Music Collection/USB

Maria1 · Post by **Maria1** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:05 pm

Hi everyone. We aren't new but the tally is as we couldn't get in with our old one and we couldn't get hold of an Administrator....Anyway, I have just managed to buy a USB stick and have been attempting to load it into the car using the port in the glove box. All good and it does seem to work. However, we have two issues. First the car keeps wanting to switch itself off after 5 minutes or so so we have to re-boot the downloading (my i8 just keeps on going until it's finished). The good news is that the provisos downloads are still there but it's a pin having to re-do it every five minutes. the other thing is that it says the memory is full even though the manual says it can take 36000 songs (or three USB sticks worth). Any idea why it should do this. Incidentally the i8 memory did similarly. Thank you!

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:05 pm

There’s only 12gb allocated to music in the CIC system...the rest is reserved for maps and a music lookup database..

One frig is to load 3 different usb sticks of different makes each with one song on it to ‘purge’ the disc..then load you music usb

The reason it’s shutting down is that the battery is not up to it..does it shut down if you keep the engine running?

Do you have usb support in the centre arm rest?

If so the audio quality there is markedly better than loading it into the glovebox USB port..

Maria1 · Post by **Maria1** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:03 pm

Hello and thanks. The battery is new and is fine. it doesn't switch off when the engine is running. I do have a usb port in the armrest yes but it doesn't seem to work for a USB (okay for an iPhone etc). and the manual says use the glove box port.

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:23 pm

The glovebox usb is for loading maps n music..

The armrest usb is for playing usb direct or plugging an iPhone/iPod/media player

The usb needs to be in fat 32 format , 32gb or less and music in root folder..usually a bit of initial setup

Music has to be in wma/mp3 format 256kb or less

If it works for an iPhone should work for a usb..

Your new battery must be a bit flat...I ran mine today freshly charged for over an hour no issues without engine running with lots more power consumption..

Maria1 · Post by **Maria1** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:50 am

okay thank you. It's always auto-switched off after 5 minutes. I thought it was a feature of the car! The battery will be charged but it is newish and it starts the car fine.

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:47 am

You can of course keep the engine running to get round the issue...also did you register the new battery?

The usb armrest plays music at a much higher quality level and given you can use 32gb stick you can hold more music..can you confirm that an iPhone in that usb slot plays music ok through the usb not Bluetooth?

Colin_E · Post by **Colin_E** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:49 am

The auto switch-off is normal - if you ONLY insert the key in ignition. Mine does it too & I recall finding it annoying when I was loading music!
Something I wasn't aware of until this month is that you can briefly 'blip' the start button without touching the pedals to bring electrics up so they stay on without starting the engine - useful for this sort of task.

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 12:00 pm

Colin_E wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:49 am The auto switch-off is normal - if you ONLY insert the key in ignition. Mine does it too & I recall finding it annoying when I was loading music!
Something I wasn't aware of until this month is that you can briefly 'blip' the start button without touching the pedals to bring electrics up so they stay on without starting the engine - useful for this sort of task.

Good to know..I always habitually hit the stop / start button so never realised..

PixelPeepZ4 · Post by **PixelPeepZ4** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:36 pm

Anyone know what voltage/amps the USB in the glovebox can support, ie, will it charge a phone ? (sorry, new fish question..)

I don't have the armrest USB, just glovebox.

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:14 pm

PixelPeepZ4 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:36 pm Anyone know what voltage/amps the USB in the glovebox can support, ie, will it charge a phone ? (sorry, new fish question..)

I don't have the armrest USB, just glovebox.

It’s an early data USB connection so it’s 5v...if it provides power it will be 500ma max..

PixelPeepZ4 · Post by **PixelPeepZ4** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:39 am

Pbondar wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:14 pm It’s an early data USB connection so it’s 5v...if it provides power it will be 500ma max..

thank you - i had suspected as much, just ordered some twin cigarette lighter USB adapters for emergencies

Maria1 · Post by **Maria1** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:26 pm

Hello and thanks for the confirmation that it does have an auto cut out - I subsequently read that E90s had this feature to save the battery so I assumed that the E89 was the same. In terms of the ports the iPhone/pod works from the armrest USB and I loaded the music through the glove box USB. I have 12GB of music so not all of the collection and it appears to have selected tracks at random (eg half an elpee on some yet nearly all artists appear to be present.

Are we saying that the USB port in the armrest will play the stick at a better audio quality than the hard drive?

Pbondar · Post by **Pbondar** » Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:56 pm

Maria1 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 2:26 pm Hello and thanks for the confirmation that it does have an auto cut out - I subsequently read that E90s had this feature to save the battery so I assumed that the E89 was the same. In terms of the ports the iPhone/pod works from the armrest USB and I loaded the music through the glove box USB. I have 12GB of music so not all of the collection and it appears to have selected tracks at random (eg half an elpee on some yet nearly all artists appear to be present.

Are we saying that the USB port in the armrest will play the stick at a better audio quality than the hard drive?

Correct, a lot better, whether you can hear it depends on you speaker system / quality of music encoded / your ears.. subject to you sync-ing your usb stick /device with a suitable quality format 192/256 kB in WMA or MP3 format..

Be aware that artwork syncing seems hit n miss..I synced around 5000 tracks at 192kb WMA format onto a 64gb usd formatted in FAT32..from Windows Media Player, almost all the WMP albums had full artwork..around 20% of the artwork is missing on the USB..

You can get playlists across in .m3u format as well as others..

The car copies meta data from the USB onboard..it keeps up to 4 USB meta data images..there is a limit on total number if meta data tracks remembered around 15k..there is a process for purging obsolete metadata if required..

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