I hacked the cd cable to line in a Zune.

[Martin in Bellevue]

I bought a zune yesterday. I wasn't too happy with the fm transmitter to get the tunes over the car's stereo. There doesn't seem to be much out there to plug into the older bmw's stock pioneer head unit's cd changer interface.

In the changer data cable, there are 2 grey bundles, 1 blue bundle, & 1 red wire. Ya want to get into the thinner grey bundle that houses the shielded red & white wires. I disconnected these wires from the cd changer, happy to never source cd music from the changer again. I can switch it in later, but I don't see that happening. I chopped the blue bundle as they control the head unit's control of the cd changer. With the blue bundled wires attached, the head unit insisted on having a cd in the changer playing. With them chopped, the head unit accepts the Zune's signal without worrying about having a disc in play.

This thing sounds great. The Zune's radio sounds better than the stock radio. I hope this helps out others looking to hook up a media player on the cheap.

Thanks for not giving me any grief about not getting an ipod; there is some affiliation.

[Alexlind123]

i just use the line in on my un stock deck for my zune. Which color do you have?

[CharlesAFerg]

Which color do you have?

It's still a zune...

x-O

[Martin in Bellevue]

i just use the line in on my un stock deck for my zune. Which color do you have? Bleck.

[Russell]

what line in? As far as i know, my 95 alpine 5 radio does not have a line in. I would like to connect an ipod. My changer is failing-does not work well on certain tracks in cold weather.

[Martin in Bellevue]

what line in? As far as i know, my 95 alpine 5 radio does not have a line in. I would like to connect an ipod. My changer is failing-does not work well on certain tracks in cold weather.

I chopped up the data line from the stock cd changer to plug in the Zune. After doing a search pn this forum & Google, I came up with a willingness to splice.

[Alexlind123]

what line in? As far as i know, my 95 alpine 5 radio does not have a line in. I would like to connect an ipod. My changer is failing-does not work well on certain tracks in cold weather.

its not a stock deck, and its actually fairly crappy except for the line in. BTW, my zune is black too.

[indierthanthou]

isnt the zune the one that comes in brown? i recall one of the webcomics i read calling it the doodoopod

[Alexlind123]

isnt the zune the one that comes in brown? i recall one of the webcomics i read calling it the doodoopod

It comes in brown, black and white.

[95///M3]

Post up a little more information please. Can I do this with my IPOD?

[BMWCCA1]

So, are you saying the shielded red and white wires in the thin gray bundle are the pair you need for AUX input? And as long as everything else is disconnected (as in no-CD-changer-present) then the head unit will recognize the AUX input from the MP3 player when selecting "CD" on the "band" button? Or does the CD have to be plugged in to make the head-unit think it's there and you then snip the blue bundle to disable having to actually load a CD to obtain the AUX input? Is there a way to do this without the CD changer plugged in?

[Martin in Bellevue]

So, are you saying the shielded red and white wires in the thin gray bundle are the pair you need for AUX input? And as long as everything else is disconnected (as in no-CD-changer-present) then the head unit will recognize the AUX input from the MP3 player when selecting "CD" on the "band" button? Or does the CD have to be plugged in to make the head-unit think it's there and you then snip the blue bundle to disable having to actually load a CD to obtain the AUX input? Is there a way to do this without the CD changer plugged in?

The cd changer needs to be there, supplying a handshake signal to the old pioneer head unit. Without it, the head unit doesn't select cd, only am & fm. Given some effort, this signal could prolly be spoofed. With the blue sheath'd line cut, there doesn't need to be a cartridge in the changer at all.

[BMWCCA1]

So, with the proper switch, you could actually have an AUX input and/or the stock CD changer? :)

[bbig119]

Maybe a bit off topic, but I'm possibly going to be in the market for a new mp3 player soon. Why did you guys choose Zune over other options?

[Jeff N.]

Maybe a bit off topic, but I'm possibly going to be in the market for a new mp3 player soon. Why did you guys choose Zune over other options?


His wife told him.

[nirvana19]

Post up a little more information please. Can I do this with my IPOD?

