IUsing a classic iPod in a G29 Z4

[Nick_in_Suffolk]

My wife will collect a new (to her) Z4 in 2 weeks, trading in a E89 that she has owned for 39k miles and nearly 7 years.

We were able to connect a classic iPod in the 'old' Z, via a USB B port. The newer Z appears to have only USB C ports; I think the one next to the wireless charging pad is designed to connect a hard drive. Has anybody successfully integrated an old iPod into a G89? I have yet to find a 30pin to USB C cable and the adapters look a bit bulky

 

[sars]

Music playback is via the cars wireless network and not through the USB-C port in the armrest, however I haven't tried installing USB flash drive into the front storage with music on it yet to see if I can detect it, I'll give it a go later.

 

[ori]

There is a usb c in the centre arm rest and a normal usb in the front compartment. I believe you can connect an iPod fine. Why would you want to though when all your music is in your phone and you can use CarPlay or android auto?

 

[rdm05z4]

There is a usb c in the centre arm rest and a normal usb in the front compartment. I believe you can connect an iPod fine. Why would you want to though when all your music is in your phone and you can use CarPlay or android auto?

Ori while I agree with your comment for most people. Their are still a few of us that may have a older phone 1. Doesn't have the storage for all the music we have. 2. Possible don't use carplay etc. 3. Have music that is no longer available to download or in my case many concerts recorded back in the day when there was actually DJ's on the radio and stations would broadcast full concerts from groups. (yes am that old). Don't get me wrong technology has come a long way. And for those who chose to use it carplay, pandora, sirisxm etc great enjoy!!! Not trying to disrespect thos that do. I am just I guess old fashion and set in my ways. Nick I hope you find an answer to your issue. I have a 05 so it was easy to install a USB (not c) cable.

 

[BeeEmm]

You can get Apple 30 pin to USB C cables just Google the bold text. . Here is one sale: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203539987206?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1iNkUZijaRAOwaAWAIn0nKg77&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=203539987206&targetid=1596500855469&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=1006561&poi=&campaignid=15278604175&mkgroupid=135429446288&rlsatarget=pla-1596500855469&abcId=9300698&merchantid=6995734&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3IqSBhCoARIsAMBkTb1IU8I6olUJkHXALOgpXgMl6523IEjaZQMkJ3-SnkVVXbC-xeKCaUIaAiliEALw_wcB

 

[baljemmett]

Music playback is via the cars wireless network and not through the USB-C port in the armrest, however I haven't tried installing USB flash drive into the front storage with music on it yet to see if I can detect it, I'll give it a go later.

Yes, that does work - I have the same USB(-A) drive that I had in my 1-series and 2-series plugged into mine and it shows up without complaint. No album art, though, which is weird; not sure what changed there.

 

[sars]

Music playback is via the cars wireless network and not through the USB-C port in the armrest, however I haven't tried installing USB flash drive into the front storage with music on it yet to see if I can detect it, I'll give it a go later.

Yes, that does work - I have the same USB(-A) drive that I had in my 1-series and 2-series plugged into mine and it shows up without complaint. No album art, though, which is weird; not sure what changed there.

I've just copied 14 GB of music (MP3) onto a USB memory stick and tried it in the front USB, it does indeed work and I've also got album artwork

 

[q96169we]

Music playback is via the cars wireless network and not through the USB-C port in the armrest, however I haven't tried installing USB flash drive into the front storage with music on it yet to see if I can detect it, I'll give it a go later.

Yes, that does work - I have the same USB(-A) drive that I had in my 1-series and 2-series plugged into mine and it shows up without complaint. No album art, though, which is weird; not sure what changed there.

I've just copied 14 GB of music (MP3) onto a USB memory stick and tried it in the front USB, it does indeed work and I've also got album artwork

Sars, Do you know that you can transfer all the music from the USB stick to the car's own memory and in the future, you don't need the USB stick any more? The car has about 30GB internal storage space.

Also, I think Play using old iPod is different compared to USB memory stick. Apple is Apple who always requires an extra layer of their own protocol for everything. I think, if you can play music via lightning to USB-A cable, then the 30 pin to USB-A cable should be able to play music as well.

 

[baljemmett]

I've also got album artwork

Well that's annoying! I wonder why yours works and mine doesn't? I'd chalked it up to iDrive 7 being a bit pickier about something that wasn't a problem in iDrive 5, but haven't had a chance to dig into it yet; would you mind sharing an example file so I can experiment with one that's known to work?

 

[baljemmett]

Sars, Do you know that you can transfer all the music from the USB stick to the car's own memory and in the future, you don't need the USB stick any more? The car has about 30GB internal storage space.

This feature appears to have been removed at some point - no mention of it in either the menus or handbook of mine, built at the tail end of last year.

 

[B21]

Music playback is via the cars wireless network and not through the USB-C port in the armrest, however I haven't tried installing USB flash drive into the front storage with music on it yet to see if I can detect it, I'll give it a go later.

