[Yobyot]

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing skipping and premature ending of songs when using an MP3 CD in a pre-9/05 production US-spec E90 with iDrive which has been retrofitted to support MP3 CDs.

The disc plays perfectly in any other player. The same brand of CD-R makes perfect regular audio CDs. Both audio and MP3 CDs are made with Nero. That seems to tell me that it's not the drive nor the discs.

But before I begin the inevitable hassle with a BMW dealer, I want to know if this is something others are seeing.

[BitStream]

happens to me ..

i thought they were the discs - have not tried a different type yet thuogh.

[RedStripe]

It happens to me. I don't have problems on my burned audio CD's, but I've had some skipping issues with every mp3 cd I've burned (I've used iTunes, Nero, MusicMatch, etc.), and I have a pre-Sept '05 car that got the software upgrade/mp3 retrofit.

Do you think it's only an issue with retrofitted pre-Sept '05 idrive cars? Do any owners with post-Sept idrive cars have skipping problems with their mp3 cd's?

[vivekk]

I have the same problem too with my wk36 build which was retro-fitted & CIP20 updated to play mp3s & wmas.

The e90 is sensitive to mp3 'burns' that do play without problem on other drives.
CD music 'burns' work fine, however.

I've got round it by using a lower burn speed- it takes longer, but there's less problems with skipping mp3s.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by RedStripe

It happens to me. I don't have problems on my burned audio CD's, but I've had some skipping issues with every mp3 cd I've burned (I've used iTunes, Nero, MusicMatch, etc.), and I have a pre-Sept '05 car that got the software upgrade/mp3 retrofit.

Do you think it's only an issue with retrofitted pre-Sept '05 idrive cars? Do any owners with post-Sept idrive cars have skipping problems with their mp3 cd's?

I'd love to know the answer to that question as well since it would help determine if it's the retrofit or not.

Note that the "cause" given in the SIB for the retrofit talks about "software stability" as the reason it wasn't available on early-production cars. I wouldn't be surprised if the version used in the retrofit has some bugs.

I am getting REALLY tired of not being able to reliably play MP3 CDs on a $40K car. And multiple visits to dealers who don't have a clue is a real issue as well.

[s3rous]

Originally Posted by Yobyot

I'd love to know the answer to that question as well since it would help determine if it's the retrofit or not.

Note that the "cause" given in the SIB for the retrofit talks about "software stability" as the reason it wasn't available on early-production cars. I wouldn't be surprised if the version used in the retrofit has some bugs.

I am getting REALLY tired of not being able to reliably play MP3 CDs on a $40K car. And multiple visits to dealers who don't have a clue is a real issue as well.

I have the same problem on my NON-retrofit 325. It is such a pain in the ass. I thought it was the discs, but it does it on all the discs I have and they play fine on my wife's $199 cd mp3 player head unit in her car.

[ska///235i]

I think I'm a post-sept owner (Picked-up my car in Munich (ED) in Dec 05)
My MP3 does the same sometimes

[RyBMW]

I'm a pre-sept owner with the CIP20 MP3 retrofit and sometimes the mp3 disc skips. I thought it was the brand of the cd-r I used. It's the only mp3 cd I have in my car.

[Barry626]

My car is pre Sept...June 2, 2005.
My MP3's play prefect not a single problem.
Maybe because I have the CD Changer?
I also have the CIP 20 update.

What are u guys rcording at? I record mine @ 320 kbps
Sometimes I record my songs @ 256 kbps.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by Barry626

My car is pre Sept...June 2, 2005.
My MP3's play prefect not a single problem.
Maybe because I have the CD Changer?
I also have the CIP 20 update.

What are u guys rcording at? I record mine @ 320 kbps
Sometimes I record my songs @ 256 kbps.

Bit rate would make no difference.

We are talking about the MP3 function on iDrive-equipped cars which play discs in the dash player.

Is this where you play MP3 CDs?

Looks to me like we have a problem bigger than just me.

Nice car. Absolutely freakin' terrible electronics.

[ska///235i]

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete when your Idrive/CD/MP3 is acting-up..it always work for me

"CD eject/DVD eject/Stereo Power button"

[Barry626]

Originally Posted by Yobyot

Bit rate would make no difference.

We are talking about the MP3 function on iDrive-equipped cars which play discs in the dash player.

Is this where you play MP3 CDs?

Looks to me like we have a problem bigger than just me.

Nice car. Absolutely freakin' terrible electronics.

Yes I've used the CD slot to & I hate it.
Plays perfect, but song titles are only 8 letters long.
CD Changer has all songs correct & more like 26 letters?