Anything with a stereo line out I suppose, would just act like a line in jack minus the jack. But you could always add a jack.

[ScottyWM]

Hmmm... you've inspired me. I just replaced my stock head unit with a JVC KD-HDR1 (HD radio), but I wanted to keep the old stock cd changer. Do you think it's possible to hack that in?

[Russell]

With pictures and detailed instructions? I am interested in trying to do something like this on my 95. Like many people I can use a soldering iron etc. However, I need to know a bit more on concept and execution before I am willing to dig into my radio and/or changer.

If I can get an aux in I can hook up a zune or an Ipod or whatever. I have searched for several months and tried several sources. 97 or up I can get some sort of ipod or aux in connector. Just NOT on earlier cars.TIA

[dt8068]

I tried this with an Ipod, but I have a few problems.

The first and more important is when I attached an aux input to the red and white wires in the thinner grey bundle ONLY the red gets sound the white does nothing, so only right side speakers in the car are getting sound. No stereo sound.

The second is chopping the blue bundle seemed to do nothing, as in the radio still looks for the cartridge and cds in it. The music will only play in slots with a cd in it. (If there is a cd in there and you select its number the Ipod plays.)

[Russell]

heard you need to "record" a blank cd and keep it in the changer. Then the radio thinks the cd is playing and accepts the ipod siginal. I saw it recently on one of the BMW e34 fourms. Not sure which. I think it was bimmerforums.com

[Martin in Bellevue]

Dt8068,you need to attach the center line from the ipod/zune device to the shield of the 2 bundled wires in the cd changer cable. Also, it'd have to terminate those wires from the changer to eliminate any alternator noise.
I did this on my '89 535, with the Pioneer head unit & changer. With the blue sheath'd wires disconnected, the Zune plays through the stereo with no cd cartridge in the changer.

Also, go to a car audio store & ask about the Ipod harness to connect to an Alpine head unit. They're available. Nothing is out there for the Zune/old Pioneer stuff, that I could find.

[dt8068]

Bear with me b/c i have no audio experience.

The blue sheath wires (there's 2 inside) have absolutely nothing to do with the cartridge/cd check for the radio. There is a green and yellow wire in the blue sheath and audio goes through them but these two are for the left side speakers.

If the blue sheath wires (green and yellow) are connected to the cd changer and the red and white (thin grey sheath) are connected to the red and white of the aux cable, i get clear sound from the cd changer on the left side and clear sound from the ipod on the right side.

I tried connecting red aux to the red and green wires going to the radio and connected the white aux to the white and yellow wires going to the radio. this gets the ipod sound on both sides but the sound is washed out.


so do i need an aux input cable with 4 wires? is there such a thing?

[dt8068]

alright I'm an idiot! I had NO IDEA that the "shield" around each the white and red wires of my aux input cable was the negative for its respective cable.

I wired the red cable and its shield to the red and white wires respectively, then wired the white cable and its shield to the green and yellow wires respectively.

The sound is perfect!

But how do I make it so I do not need the cartridge and cd in?

[indierthanthou]

Yeah! Here it is!
http://www.applegeeks.com/lite/strips/aglite45.jpg

[dt8068]

I still can't get the cd changer to play without having to put a CD in the cartridge. I tried disconnecting each of the remaining wires in the changer cable (there are 6 left after wiring in the aux rca cable), and it either had no effect or didn't allow the radio to find the cd changer depending on which wire I disconnected.

The ipod audio comes in perfect but it is annoying when the cd in the cartridge ends and the sound cuts out to go to the next cd or go back to the start of the cd playing.

The car has the premium sound option, so is it even possible to play audio without the cd or cartridge in?
I know on the older e34s it is but their changer cable is definitely different than mine.

[Russell]

heard you need to "record" a blank cd and keep it in the changer. Then the radio thinks the cd is playing and accepts the ipod siginal. I saw it recently on one of the BMW e34 fourms. Not sure which. I think it was bimmerforums.com
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[dt8068]

The audio works fine, I don't have a problem with that. I just want to know if it is in any way possible to make it so there doesnt need to be a cd in the cartridge, whether blank or real.