Originally Posted by BMW 545i Titanium Silver' post='210110' date='Dec 12 2005, 12:29 AM

Just got my car back from the dealer

Software up graded to 19.02
I have a MY05 545 production date 02/05.
Ripped mp3's using Nero ... will not play (using data cd)
Ripped mp3's using Roxio ... will not play

BTW lawyer screen does not dissappear
as i've read in other posts.

Originally Posted by BigGrey' post='210112 (Post 210110)

Just got my car back from the dealer

Software up graded to 19.02
I have a MY05 545 production date 02/05.
Ripped mp3's using Nero ... will not play (using data cd)
Ripped mp3's using Roxio ... will not play

BTW lawyer screen does not dissappear
as i've read in other posts.

Originally Posted by JStraw' post='210122' date='Dec 11 2005, 08:53 PM

Slightly off topic but, here's some information on the various formats.

Its on topic for me. :) Thanks much.

CDA: CDA (CD Audio) files are the uncompressed files that appear on a purchased Audio CD. They can be played by most players, or ripped to compressed formats to save disk space.

I am having some trouble ripping tunes as CDA's whether compressed or uncompressed for later transfer back to CDA encoded CD's containing multiple artists. I don't seem to be getting the job done with either WMP or MusicMatch, but I may not have exlpored the opitons correctly yet.

WAV: WAV files are uncompressed and as such, are usually only used for audio tracks that are not longer than a few seconds. Some users with plenty of hard drive space will convert Audio CDs tracks to wav files because they are almost universally supported, however, generally, this is not an efficient use of hard drive space.

I can rip WAV files with MusicMatch for later buning to CD's using the CDA format.

MP3: MP3 is the most ubiquitous lossy compression format, and MP3 files can be played by most portable digital audio players and many DVD players. MP3s are often ripped at 128 Kbps, achieving decent quality, although the discerning audiophile will often notice artifacts at this bitrate and choose to encode them at a higher bitrate (160 or 192 Kbps).

WMA: WMA (Windows Media Audio) files use a Microsoft format, that, like MP3, is lossy. It isn't nearly as ubiquitous as MP3, due in part to the fact that it is perceived as a proprietary format and is supported on fewer devices and DVDs than MP3. On the positive side, though, WMA files have noticably better quality than MP3 files encoded at equivalent bitrates.

I have ripped tunes using the WMA "lossless" format, have gone from there to CDA's, and have played them on my 545i's single-slot player.

OGG: OGG is a relatively new format, that like MP3/WMA, is lossy, but is generally considered to be equivalent or better in quality compared to MP3 files encoded at similar bitrates. What distinguishes OGG from MP3 and WMA is that the format is an open specification and may be distributed freely, meaning that any company can use it at no cost. Because it is relatively new, few devices support OGG, however, this is likely to change in the near future. For best quality, OGG files are generally encoded at a setting of quality=5 which results in bitrates of ~140-150 Kbps (OGG only uses as much bandwidth as is required).

I have run across several tests indicating that OGG is favored by audiophiles, etc. I have been trying to find one good discussion I bumped into last night but cannot find it again.

Originally Posted by BigGrey' post='210077' date='Dec 11 2005, 11:10 PM

It is amazing how can we all be investing so much time trying to sort out what our cars will be able to do or not...
It had to be a software issue... :whistle:

So, as a software engineer, i know that the answer is really simple as long as we talk to the right guys: the ones who do the damn system. Who are they? Not "BMW guys" for sure that you can reach using our so knowledgeless dealers...
Any clues? Iceman? I will do some investigation on the net...

Originally Posted by Iceman' post='210275' date='Dec 12 2005, 09:53 AM

[ Unfortunately there is a lot of stuff I can't post here, regarding MP3...

Originally Posted by vnod' post='210121 (Post 210112)

You have just reminded me that my American neighbour has a 545i USA version with NavPro so i will do some testing on his car with the five mp3 cds i burned to test to see the results! Will try to compare software versions too.