Yes, that does work - I have the same USB(-A) drive that I had in my 1-series and 2-series plugged into mine and it shows up without complaint. No album art, though, which is weird; not sure what changed there.

I've just copied 14 GB of music (MP3) onto a USB memory stick and tried it in the front USB, it does indeed work and I've also got album artwork

I gave Argyll Andy a FAT32 USB 32GB with 6,400 tunes in WMA format last year..works well with most artwork, the missing ones are due to an issue in how WMP encodes artwork..he must be getting bored with Max Bygrave's greatest hits and Mantovani..

 

[Argyll Andy]

I've also got album artwork

Well that's annoying! I wonder why yours works and mine doesn't? I'd chalked it up to iDrive 7 being a bit pickier about something that wasn't a problem in iDrive 5, but haven't had a chance to dig into it yet; would you mind sharing an example file so I can experiment with one that's known to work?

I have a usb drive with music in the slot beside the wireless charger and it shows all artwork too

EDIT: it’s the one Peter has just mentioned, works perfectly

 

[Argyll Andy]

Yes, that does work - I have the same USB(-A) drive that I had in my 1-series and 2-series plugged into mine and it shows up without complaint. No album art, though, which is weird; not sure what changed there.

I've just copied 14 GB of music (MP3) onto a USB memory stick and tried it in the front USB, it does indeed work and I've also got album artwork

I gave Argyll Andy a FAT32 USB 32GB with 6,400 tunes in WMA format last year..works well with most artwork, the missing ones are due to an issue in how WMP encodes artwork..he must be getting bored with Max Bygrave's greatest hits and Mantovani..

I must’ve hit on some favourites as I’ve not come across those yet :wink:

 

[MikeyH]

Of course this is the problem for me and why I will probably never be able to buy a post 2018 car as I like to listen to my old CDs. Without taking my eyes from the road to listen again to my favourite track. Yes I know I am from the dark ages as my wife keeps telling me. :rofl: :rofl:

 

[sars]

[ref]q96169we[/ref], I had wondered if there was a SSD at the heart of i7, however the MP3 quality is pretty poor compared to AAC over wireless CarPlay and I've found that source quality is important in getting adequate sound out of the BMW system. This only became evident when I swapped from Spotify back to Apple Music
[ref]baljemmett[/ref], Make sure you have album thumbnails in your Artist/album folder

 

[ori]

There is a usb c in the centre arm rest and a normal usb in the front compartment. I believe you can connect an iPod fine. Why would you want to though when all your music is in your phone and you can use CarPlay or android auto?

Ori while I agree with your comment for most people. Their are still a few of us that may have a older phone 1. Doesn't have the storage for all the music we have. 2. Possible don't use carplay etc. 3. Have music that is no longer available to download or in my case many concerts recorded back in the day when there was actually DJ's on the radio and stations would broadcast full concerts from groups. (yes am that old). Don't get me wrong technology has come a long way. And for those who chose to use it carplay, pandora, sirisxm etc great enjoy!!! Not trying to disrespect thos that do. I am just I guess old fashion and set in my ways. Nick I hope you find an answer to your issue. I have a 05 so it was easy to install a USB (not c) cable.

Apple car play is just a phone connection. It’s not a streaming platform. Apple Music is a streaming service.
So yeah if you had enough storage on iPhone you could play your music through that.

Or you could just transfer the music into the bmw internal storage system. Or just out the music on a USB stick and use that instead of an iPod. You would need to separate albums into folders for organisations although from memory the bmw sorts it out sometimes.

 

[BigDave]

My 2pth,,,

I had a classic ipod 5th gen, that i used in my E70 X5 , but when i upgraded the car to the newer F15 X5 i found the classic ipod didnt work,,, i called into the local dealership and asked the question, the tech told me that the newer I drive wasnt compatable with the "old" ipods...so i bought a good used ipod touch 6th generation, and thats been fine.
Ive now got my Z4 and ive plugged the ipod touch into the front usb port and it ,,, seems to work ok. BUT i havnt used it a great deal as yet, I did notice that not all the tracks were shown on my screen , as i have lots of playlists on the touch, and when i put it back into the X5 more tracks appeared . So im not sure whats happening there, needs more investigation...

One question for techies, if i was to get a usb C adapter would the rear center console usb work with the ipod.?? As there isnt a great deal of room in the front cubby for the ipod ...

Dave.

 

[ori]

[ref]BigDave[/ref], I believe you can use that usb c port like the front port only it’s faster and provides more power.

 

[q96169we]

There is a webpage to check the mobile device compatibility
https://www.bmw.co.uk/en/topics/owners/bmw-connecteddrive/bluetooth-and-usb.html

I check my car's vin and the oldest apple device is iphone5s in the page and iPhone5s can play music using the usb connection. So, if your ipod is in similar age as iphone5s (I lost track of ipod generation and year), then it should be compatible and can play music using the usb connection

 

[weegeoff]

I am a bit of an old fart ldman: and prefer CD players, am I the only one ? I do wish I could afford a G 29 though