BMW Proffessional Max USB Support

[thezone135i]

Hey guys,

Does anyone know the maximum usb flash drive size supported by this hi-fi system? I tried a 64g but it didn't recognise it. It sees an 8g alright but hopefully it will take a bigger one!

Thanks

[BMW86]

I been using a 32gb the past few years. Recently changed to a 64gb with about 36gb of music on there. No issues.

[thezone135i]

Hmmm I did try and reformat it but the only options were exFAT and NTFS. Might need to force a file structure oin there.

Also how do you guys navigate through the directory? I don't have i-drive and all I can see is in the display are two folders at a time. It takes forever to traverse down to the bottom of the list. Also if you are playing an album and you go to search again it starts at the top again. Very annoying. Might have to get an ipod with a screen unless there's an easier way.

I like how it supports wav. The RNS-510 in my VW didnt.

[Moocow]

Originally Posted by thezone135i

Hmmm I did try and reformat it but the only options were exFAT and NTFS. Might need to force a file structure oin there.

Also how do you guys navigate through the directory? I don't have i-drive and all I can see is in the display are two folders at a time. It takes forever to traverse down to the bottom of the list. Also if you are playing an album and you go to search again it starts at the top again. Very annoying. Might have to get an ipod with a screen unless there's an easier way.

I like how it supports wav. The RNS-510 in my VW didnt.

bugger that, get a Tune2Air + y-cable, use your smartphone to control it.

[thezone135i]

Originally Posted by Moocow

bugger that, get a Tune2Air + y-cable, use your smartphone to control it.

Hmm. Not sure abut this. The only way to legally navigate on your smartphone is to have it commercially attached to your car by cradle which Im not sure I want to do. Given that I don't have factory sat nav I wonder if theres an aftermarket window mount sat nav which has hdd for storing music that also has a decent interface for music playback. Then I could just hook up the 3.5mm jack or stream it to this tune2air device.

[135]

Originally Posted by thezone135i

Hmmm I did try and reformat it but the only options were exFAT and NTFS. Might need to force a file structure oin there.

Also how do you guys navigate through the directory? I don't have i-drive and all I can see is in the display are two folders at a time. It takes forever to traverse down to the bottom of the list. Also if you are playing an album and you go to search again it starts at the top again. Very annoying. Might have to get an ipod with a screen unless there's an easier way.

I like how it supports wav. The RNS-510 in my VW didnt.

64GB works without any issues. exFAT- and NTFS-formated USB drives won't work. It needs to be FAT32. Use a USB drive formatting tool (e.g. Hewlett-Packard's USB Disk Storage Format Tool, standalone edition - it's ancient) and you shouldn't have any problems.

Rather than having one directory that contains all your music files, you could organise you music into sub-directories for each artist and then subsequent sub-directories for each artist's album and then number all your songs (e.g. 01 ____, 02 ____, etc). It's time-consuming and goes against the iPod approach but, particularly for USBs, it may make life easier, especially if you don't have iDrive.

[thezone135i]

Originally Posted by 135

64GB works without any issues. exFAT- and NTFS-formated USB drives won't work. It needs to be FAT32. Use a USB drive formatting tool (e.g. Hewlett-Packard's USB Disk Storage Format Tool, standalone edition - it's ancient) and you shouldn't have any problems.

Rather than having one directory that contains all your music files, you could organise you music into sub-directories for each artist and then subsequent sub-directories for each artist's album and then number all your songs (e.g. 01 ____, 02 ____, etc). It's time-consuming and goes against the iPod approach but, particularly for USBs, it may make life easier, especially if you don't have iDrive.

I can see how this would help navigating music but I spent so long tagging all my ripped cd files because thats they way everything works these days. aaggghhh

[135]

Originally Posted by 135

64GB works without any issues. exFAT- and NTFS-formated USB drives won't work. It needs to be FAT32. Use a USB drive formatting tool (e.g. Hewlett-Packard's USB Disk Storage Format Tool, standalone edition - it's ancient) and you shouldn't have any problems.

Rather than having one directory that contains all your music files, you could organise you music into sub-directories for each artist and then subsequent sub-directories for each artist's album and then number all your songs (e.g. 01 ____, 02 ____, etc). It's time-consuming and goes against the iPod approach but, particularly for USBs, it may make life easier, especially if you don't have iDrive.

I know. "time-consuming" probably wasn't the right term - perhaps "painful". I don't know of any other way to make navigation easier. If anyone else does, I'm sure they'll chime in.

[Moocow]

Originally Posted by thezone135i

Hmm. Not sure abut this. The only way to legally navigate on your smartphone is to have it commercially attached to your car by cradle which Im not sure I want to do. Given that I don't have factory sat nav I wonder if theres an aftermarket window mount sat nav which has hdd for storing music that also has a decent interface for music playback. Then I could just hook up the 3.5mm jack or stream it to this tune2air device.

Holdmyphone.com.au

You buy the car mount plate, then the cradle for your handset.

Don't stuff around with windscreen mounts they are shit.

[thezone135i]

Originally Posted by Moocow

Holdmyphone.com.au

You buy the car mount plate, then the cradle for your handset.

Don't stuff around with windscreen mounts they are shit.

Hey that stuff is pretty cool. Thanks for that. But I'm left with a slight dilemma with this type of set up. When I plug in my Galaxy S4 mini Id like to have only one cable attached. When I plug in the usb cable, it acts like a flash drive and I have to use the car stereo navigate thru songs. My phone doesnt have an potion for usb as a media player. I don't seem to be able to navigate thru the songs using my phone interface without just using the 3.5mm jack and switch to aux in the car stereo. But this means my phone doesn't get a charge so I will need to cable and I already have a gps so its getting cluttered. I could get a bigger phone and use that as a GPS but they are a bit shit in my experience.

