[rob944s2]

Does this bother anyone else?

Standard radio, no Nav.

You have 200 mp3's on a CD and you want to listen to them in no particular order, hey! BMW gave us a Random button, great! Too bad it only works if you listen to the song all the way through. If you want to skip from song to song using the steering wheel it goes linear, not random, grr!

So I find myself reaching over to the radio double-pressing the random button turning the function on and off which skips around on the CD like I expect.

Also, when in "List" mode, the screen doesn't follow the current title. So if you're searching for a song using the steering wheel you have no idea what track / title you're on unless you press the "curr" button or scroll down using the dial.

Anyone else notice this?

Rob

[ward]

BMW cd players have been like this since way back in 95, maybe earlier but that was the car I first noticed this in

you have a great aux input in the armrest, why not use that and you could hold way more than 200 mp3's and listen to them however you want

[rob944s2]

Originally Posted by ward

BMW cd players have been like this since way back in 95, maybe earlier but that was the car I first noticed this in

you have a great aux input in the armrest, why not use that and you could hold way more than 200 mp3's and listen to them however you want

While I do think it's fantastic that they gave us an aux. in, I don't think that should be a scapegoat for this irritant. So does it bug you? Just because they've been doing it 'wrong' for ten years doesn't make it right, it's still wrong

The biggest reason to get the radio right is because it's right in front of you, hand controls are great for skipping tracks, and the title (should) show up on the screen in front of you. Handling an iPod shouldn't be necessary.

now if the cd player could only play mp3's on DVD...I'd pay for that option.

Rob

[ward]

it doesn't bother me at all, I listen to sat radio all day

It bothered me on my 95 at first, but I got used to it.

I guess if you wanted to, couldn't you take the CD with MP3's and order by size one time, then order alphabetically, then by date created or some other criteria and in a way randomize them on the CD

you can add/remove files from a data cd after the initial burn

[rob944s2]

Originally Posted by ward

it doesn't bother me at all, I listen to sat radio all day

It bothered me on my 95 at first, but I got used to it.

I guess if you wanted to, couldn't you take the CD with MP3's and order by size one time, then order alphabetically, then by date created or some other criteria and in a way randomize them on the CD

you can add/remove files from a data cd after the initial burn

That may work for some, it'd still drive me nuts.

In my opinion, they programmed it wrong, flat out, irrefutably, no question.

Rob

[BellasBmw]

I do find the radio irritating. When i put my mp3 cd and i scroll through the songs it doesnt show me whats next.. I figured an mp3 player would actually display the song title of the songs.

And i also dont like how there is no timer. Sometimes i really like a part in a song and i normally just remember the time ex- 1:17. I cant go back using time on this radio, have to trial and error.

[George Chronis]

It bugs me allright. Not just that, but it also doesn't remember that you are in Random next time you start the car. Moreover it doesn't remember that you are in list mode and it defaults to the stupid Track mode where it lists the Track number. I don't really care what the track number is, I want to see the damn title. It bothers me that I have to go through pressing buttons all the time to get there.

[bcaslis]

You can get it to display the song title and artist (if the MP3 file is using ID3 1.x tags, newer 2.x tags apparently aren't supported).

When the CD is playing and it's showing a track number, press the list button. When the list is displayed, note the right button has it's right side showing the up menu arrow and the left side showing "Title". Press the left side of the button and you should now be seeing the show title and artist. This will update for each song. The annoying thing of course is that next time you turn the radio back on it will default back to the track view.

Took me a long time to figure this out (boy that radio manual is terrible).

Originally Posted by BellasBmw

I do find the radio irritating. When i put my mp3 cd and i scroll through the songs it doesnt show me whats next.. I figured an mp3 player would actually display the song title of the songs.

And i also dont like how there is no timer. Sometimes i really like a part in a song and i normally just remember the time ex- 1:17. I cant go back using time on this radio, have to trial and error.

[George Chronis]

Originally Posted by bcaslis

You can get it to display the song title and artist (if the MP3 file is using ID3 1.x tags, newer 2.x tags apparently aren't supported).

When the CD is playing and it's showing a track number, press the list button. When the list is displayed, note the right button has it's right side showing the up menu arrow and the left side showing "Title". Press the left side of the button and you should now be seeing the show title and artist. This will update for each song. The annoying thing of course is that next time you turn the radio back on it will default back to the track view.

Took me a long time to figure this out (boy that radio manual is terrible).

Oh, I know how to get there. My problem is that every time I get in the car, I haev to do the same thing. It's standard procedure now. Start the car and navigate through the menu to display the title. Settings like this should have been remembered the next time you start the car.

[JonnyCrash]

Dumb thought here folks: why not write down your frustrations concerning this and send them into BMW (Both NA and Corporate)? Maybe they can come out with a software update. At the very least, they will have an idea of what changes they need to make for the next generation car

[ward]

it's a car, not a home stereo

the germans have always had "quirks" that people recently coming from japanese cars found "inferior"

The germans were slow enough just to give us cup holders.

It's going to be some years before they change stuff like how the radio works.

[nocturnal]

Originally Posted by ward

it's a car, not a home stereo

the germans have always had "quirks" that people recently coming from japanese cars found "inferior"

The germans were slow enough just to give us cup holders.

It's going to be some years before they change stuff like how the radio works.

[bcaslis]

Yup, you are right. It would at least be nice if this info was in the manual in an obvious form.

Like the two little icons on my radio that manual doesn't even show. I think they are showing my phone is connected via bluetooth and the BMW assist has a signal. But with nothing in the manual for explaination, it could mean the aliens are tracking me down!

Originally Posted by George Chronis

Oh, I know how to get there. My problem is that every time I get in the car, I haev to do the same thing. It's standard procedure now. Start the car and navigate through the menu to display the title. Settings like this should have been remembered the next time you start the car.

[beri486]

My biggest complain about the MP3 player is that I still am not able to list the top level folders on a CD. In other words I have 5 albums(folders) burnt on an MP3 CD and I want to be able to skip from one album to another. Currently I have to manually skip through every single title on an album(folder) to get to the next album. Is there a trick on how to burn the MP3 in order to be able to skip albums(folders)? I have asked the question a few times and no response yet.
Also I don't like the fact that the time of each track is not listed while playing.

[AudiA4]

Originally Posted by beri486

My biggest complain about the MP3 player is that I still am not able to list the top level folders on a CD. In other words I have 5 albums(folders) burnt on an MP3 CD and I want to be able to skip from one album to another. Currently I have to manually skip through every single title on an album(folder) to get to the next album. Is there a trick on how to burn the MP3 in order to be able to skip albums(folders)? I have asked the question a few times and no response yet.
Also I don't like the fact that the time of each track is not listed while playing.

I am using iTunes 5.0 (released today) on Mac OSX, and folder hierarchy seems to work perfectly fine in my 330. I created a "smart" playlist in iTunes, then simply asked iTunes to burn an mp3 cd of this playlist.

On my Logic 7, when in title (not track) view, all folder nesting is present. Top level shows artist only, when selecting one of these, it then displays albums for this artist. Selecting an album then displays tracks for that album.

Works fine for me. You may need to use some type of music software when burning the cd to properly encode the folders. Are you just manually burning mp3's with manual folders? Maybe this is the problem.

[beri486]

I used iTune also but on Windows. I suspect it's the Logic 7 sound system in 330 that allows you to see the folders. I will try again with the "smart" playlist but I am now 99% sure that the standard radio system does not have this capability.