USB/iPod interface memory limitation?
09-12-2007, 06:19 AM
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As I've posted in other threads, I've been using an "unsupported" 80GB hard drive with my USB interface. (I don't own an iPod.) Overall, it works fairly well and it's nice to be able to dump a ton of music on one device and have it all "online" in iDrive.
I'm not sure why but I'm finding that once I plug the drive in and the car takes a few minutes to index all the music (so that it can display 'albums', 'artists', 'genre', 'song', etc.) I find that some songs/albums don't show up on the lists. The only way to play these missing songs is through the 'directory' screen where it shows all the files and folders on the drive. Could there be some memory limitation that's preventing them all from being indexed?
At first, I thought there might have been some illegal character in the file or folder name since I found what appeared to be a some commonality between a few missing albums. Now, I'm ruling that theory out since there are still songs missing from the index that have nothing but regular characters in the file names.
In addition to this limitation, I still can't seem to get the .M3U playlists to work (see this thread for more information) and it's a huge bummer that whenever you return back to a listing, whether it be albums, songs, artists, etc., you always start back at the beginning of the list (alphabetically). It's even more frustrating when you finally scroll all the way down the list to the bottom (as if you wanted to listen to the band "Yes") but something causes you to take your attention away from the iDrive screen for a minute (driving the car still has a bit of a priority, right?) If you don't select a song quickly enough, the screen reverts back to the currently playing song and you have to start all over again! Usually, I'd say it's nice that you return back to the current song after a timeout period but there should be a simpler way to get back to where you were (or a simpler way to get back to the letter 'Y' if needed.)
I'm betting that this will be one of those things that BMW refines over time and, as in the past, I think it's helpful for all of us to continue to post feedback on the new stuff because as we all know, BMW engineers read this board and have listened to us from time to time.
My workaround to these problems is to organize the files on the drive in a smarter way. For example, I think I'm going to make the top-level folders reflect some alphabetical range. For example, I'm going to make folders named 'A-F', 'G-L', 'M-R', etc. and place the folders for each artist inside the appropriate folder alphabetically. It won't help me out if I want to use the 'album' list or the 'artist' list but it might make it easier for me to play some specific album from a specific artist.
I will say, in closing, that I love the USB interface and highly recommend it but as we've seen with our beloved E60's in the past, there are some minor issues that deal mainly with the user interface that can (and likely will) be improved upon...
I'm not sure why but I'm finding that once I plug the drive in and the car takes a few minutes to index all the music (so that it can display 'albums', 'artists', 'genre', 'song', etc.) I find that some songs/albums don't show up on the lists. The only way to play these missing songs is through the 'directory' screen where it shows all the files and folders on the drive. Could there be some memory limitation that's preventing them all from being indexed?
At first, I thought there might have been some illegal character in the file or folder name since I found what appeared to be a some commonality between a few missing albums. Now, I'm ruling that theory out since there are still songs missing from the index that have nothing but regular characters in the file names.
In addition to this limitation, I still can't seem to get the .M3U playlists to work (see this thread for more information) and it's a huge bummer that whenever you return back to a listing, whether it be albums, songs, artists, etc., you always start back at the beginning of the list (alphabetically). It's even more frustrating when you finally scroll all the way down the list to the bottom (as if you wanted to listen to the band "Yes") but something causes you to take your attention away from the iDrive screen for a minute (driving the car still has a bit of a priority, right?) If you don't select a song quickly enough, the screen reverts back to the currently playing song and you have to start all over again! Usually, I'd say it's nice that you return back to the current song after a timeout period but there should be a simpler way to get back to where you were (or a simpler way to get back to the letter 'Y' if needed.)
I'm betting that this will be one of those things that BMW refines over time and, as in the past, I think it's helpful for all of us to continue to post feedback on the new stuff because as we all know, BMW engineers read this board and have listened to us from time to time.
My workaround to these problems is to organize the files on the drive in a smarter way. For example, I think I'm going to make the top-level folders reflect some alphabetical range. For example, I'm going to make folders named 'A-F', 'G-L', 'M-R', etc. and place the folders for each artist inside the appropriate folder alphabetically. It won't help me out if I want to use the 'album' list or the 'artist' list but it might make it easier for me to play some specific album from a specific artist.
I will say, in closing, that I love the USB interface and highly recommend it but as we've seen with our beloved E60's in the past, there are some minor issues that deal mainly with the user interface that can (and likely will) be improved upon...