[London320d]

OK, going back to the initial question about skipping, Something to think about.......

A CD comprises a spiral track of pits/bumps. These are 0.5 um (half of one millionth of a metre) wide and between 0.5um to 3.1um long. The pitch between adjacent tracks is 1.6um. The pits/bumps have a height of 0.13 um. The head needs to follow this track this accurately and is mounted in electro-magnets to allow it to follow minor relative movement (in all three dimensions!) in the track which is being presented to it.

So what do we do?. We mount the CD on the spindle of an electric motor - There's got to me much more than 0.5um "off-centeredness" in the spinning. We also only center of the disk is supported by the spindle. The edge is free to flap to some extent. Realistically, that has to be more than 0.13um.

So we have a disk which is doing it's most to lose the head which is trying to follow the track. What do we do? We put it in a metal box which bumps and jars its way across our uneven roads and shakes it about further. We are asking a lot from the technology.

The movement of the head has to follow this relatively large relative movement of the disk and still return a usable signal. When it fails to do this, the CD "skips".

Skipping CAN be down to mechanical or electrical faults in the drive, but can also be down to incompatible media or poorly burned disks.

A couple of days ago someone posted a link to a list of BMW tech docs. There were a couple referring to skipping CDs. I can't find the link right now (running out of time). Find them, have a read and consider.

Before approaching the dealer DO try the following. Burn in a way which is going to make the poor CD players head have a much clearer signal to follow.

Burn at a lower speed
Use different brands media (choose silver media)
Try an Audio grade CD. These cost more, but are much higher quality.

Regarding bit rate - I burn WMA files at 128k and find this sufficient. Higher bit rate improves sound quality but has no effect on skipping at all. I filt 9-10 audio disks worth on 1 wma CD. I can have six of these in the boot

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by Barry626

Yes I've used the CD slot to & I hate it.
Plays perfect, but song titles are only 8 letters long.
CD Changer has all songs correct & more like 26 letters?

It's easy to burn an MP3 CD with longer than eight characters for the slot-loaded CD drive. The trick in Nero is to select "ASCII" for the character set when creating a Joliet file system (which allows for long file names).

I have BOTH the long names (and the tags showing when I select "Details") while playing MP3 CDs.

This, at least, works well.

[Yobyot]

Originally Posted by London320d

OK, going back to the initial question about skipping, Something to think about.......

A CD comprises a spiral track of pits/bumps. These are 0.5 um (half of one millionth of a metre) wide and between 0.5um to 3.1um long. The pitch between adjacent tracks is 1.6um. The pits/bumps have a height of 0.13 um. The head needs to follow this track this accurately and is mounted in electro-magnets to allow it to follow minor relative movement (in all three dimensions!) in the track which is being presented to it.

So what do we do?. We mount the CD on the spindle of an electric motor - There's got to me much more than 0.5um "off-centeredness" in the spinning. We also only center of the disk is supported by the spindle. The edge is free to flap to some extent. Realistically, that has to be more than 0.13um.

So we have a disk which is doing it's most to lose the head which is trying to follow the track. What do we do? We put it in a metal box which bumps and jars its way across our uneven roads and shakes it about further. We are asking a lot from the technology.

The movement of the head has to follow this relatively large relative movement of the disk and still return a usable signal. When it fails to do this, the CD "skips".

Skipping CAN be down to mechanical or electrical faults in the drive, but can also be down to incompatible media or poorly burned disks.

A couple of days ago someone posted a link to a list of BMW tech docs. There were a couple referring to skipping CDs. I can't find the link right now (running out of time). Find them, have a read and consider.

Before approaching the dealer DO try the following. Burn in a way which is going to make the poor CD players head have a much clearer signal to follow.

Burn at a lower speed
Use different brands media (choose silver media)
Try an Audio grade CD. These cost more, but are much higher quality.

Regarding bit rate - I burn WMA files at 128k and find this sufficient. Higher bit rate improves sound quality but has no effect on skipping at all. I filt 9-10 audio disks worth on 1 wma CD. I can have six of these in the boot

I think in a car of this caliber, the shifting of the burden to the customer to be persnickety is ridiculous. $29 players from Wal-Mart can play the MP3 CDs we are all burning perfectly; our cars should be able to, too.

[ska///235i]

Originally Posted by Yobyot

I think in a car of this caliber, the shifting of the burden to the customer to be persnickety is ridiculous. $29 players from Wal-Mart can play the MP3 CDs we are all burning perfectly; our cars should be able to, too.

