Playing CDs in a car without a CD player

Brok · 3 Sep 2021 at 11:53

jpaul said:
Is the bmw connected tied to a particular service provider, or can you link it with whoever has best signal in your area (EE for us)

It is tied to a single provider, all the documentation says T-Mobile so I assume it uses the EE network. It's fine in my area, but I do drive my car outside the local area like most people I imagine

There is section not far from us that I regularly use to get to the motorway and its got no signal at all for a couple of miles, long enough to have the stream drop out it seems.

If the OP's Dad is going to get confused/annoyed by this kind of thing then its not a workable solution.

mjt · 3 Sep 2021 at 12:15

To be fair, I got annoyed when DAB cuts out in built-up areas

whitecrook · 3 Sep 2021 at 12:40

The guy just wants to play his cds in his car. Now we have monthly subscriptions. Not only that but now its just £15 a month. Some kind of app set up, bluetooth phones and phone subscriptions.
Why is it so complicated and expensive this is unreal

to the op, just rip the cds to mp3 and put them on a usb stick

Hilly · 3 Sep 2021 at 12:47

you could create a Spotify Family account and share the cost.

If it was me, I'd do Spotify - the time it would take to rip 100's of CD's would justify the fiver a month alone, for a long time.

nlel1975 · 3 Sep 2021 at 12:57

You don’t really need 100s of CD rips on a USB stick unless you spend 8 hours a day in your car, personally I just download a weekly 2 hour radio show filled with new music every week and that keeps me entertained.

mjt · 4 Sep 2021 at 17:53

Bought a SanDisk Ultra Fit. Job done, I thought.

Picked up car: USB C :rolleyes:

It doesn’t look like there are many tiny USBC drives

nlel1975 · 4 Sep 2021 at 18:07

mjt said:
Picked up car: USB C

Good job there are USB-C to USB adapters as my car doesn’t have USB-C so in order to connect future phones or USB-C sticks I’ll be needing one of these adapters.

ShiWarrior · 4 Sep 2021 at 18:11

usb-c in a car ?

What new car did you get ? must be a BMW as i know there are a ton of options to add to get what you want , so they aint cheap lol

mjt · 4 Sep 2021 at 18:20

ShiWarrior said:
usb-c in a car ?

What new car did you get ? must be a BMW as i know there are a ton of options to add to get what you want , so they aint cheap lol

Aye G21. There is a USB in the front by the cup holders but the ones in the back and in the centre console are USBC.

Not a problem obviously but annoying as the USB with the music should be hidden away in the centre console. How long until we can get the tiny USBC memory sticks? An adapter isn’t going to cut it, and a big memory stick could be damaged/knocked if it’s in the centre console

ShiWarrior · 4 Sep 2021 at 18:22

like you, i have a sandisk ultra fit (as its designed for laptop because of the portability size of it)

not sure if they do a usb-C version
but you could buy a usb-A to USB-C lead and tuck it away somewhere?

Nasher · 4 Sep 2021 at 18:24

mjt said:
To be fair, I got annoyed when DAB cuts out in built-up areas

DAB is ****, we should keep FM. The sound quality isn't even as good much of the time as it drops to a rubbish bitrate.

mrgubby · 4 Sep 2021 at 19:29

mjt said:
Bought a SanDisk Ultra Fit. Job done, I thought.

Picked up car: USB C

It doesn’t look like there are many tiny USBC drives

Use a microSD card with a rocketek USB C portable card reader from the rainforest.

jpaul · 4 Sep 2021 at 20:14

the earlier gs20 link had suggested a usb-a drive 300Mb/s in the arm rest socket was the most successful for them,
so that the bmw hu successfully indexed and also restarted replay at the same point when starting off - seemed other sockets were temperemental.

Monkeynut · 6 Sep 2021 at 01:35

Nasher said:
DAB is ****, we should keep FM. The sound quality isn't even as good much of the time as it drops to a rubbish bitrate.

DAB+ is better, but you're right, still not ideal.

mjt · 8 Sep 2021 at 11:51

So after spending ages organising the MP3s in folders, etc. in Windows, everything is organised by artist/album in iDrive :rolleyes:

Not so practical for classic music.

I don't suppose there's a way of showing files by folder? My 2010 Audi does this, but it's ancient.

whitecrook · 8 Sep 2021 at 11:58

mjt said:
So after spending ages organising the MP3s in folders, etc. in Windows, everything is organised by artist/album in iDrive Not so practical for classic music.

I don't suppose there's a way of showing files by folder? My 2010 Audi does this, but it's ancient.

my bmw let you browse by folder its in the options at the left

mjt · 8 Sep 2021 at 12:08

whitecrook said:
my bmw let you browse by folder its in the options at the left

Yeah I couldn't see it last night; it only showed artist or album, but I'm not familiar with the latest iDrive though. I've only ever used radio or Spotify in my i3.

whitecrook · 8 Sep 2021 at 12:14

I dunno it gives artist album genre folder

tbh after using pro i drive for 3 years its still a mystery some of the UI decisions and general interface choices I dont know why its lauded so much it must say more about other car info systems tbh never really that impressed by it. Feels like a user interface designers My First Project ported from a zx spectrum.

its never clear what back is or why theres 3 or 4 different ways to do something some that only work in certain situations or whether you’ve drilled down the correct menu in the first place.

MagicBoy · 8 Sep 2021 at 12:22

Stick the music onto an iPhone/iPod?

nlel1975 · 8 Sep 2021 at 13:20

MagicBoy said:
Stick the music onto an iPhone/iPod?

Or an Android phone, I create playlists on my Android phone then connect it to my head unit via Android Auto so that what is on my phone is on my head unit. Here's a photo...

You don't need Android Auto to do this, any phone that you can connect via USB, AUX or Bluetooth will suffice, you create everything on the phone so no need to mess about creating playlists on a USB stick.