09-12-2007, 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by Rudy' post='468718' date='Sep 12 2007, 04:19 PM
As I've posted in other threads, I've been using an "unsupported" 80GB hard drive with my USB interface. (I don't own an iPod.) Overall, it works fairly well and it's nice to be able to dump a ton of music on one device and have it all "online" in iDrive.
I'm not sure why but I'm finding that once I plug the drive in and the car takes a few minutes to index all the music (so that it can display 'albums', 'artists', 'genre', 'song', etc.) I find that some songs/albums don't show up on the lists. The only way to play these missing songs is through the 'directory' screen where it shows all the files and folders on the drive. Could there be some memory limitation that's preventing them all from being indexed?
At first, I thought there might have been some illegal character in the file or folder name since I found what appeared to be a some commonality between a few missing albums. Now, I'm ruling that theory out since there are still songs missing from the index that have nothing but regular characters in the file names.
In addition to this limitation, I still can't seem to get the .M3U playlists to work (see this thread for more information) and it's a huge bummer that whenever you return back to a listing, whether it be albums, songs, artists, etc., you always start back at the beginning of the list (alphabetically). It's even more frustrating when you finally scroll all the way down the list to the bottom (as if you wanted to listen to the band "Yes") but something causes you to take your attention away from the iDrive screen for a minute (driving the car still has a bit of a priority, right?) If you don't select a song quickly enough, the screen reverts back to the currently playing song and you have to start all over again! Usually, I'd say it's nice that you return back to the current song after a timeout period but there should be a simpler way to get back to where you were (or a simpler way to get back to the letter 'Y' if needed.)
I'm betting that this will be one of those things that BMW refines over time and, as in the past, I think it's helpful for all of us to continue to post feedback on the new stuff because as we all know, BMW engineers read this board and have listened to us from time to time.
My workaround to these problems is to organize the files on the drive in a smarter way. For example, I think I'm going to make the top-level folders reflect some alphabetical range. For example, I'm going to make folders named 'A-F', 'G-L', 'M-R', etc. and place the folders for each artist inside the appropriate folder alphabetically. It won't help me out if I want to use the 'album' list or the 'artist' list but it might make it easier for me to play some specific album from a specific artist.
I will say, in closing, that I love the USB interface and highly recommend it but as we've seen with our beloved E60's in the past, there are some minor issues that deal mainly with the user interface that can (and likely will) be improved upon...
I'm not sure why but I'm finding that once I plug the drive in and the car takes a few minutes to index all the music (so that it can display 'albums', 'artists', 'genre', 'song', etc.) I find that some songs/albums don't show up on the lists. The only way to play these missing songs is through the 'directory' screen where it shows all the files and folders on the drive. Could there be some memory limitation that's preventing them all from being indexed?
At first, I thought there might have been some illegal character in the file or folder name since I found what appeared to be a some commonality between a few missing albums. Now, I'm ruling that theory out since there are still songs missing from the index that have nothing but regular characters in the file names.
In addition to this limitation, I still can't seem to get the .M3U playlists to work (see this thread for more information) and it's a huge bummer that whenever you return back to a listing, whether it be albums, songs, artists, etc., you always start back at the beginning of the list (alphabetically). It's even more frustrating when you finally scroll all the way down the list to the bottom (as if you wanted to listen to the band "Yes") but something causes you to take your attention away from the iDrive screen for a minute (driving the car still has a bit of a priority, right?) If you don't select a song quickly enough, the screen reverts back to the currently playing song and you have to start all over again! Usually, I'd say it's nice that you return back to the current song after a timeout period but there should be a simpler way to get back to where you were (or a simpler way to get back to the letter 'Y' if needed.)
I'm betting that this will be one of those things that BMW refines over time and, as in the past, I think it's helpful for all of us to continue to post feedback on the new stuff because as we all know, BMW engineers read this board and have listened to us from time to time.
My workaround to these problems is to organize the files on the drive in a smarter way. For example, I think I'm going to make the top-level folders reflect some alphabetical range. For example, I'm going to make folders named 'A-F', 'G-L', 'M-R', etc. and place the folders for each artist inside the appropriate folder alphabetically. It won't help me out if I want to use the 'album' list or the 'artist' list but it might make it easier for me to play some specific album from a specific artist.
I will say, in closing, that I love the USB interface and highly recommend it but as we've seen with our beloved E60's in the past, there are some minor issues that deal mainly with the user interface that can (and likely will) be improved upon...
The lonly downside is a cable runing from the ipod to the back of the middle console at the rear of the console. Its a small 1 m cable that you can hide for the most part.
