What is best to use for music?

[thinkbig]

Ipod cable? USB key? AUX? or a CD?

I've tried using the ipod cable but the quality SUCKS (am I the only one that noticed that?)..

Also, my ipod cable doesnt seem to work properly, the iPhone charges very slowly and sometimes it doesn't charge at all.

[KingOfJericho]

I use the ipod cable with great success and the sound quality is fine. Are you paying high bit mp3s?

[GO135i007]

I use the iPod cable and it works great. Probably the quality of your mp3's/m4a's or the cable is bad.

[mrleisure]

Originally Posted by jainism

I enjoy listening to CD's bought from a store the best.

I couldn't agree more. Such a huge difference. Sounds so much better!

[infinitekidM2C]

yep i try to stay .WAV whenever possible

[cricri]

My iPhone doesn't always charge when it's connected to the BMW iPod cable either, and I get a warning pop up on the phone every time I connect it to the car. My iPod on the other hand works perfectly, charges, and the quality is very good again coming out of the BMW iPod cable.

[leftyone]

I rip CD's at lossless... drop onto a thumb drive, and plug into the USB port... Sound is quite good, although on startup the car sometimes has a delay loading the drive.

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by leftyone

I rip CD's at lossless... drop onto a thumb drive, and plug into the USB port... Sound is quite good, although on startup the car sometimes has a delay loading the drive.

that's gonna take up a lotta space though on ur thumb drive

[Wakka]

straight .WAV's sounds amazing.

[Peakrunner]

Originally Posted by jainism

Technically, if you want the best quality, CD's with WAV files on them are the best. 320 Mp3's are pretty close with the least amount of compression. The average listener cant tell the difference, but being that im a music producer, any amount of compression is very noticeable to my ears. I enjoy listening to CD's bought from a store the best. However, most of my music is crap p3's

+1 Ideally you would want something in a Lossless format. Not an MP3. Lossless audio compression produces a representation of digital data that can be expanded to an exact digital duplicate of the original audio stream. This is in contrast to the irreversible changes upon playback from lossy compression techniques such as MP3's.

[Prof T]

Originally Posted by jainism

Technically, if you want the best quality, CD's with WAV files on them are the best. 320 Mp3's are pretty close with the least amount of compression. The average listener cant tell the difference, but being that im a music producer, any amount of compression is very noticeable to my ears. I enjoy listening to CD's bought from a store the best. However, most of my music is crap p3's

X2 on the store CD, They should be cheaper though.

[tritonx]

+1 for USB, the quality will be as good as the compression used on the file.
With all the noise coming from the car and surrounding, the highest quality mp3 are perfectly fine for my usage.
I have a 32GB stick in my car, with all my music, love it. It's always on random.

I think it only support the most popular files, .mp3 and such, I'd like to know the file supported but I think I tried .wav and .flac without success.

A normal size USB stick fit there without breaking.

[RnmEvo9]

CDs sound the best for me, however I am not an audiophile.

[hot_ride]

It sounds like some of you have the same issue that I do. Although my phone is recognized in some instances, most of the time I get the warning and have to use the phone as a AUX device.
Before some of you chime in, BMW had my car for a week in November trying to determine what was causing the issue and finally told me that it was a bug in the firmware. I'm still waiting for an update.

[Satalite]

Does anyone know a way to integrate an i-pod cable that charges the i-pod/i-Phone into 1'er that didn't come with it?

[mrow]

Originally Posted by Satalite

Does anyone know a way to integrate an i-pod cable that charges the i-pod/i-Phone into 1'er that didn't come with it?

The only way to do it is with the Y splitter cable. Some cars with nav will let you use just a regular white iPod cable but otherwise you need the Y splitter. That's what I use but my car came with it. I bought an iPod cable extension cord on Amazon so I can quickly plug and unplug my phone and keep it in the tray in front of the gear shifter.

The need for the splitter is true for even the latest models. My girlfriend just bought a F25 X3, without nav and she still has to use the splitter cable.

Check the for sale forum/eBay/ask your dealer to hook you up.


Edit: just realized you might mean a 1 that didn't have the option for iPod integration at all. I thought I remember seeing something about a retrofit somewhere.

[Turbolader]

Originally Posted by jainism

damn, the stereo doesnt recognize WAV files off a usb stick? ubbbber ghey. Oh well, you can always do it the old fashioned way, burn a cd...

Right., and why not support unprotected M4a files or FLAC? Way to equip 2010 cars with lossy audio technology from 1993.

[Satalite]

Originally Posted by mrow

The only way to do it is with the Y splitter cable. Some cars with nav will let you use just a regular white iPod cable but otherwise you need the Y splitter. That's what I use but my car came with it. I bought an iPod cable extension cord on Amazon so I can quickly plug and unplug my phone and keep it in the tray in front of the gear shifter.

The need for the splitter is true for even the latest models. My girlfriend just bought a F25 X3, without nav and she still has to use the splitter cable.

Check the for sale forum/eBay/ask your dealer to hook you up.


Edit: just realized you might mean a 1 that didn't have the option for iPod integration at all. I thought I remember seeing something about a retrofit somewhere.

Thanks I will look around. You are correct on the EDIT. My car did not have iPod integration from the factory...

[Kamal]

Originally Posted by Satalite

Does anyone know a way to integrate an i-pod cable that charges the i-pod/i-Phone into 1'er that didn't come with it?

Check out the Griffin autopilot... plugs into the dock, charges, and provides a line-level output for the aux-in plug... works well if you don't have the USB input.

https://store.griffintechnology.com/...ne-4/autopilot

[Satalite]

Originally Posted by Kamal

Check out the Griffin autopilot... plugs into the dock, charges, and provides a line-level output for the aux-in plug... works well if you don't have the USB input.

https://store.griffintechnology.com/...ne-4/autopilot

+1 Thanks

[Turbolader]

Originally Posted by Turbolader

Right., and why not support unprotected M4a files or FLAC? Way to equip 2010 cars with lossy audio technology from 1993.

Okay, I found a better solution (I was using Mp3 @ 320k bitrate)

Ditching the manual was the smartest thing for me to do. I confirmed that unprotected m4a AAC, variable does work. I personally think AAC sounds much better than MP3. Aside from that, I found something even better for those of us that can hear (and don't like) the "MP3 Sizzle"...WMA Lossless. I confirmed that WMA9 Lossless encoded files playback fine on the USB stick. This is better than WAVs because there is some compression, but because it's not lossy, all of the fidelity is still intact. Sadly, I also tried unprotected m4a (ALAC - Lossless) and it doesn't work.

I haven't tried FLAC or Monkey's Audio...Who knows, maybe they will work since the manual didn't mention lossless WMA or unprotected m4a AAC. Lossless WMA is good enough for me though

WMA9 encoder is now hard to find because they've moved on to a non-free encoder now. You can DL WMA9 here: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multime...-Encoder.shtml

(I use Foobar2000 for those who care)

I have the lousy (2010 BMW "Professional") head unit, so I would think if it works for me, it should work for you guys with the HiFi system or the iDrive system.