[Moocow]

Originally Posted by thezone135i

Hey that stuff is pretty cool. Thanks for that. But I'm left with a slight dilemma with this type of set up. When I plug in my Galaxy S4 mini Id like to have only one cable attached. When I plug in the usb cable, it acts like a flash drive and I have to use the car stereo navigate thru songs. My phone doesnt have an potion for usb as a media player. I don't seem to be able to navigate thru the songs using my phone interface without just using the 3.5mm jack and switch to aux in the car stereo. But this means my phone doesn't get a charge so I will need to cable and I already have a gps so its getting cluttered. I could get a bigger phone and use that as a GPS but they are a bit shit in my experience.

I use the bmw y-cable that plugs into the Tun2Air WMA1000 to provide bluetooth stereo functionality on my smartphone.

The Tune2Air connects to y-cable via the 30-pin connector, then connects to USB and 3.5mm AUX jack.

I then have my smartphone in a cradle that is mounted between the 2 centre air vents. I have only one cable going from my smartphone to a USB charger in the 12v port. I don't have a 3.5mm cable.

Smartphone - gets charged, can do GPS etc, play music via Bluetooth (with stereo integration and steering wheel button control) and also do phone calls via bluetooth at the sametime.

[thezone135i]

So I got my 64g flashdrive formatted with fat32 and filled with wav files. Sound is great I have to say I'm impressed, very neutral sounding, although I did need to pump the bass a little. The sound is great but the problem with wavs is no tags, so you can only search by folder which is a pain if you want to navigate down to the end of the alphabet. And whats worse, if your'e playing a song and you push the return button it takes you back to the top of the folder structure again, not even back to where you where. Very dangerous trying to find the right folder while driving. aaaggghh

[thezone135i]

Originally Posted by Moocow

I use the bmw y-cable that plugs into the Tun2Air WMA1000 to provide bluetooth stereo functionality on my smartphone.

The Tune2Air connects to y-cable via the 30-pin connector, then connects to USB and 3.5mm AUX jack.

I then have my smartphone in a cradle that is mounted between the 2 centre air vents. I have only one cable going from my smartphone to a USB charger in the 12v port. I don't have a 3.5mm cable.

Smartphone - gets charged, can do GPS etc, play music via Bluetooth (with stereo integration and steering wheel button control) and also do phone calls via bluetooth at the sametime.

Why does the Tune2Air need both USB and 3.5mm AUX jack connected? Is the usb purely for charge? With the 3.5mm for analogue audio input? I dont like the idea of a 2nd rate dac that would be in the tune2air, similarly if my phone was connected directly i would be relying on whatever budget dac was in the phone. I like the idea of the usb with wavs going digitally to the head unit.

[Moocow]

Originally Posted by thezone135i

Why does the Tune2Air need both USB and 3.5mm AUX jack connected? Is the usb purely for charge? With the 3.5mm for analogue audio input? I dont like the idea of a 2nd rate dac that would be in the tune2air, similarly if my phone was connected directly i would be relying on whatever budget dac was in the phone. I like the idea of the usb with wavs going digitally to the head unit.

Tune2Air just has an Apple 30-pin connector. It just adds Bluetooth connectivity to the BMW iPod function. The sound quality to me is great, I have tried cheap bluetooth 30-pin connectors they sound shit and proper integration to the stereo and steering wheel buttons is not there. The Tune2Air has proper integration and great sound.

I have tried using the y-cable, but with just the USB connected = no audio.

I suppose if you're interested in the Tune2Air, find another member close by who has one to try, or contact a place of purchase to see if they do returns if you're not happy with it.

[thezone135i]

Originally Posted by Moocow

Tune2Air just has an Apple 30-pin connector. It just adds Bluetooth connectivity to the BMW iPod function. The sound quality to me is great, I have tried cheap bluetooth 30-pin connectors they sound shit and proper integration to the stereo and steering wheel buttons is not there. The Tune2Air has proper integration and great sound.

I have tried using the y-cable, but with just the USB connected = no audio.

I suppose if you're interested in the Tune2Air, find another member close by who has one to try, or contact a place of purchase to see if they do returns if you're not happy with it.

Found this explanation of the y-cable. As I thought the analogue jack is for music and the usb is purely for track display info to show in the head unit. So you are relying on the dac in the tune2air or smartphone. Now that I have for the first time ever in a car an oem solution to streaming un-compressed music directly to the head unit I think Ill stick to the usb flash drive and put up with the shit interface! So far I've filed up a 64g flash drive with wavs and it sounds awesome!

http://f20.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=699811

[thezone135i]

So continuing on......... I have managed to set up my music close to perfect for what a want and navigating using the limited head unit display.

I have a 64g flash drive filled with wav files. No tagging support so I just arranged them in a folder hierarchy of:
--------------------------genre>band>album 1>
---------------------------------------album 2>
---------------------------------band 2>album 1>
-----------------------------------------album 2>
--------------------------genre 2>band>album 1>
-----------------------------------------album 2>
----------------------------------band 2>album 1>
------------------------------------------album 2>

I found with this way when you hit the "up" arrow it takes you back to the preceding folder only rather than the root folder which makes searching a lot easier.

So I am playing uncompressed files using the head unit dac (which sounds decent imo) and its easy to navigate! Happy!