is happening to your iPod: During that first blink of power to the stereo, the system sees and attempts to connect to the iPod. The iPod goes into connection mode like it's programmed to do, but before the process can complete, your car stereo has already rebooted. Sometimes, if the timing is right (or wrong, in this case), this leaves the iPod confused. It's ready to connect, but there's no host to connect to. When you manually disconnect the iPod and reconnect it, the connection process is able start over and finish successfully.

The next time you crank up your car, watch your iPod and you may see it spring to life and make that "d-d-dun" noise just before your car cranks. There's nothing wrong with your iPod or your stereo, it's just a slight timing issue.

Your options are a) disconnect your iPod after each use and reconnect when you get in the car, b) stop for a moment at the ACC position when cranking your car to give the iPod a chance connect-disconnect-reconnect, c) or just keep doing what you're doing knowing that you're not really going to break anything. It's a minor inconvenience, but I'd recommend option C.

This explains the problem, but, unfortunately, the problem remains. In my case, I'm using a playlist that has about 3000 songs. When this problem occurs, I lose my place in the list and it starts over from the beginning. Option C is by default, but it is annoying that I have to go into the playlist and scroll through to pick up where it left off.
Wish Audi would address this, but unfortunately the tech stuff they put in cars is always overpriced and several generations behind. Ditto with the "DOS" screen where the titles of the songs are not all visible. Wish the screen displayed the graphics that appear on the IPOD.