09-12-2007, 06:36 AM
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Originally Posted by pmmeke' post='468719' date='Sep 12 2007, 10:27 AM
for all those probs and more i still think aux works best and beats usb connection any time: whats the use of seeing the song on the idrive? Just take your ipod : choose your playlist and press play. When the engine stops so does the ipod stop playing, when returning press play again and in continious the song. Easy. Sound quality is the same with aux as with usb
09-12-2007, 06:48 AM
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i keep it close with a bodit clip mount device.
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
09-12-2007, 06:53 AM
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Originally Posted by pmmeke' post='468728' date='Sep 12 2007, 09:48 AM
i keep it close with a bodit clip mount device.
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
For your aux input are you running your line out of the top or bottom of your Ipod? Does your car charge your Ipod somehow thru the aux input? I have the MOST bus interface cause I have the antiquated MY07 550, but it seems better to me than the aux that I have never yet used. So basically Im wondering how you power the Ipod and run "line out" not the earphone plug out from the ipod.
09-12-2007, 07:16 AM
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Originally Posted by pmmeke' post='468728' date='Sep 12 2007, 10:48 AM
i keep it close with a bodit clip mount device.
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
I keep getting horror stories about the limitation of the usb interface; a lot of cool features of the ipod
dont work half of the time with ipod usb connection, long waiting times to index files, no cross fading, songs not showing up on the idrive ext... and try searching a song that has a s or t beginning the artist or song title, you have to scroll all the way up the list to get it. If you have a new ipod you can search on letter example
Yes there is that one cable but i am sure i work my ipod faster then you can work your usb connection ipod. I also keep my volume settings as the steering wheel volume buttons work also with me so
c url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?act=attach...st&id=42951
Either way, if BMW would add a bit more functionality to the interface, things would be about perfect for those of us who don't own or need an iPod...
09-12-2007, 09:19 AM
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Originally Posted by Veight' post='468729' date='Sep 12 2007, 04:53 PM
For your aux input are you running your line out of the top or bottom of your Ipod? Does your car charge your Ipod somehow thru the aux input? I have the MOST bus interface cause I have the antiquated MY07 550, but it seems better to me than the aux that I have never yet used. So basically Im wondering how you power the Ipod and run "line out" not the earphone plug out from the ipod.
C my topic reply on this url
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=...3&hl=pmmeke
ps edit: i have a extra volume amplifier built into my belkin aux charg adapter to adjust volume but ones its set no need to adjust it further if you use audio volume control feature on the ipod in settings of the ipod
09-16-2007, 01:49 PM
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What kind of HDD are you using ?
I tried a Western Digital Passport 60 GB HD and it didn't work.
As for songs that do not play, I converted all my MP3's to Apple format (with iTunes) and everything is OK now.
Cheers
I tried a Western Digital Passport 60 GB HD and it didn't work.
As for songs that do not play, I converted all my MP3's to Apple format (with iTunes) and everything is OK now.
Cheers
09-16-2007, 01:56 PM
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Originally Posted by SkyLux' post='470028' date='Sep 16 2007, 05:49 PM
What kind of HDD are you using ?
I tried a Western Digital Passport 60 GB HD and it didn't work.
As for songs that do not play, I converted all my MP3's to Apple format (with iTunes) and everything is OK now.
Cheers
I tried a Western Digital Passport 60 GB HD and it didn't work.
As for songs that do not play, I converted all my MP3's to Apple format (with iTunes) and everything is OK now.
Cheers
As far as song playback, I have no problem at all with MP3 or WMA files. The problem isn't a playback one, it's an indexing one. It seems as if the BMW doesn't scan/index all the songs for inclusion in the "album", "genre", "artist", etc. categories...
09-17-2007, 09:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Rudy' post='470032' date='Sep 16 2007, 10:56 PM
I'm using a Hitachi 80GB notebook drive in an external USB enclosure. It usually spins up fine but every once in a while I have to unplug it and plug it back in while tapping the case a little to get it to spin up.
As far as song playback, I have no problem at all with MP3 or WMA files. The problem isn't a playback one, it's an indexing one. It seems as if the BMW doesn't scan/index all the songs for inclusion in the "album", "genre", "artist", etc. categories...
As far as song playback, I have no problem at all with MP3 or WMA files. The problem isn't a playback one, it's an indexing one. It seems as if the BMW doesn't scan/index all the songs for inclusion in the "album", "genre", "artist", etc. categories...
Just reading your question and the replies and noted that I have a similar problem connecting my iPod to my Playstation3.
The connection is via usb and when the iPod's first inserted it "finds" some files and not others. I would take a guess that your initial scan/indexing doesn't like certain file types. I know you said that you've looked at those but that was my solution for my iPod/PS3 drama.
regards
Jay