How to transfer IPOD music to Nav HDD (2009 Z4)

[MikeS]

According to the car's manual and BMW you cannot transfer music files from an IPOD to the car’s HDD using the USB connector in the passenger's glove box. However, this is not strictly true. That said BMW do not support transferring music to the car’s HDD from an IPOD.

When I first tried to do this it only worked partially as some albums did not transfer and some tracks were listed incorrectly. However, I think I have now solved these problems. Most of the faults appeared to be because I had different formats, some protected, on my ITUNES and IPOD, but also because I had too much music on my IPOD! So here is my working solution.

Firstly ensure all music on ITUNES is in one single unprotected format. I chose AAC audio file as most of my music was already in this format. I had to convert some files to do this and used a piece of software called SoundTaxi but there are many other alternatives available.

Then create a new playlist on ITUNES (I called mine Z4) and add the music wanted for the car to this play list, ensuring that there is less than 12Gb of music.

Connect IPOD to PC. Then delete all current music from IPOD and select the new Z4 playlist on the PC. Highlighted all of the files in the Z4 playlist and move them to the 'music' file of the IPOD.

At this stage all of the music for the Z4 is on the IPOD in one unprotected format and there is less than the 12Gb max for the car's HDD.

Take IPOD to car. Ensure that any current music is cleared from the car's HDD. Then using the standard IPOD USB lead connect it to the USB in the glove box. At this point, if the ignition is on, you should get the 'Do not disconnect' message on the IPOD. You can now choose to import the music to the car (it may take a few minutes to acknowledge that the IPOD is connected). You should now see the 'importing' message on the car's screen.

Uploading is quite slow. I have found that it tends to stop if the car is just left in the 'ignition on' mode so I took the car for a leisurely drive!

Once the 100% complete message is displayed on the car’s screen switch off the ignition and wait for the IPOD's 'do not disconnect' message to clear. Disconnect IPOD.

I then checked the 122 albums on the IPOD's disc against car's HDD which also listed 122. All appeared to be shown correctly by album and track name. Then selected and played a random number of tracks/albums and all seem to be working well!

I am sure there is more than one way to achieve this as I am not an expert on ITUNES/IPODs and formats other than ACC may also work.

Hope that is useful.