Just to give everyone an update, I tried several different Apple cables in my car and they all skipped (although some were less than others). I finally took the car into the dealership and the lead tech told me I needed the BMW "Y" cable to make it work properly. I tried to explain to him the September production changes eliminated the need for the "Y" cable...he told me I was wrong, and that the Apple cable is not the proper connection for the car. Anyways, they gave me a free "Y" cable and it did solve the skipping/pausing problem. However, when I plugged the "Y" cable into my iphone I get an error message that the equipment is not optimized to work with the phone. Also, my album art does not show up in the iDrive display...but that being said, the skipping/pausing was resolved.
Just yesterday, I grabbed another Apple cord that I hadn't tried before. It works perfect and my album art displays just as it should. So in short, likely there is a bad batch of Apple cords that cause the skipping/pausing. You just need to try another one until you find the one that works (I tried 3 before getting one that works).
On another note, I sent the service technician a copy of the BMW press release that explains the "Y" cable is no longer necessary for September 2010 production models. He didn't know what to say!
