There are three good ways I recommend integrating your ipod into your BMW. Each have their advantages. Depending on the year of you car and how much you want to spend, you can do this in the following ways:

If you have a cassette player in your car, you can use a standard cassette adapter plugged into your ipod. As long as you get a good quality adapter (Sony, Belkin, Monster, etc) the sound quality is actualy very good, almost as good as a true auxiliary input.

Advantages

• Cheap

BMW and Apple have developed their own car integration system. The part will cost you around $150, and between $250 and $350 for labor.

Advantages

• iPod lives in your glove box
• Steering wheel controls

Blitzsafe sells an adapter that allows you to get an auxiliary input from the CD changer pre-wiring in the trunk of your car. There is one model that just gives you RCA inputs, and another model that gives you RCA inputs and the wiring for a CD changer.

If you go with the model that also supports the CD changer, the CD changer you need is an Alpine unit and is the same as the one that BMW sells (except it has different connectors). But this means it fits in the stock locations using the OEM mounting points.

This was key for me because I was able to purchase the Blitzsafe adapter and Alpine CD changer for less money than I sold my OEM BMW CD changer for. And the new changer fit perfectly where the old one was.

Switching between the CD changer and the auxiliary input can be done from the head unit. Pressing >> followed by << quickly toggles between the two modes. When in auxiliary input mode, the display shows "CD 99, Track 1"

From the rear of the car (where the CD changer lives), route a good quality RCA cable next to the rear seats, along the side of the car, and into the glove box. You can easily push the wire under the plastic panelling on the side of the car.

The adapter and the CD changer can be purchased from LogJam Electronics. The adapter for RCA only is $100, the adapter for the RCA and changer is $130, and the CD changer is $190.

Advantages

• Inexpensive
• Works with many cars
• Keep your CD changer

The next step is to order the Belkin Auto Charger w/Audio for iPod. Apple Store link. This item will plug into the cigarette lighter and accept the auxiliary input you have (whether it's from the BMW adapter, CD changer, or tape adapter). The nice thing about using this product is you use the line out from the dock connector of the ipod, instead of using the headphone jack.

For power, you can either use the cigarette lighter next to the shifter, or for a cleaner installation, order part 82 11 0 004 073 which plugs into the flashlight port in your glove box and provides a cigarette lighter. Here is the link to Pacific BMW

The Belkin adapter can be stored inside your glove box where you have the auxiliary input and the power port. Route the dock connector from the Belkin adapter out of the left side of your glove box. The glove box can still close over the wire.

Plug the dock connector into the iPod and enjoy! It is powered whenever the car is running, and the audio is coming through an auxiliary input.

A cool effect is whenever you hit the unlock button on your car, the iPod starts getting power and the screen and buttons will light up.

At this point you have the iPod sitting on your passenger seat, or maybe in your cup holder. It would be great if you could mount it somewhere you can see the screen and control the iPod directly.

I purchased Panavise cellular mount part 75103-599 from CanyonRiver.com which bolts in behind the trim just above and to the right of the headunit (using an existing bolt). The mount is a piece of metal with holes in it which allow you to attach a cellular phone mount or anything else.

At Radio Shack I purchased the generic cell phone holder part 17-531. It has a seat where the iPod sits, and then two arms which you squeeze together to secure the iPod. The bottom of the cell phone holder has an opening that it exactly the right size for the iPod dock connector.

You now have retained full CD changer functionality, you have an iPod that's powered and playing through an auxiliary input, and you can control it from the driver's seat