umermariner

Hello Guys,
I am about to give up on that now ... I spent hours today, made an excel sheet of all albums/ songs and their properties.. trying to narrow it down to the reason why some are played and some are not (in my case, its more like 50/50)..
However, not really able to figure out ... Looked at
Kind (mostly MPEG audio file)
Size (different sizes)
Bit rate (between 128 to 290 kbps, no pattern there)
Sample rate (all 44,100 kHz)
Format (all MPEG-1, Layer 3)
Channel (all Joint Stereo)
ID3 Tag (All v2.3)
Encoded with (one unknown that plays, some LAME3.98 and some LAME3.99, no pattern there either).

Is there something I am missing . I was hoping to get away with it without having to spend on iPod integration ...

Anyone has found something? Will really appreciate your help.

Thanks.

bymer

Hey, I think I am in the same boat as you in terms of MP3 play-ability on my e60 (2005. I have written my mp3's onto so many cd's that I have lost count now, trying different options. Not sure how your bmw behaves in terms of playing mp3's but this is what I finally started doing and it works 100% of the time.

I used information posted by "Lomag", he stated:

burn MP3's :
Normal Data CD-ROM (ISO)
No Multisession
Data Mode 1
File System ISO 9660:1999 (this is a KEY setting)
File Name Length Max 207 chars (will automaticly set when you select the file system above)
Burn Speed 8x -- don't burn your CD's at max speed because there's more room for error
Disc-at-Once write method
Make sure to check off "Finalize CD" before burning

after doing this, there is a trick into having the disc work all the time.
Basically after you start your car, you put the cd in and the player should recognize it as a CD* and you should see all mp3 tracks that are on the cd on your CID.

Now when you are done driving, BEFORE you turn off your car, take out the CD(Eject it).

The next time you go into your car, start the car and push the CD in and it will recognize/load every single time. (It has been working for me)


As to answer your question, it seems that the Bitrate is what bugs the bmw I-drive out. Try to use songs of 192kbps and under.
I have songs that are 256 and 320kbps and when i play some of them, the I-drive can sometimes skip through the song and it does not feel right. Make sure to use good quality CD-R's.

Hoped this helped you.

AchtungE60

I don't make MP3 CD's anymore. But ask member rocksteady530 what is working and if it's fully functional because I coded his car for MP3 and AUX today. He may have the answers to your questions or can look at the bitrate of his MP3 on the CD. I think he has an 04 maybe 05?

umermariner

Thanks man..
Actually, I looked into that thread as well. The setting you are talking about, I was able to find only in Nero (not in windows media player or iTunes, let me know if I can dictate these settings in WMP and iTunes as well)... I downloaded Nero, and gave it a shot too... with the same songs... same result .

As far as leaving the CD in or out of the car when its off, it only helps if the car is not reading the whole CD... if the CD is being read, but some songs are not being played, it doesnt help. The songs it reads, it reads no matter what, and the songs it doesnt, it doesnt read them at all.

as far as bit rate... thats why I made an excel sheet to see if that can be the cause... some of the songs it was playing were over 275, and some it wasnt were under 160... so, I kind of ruled it out too..

I know most of the people are using iPod now a day, and I would love that... just didnt want to spend 500+ on it right now .

Thanks again for the help.

bymer

I am not sure whether you are able to change settings like these in programs such as Itunes when they come with a preset already. When you say "Some songs play and some don't," I don't see what the issue is, because that means that you ARE getting mp3 to work if some songs are playing.
It has to mean the other songs are either not being burned properly or are just bad for the car. I've had a song or 2 not play for me before and I learned to live with it by re-burning and leaving those songs out.

umermariner

Yes.. I am getting mp3 to work, its just 40-50% of the songs do not play... I tried re-burning them, but again, the same songs do not play. All I am trying to do now is to narrow down the reason (there has to be a reason why some songs are playing and some are not, format, bit rate, etc...).
Yep.. can live without them... if I have to, or will go for iPod option

bymer

Aha, i understand what you are trying to do. Kudos to you and if you do figure this out, let us know would help everyone who is in the same situation.

advancedlogic

While I don't have/use mp3 in the car, could the song title length/special characters/spaces be problematic for the car to read?

umermariner

Possible but most likely not. Even the songs that are not played, I can see them fine in the display. It seems like it tries to play them, but after few second skips to the next one. In addition, its not with one song, its will all the songs in one album (I get the whole album at once from one source).

sazli

I know, it is an old post but I have the same issue, did you solved it? If not, someone found the solution? Thanks to all !