I agree...I use to have an aftermarket CD/MP3 player in a SUV...more bump n grind than E90s and I use the shittiest CDs. No prblm at all

[Yobyot]

I dare you all to ask BMW the question I did and see if you get a better response than this:

Dear Mr. XXXXX:

Thanks for your response. Again, we do not have the ability to advise you in a technical matter via e-mail. I suggest contacting the service team at your authorized BMW center directly, so they can review your concerns in person and provide technical support.

BMW adheres to a policy of supporting our national network of authorized BMW centers. Our vehicles are the product of patented engineering and require authorized care to maintain their peak performance, and our BMW technicians are trained and certified to service our vehicles. Should you need it, you will find a complete listing of authorized centers, categorized by name, state, or zip code, on our website at www.bmwusa.com.

We are sorry that we could not answer your question directly. If you have any further questions, please respond to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Again, thank you for contacting BMW.

Sincerely,

[name removed]
Customer Relations and Services
Representative



-----Original Message-----

From: someone@somewhere.com
Sent: 4/12/2006 12:00:00 AM
To: CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com
Subject: XXXXXX

Thank you. But this is not the question I asked. Is BMW aware of these problems? Will it eventually correct them?

Best,

XXXXXX

-----Original Message-----
From: CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com
Date: 11 Apr 2006 17:00:02
To:someone@somewhere.com
Subject: RE: XXXXXX

Dear Mr. XXXXXX:

Thank you for contacting BMW of North America, LLC regarding your 2006 BMW 330i. We were sorry to read of the concerns you have with your vehicle's ability to play MP3 CDs.

We do not have the ability to advise you in a technical matter via e-mail. Although we are unable to advise you how to burn a CD, you may wish to refer to some suggestions posted on the link you referenced. These suggestions include burning your CD at a lower speed, as well as using higher quality CDs.

I suggest contacting the service team at your authorized BMW center directly, so they can review your concerns in person and provide technical support. Should you need it, you will find a complete listing of authorized centers, categorized by name, state, or zip code, on our website at www.bmwusa.com.

We are sorry that we could not answer your question directly. If you have any further questions, please respond to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Again, thank you for contacting BMW.

Sincerely,

[name removed]
Customer Relations and Services
Representative



-----Original Message-----

From: someone@somewhere.com
Sent: 4/11/2006 12:00:00 AM
To: <CustomerRelations@bmwusa.com>
Subject: Other


VIN: WBAVB33506KRYYYYY
ModelYear: 2006
MfgNme: BMW
ModelNme: 330i

Comments: Hello. I've got problems with the retrofitted MP3 functionality on my 2006 330i. Apparently, others do as well. Please see this thread on e90post.com: http://e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17023.

My question is: is BMW aware that these very expensive cars' MP3 functionality is not reliable? If there are others who experience the same thing I do, then it should be something you are aware of.

I'd appreciate you researching this and getting back to me when/if BMW issues a fix. I'd rather wait to hear from you than go to a dealer and start a fishing expedition for the problem which will cost us both time and you money.

Thanks.

[ska///235i]

Originally Posted by Yobyot

I dare you all to ask BMW the question I did and see if you get a better response than this:

Hey Yobyot,

Thanks for your post but we do not have the ability to advise you in a technical matter via this forum. I suggest contacting the service team at your authorized BMW center directly, so they can review your concerns in person and provide technical support.


Pwahahahahaha

[MrIvory]

In February I had the CIP20 update to my Sept2005 325 and it plays mp3s in the dvd and cd drive (not the stacker). Initially it seemed to just stop on a next song, intermittently. However when I looked at the idrive screen the seconds were still clocking over but there was no sound. I found if I changed source to FM and back to CD it worked fine again (I have one of the buttons programmed to change source).

I have about 4-5 cds with mp3s and only one of them seemed to do it, and lately it also seems okay. So I am not sure if my issue is the same but it is certainly not easy to identify.

Ivory

[E90Fleet]

I have been paying particular attention for any problems like this since I read about it here.

I have tested lots of different discs in both the front cd slot and in the Cd Changer ( my car is a 2006 build, so both work for Mp3)

The discs were all verbatim 52x CD-R's writen with Nero or Itunes


I can report I have had not 1 skip or pause what so ever.
Everything was worked 100%
No matter if it was a bumpy or smooth road


I think we should also state if we have Idrive or not, so we can see if its a Idrive thing.

I dont have Idrive

[aphall]

I use fujifilm discs and Roxio software. Non-idrive... mine skip.