On board hard drive question

Hello all:

This may seem like a lame question, but can someone please explain to me the process of moving music onto the on board hard drive? Is it possible to simply take a CD, insert it into the single in dash player, have the car copy it onto the hard drive OR is it NECESSARY to copy all of the music you want onto a flash drive, plug same into the USB port on the car AND THEN move it over to the on board hard drive?

For 2011 BMW removed the CD changer from the Premium Sound Package and I am not happy to the extent that I do not use an iPod and do not download music/MP3’s, etc., which makes moving music over from CD's to flash drives on my computer burdensome, if I cannot simply insert the CD in the car and have it copy from there.

Thank you, JD.

As far as I know can be done both ways.

I don't know how they would allow that due to copyright laws, etc...? So you can basically 'rip' a CD directly onto the hard drive? Also, does anyone know how many 'average sized' CD's the drive can hold?

Im not too sure about if using original CD's or CD's you burn yourself, but I believe the HD is 12 gigs so should hold a substantial amount of music/CD's.

To be clear, I am referring to a CD purchased from Best Buy, Virgin, etc., not one that is 'burned'.

On my 2010 750i I have copied a couple of standard retail CD's into the "Music Collection" (hard drive) without issue. I have the Changer and do not use it at all (iPod is such an easier solution). The copying only works from the in Dash CD and not from the changer

BMW isn't in the business of policing what you upload onto their hard-drive, nor are other car manufacturers who install these systems in thier vehicles. You can pretty much upload whatever you like, except video.

Pretty neat to hear this. Some additional questions:

Does it save one CD into one 'folder' or does it drop the tracks into one large listing of all tracks you've copied?

Can you rename the tracks once they're on the hard drive?

How many minutes (average) does it take to copy a standard CD (12-16 tracks)?

Thanks!

JD

I suggest you download the 2011 manual from the BMW site. I have the PDF of the 2010 manual and answers you questions - I tried to copy/paste the sections here, but the PDF is protected from copying text.

The manuals are on the BMW USA site:

http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Owner/dgh.aspx

Here is some info from the 2011 file - that one allows copy/paste. There is a lot more on the topic, but here are some excerpts.

Music collection*
Storing music
General information
Music tracks from CDs/DVDs and USB devices
can be stored in the music collection on a hard
disc in the vehicle and played from there.
***9655; Audio CD: tracks are converted into a compressed
audio format. If available, information
on the album, such as the artist, is
stored as well.
***9655; CD/DVD or USB device with compressed
audio files: the entire content of the CD/DVD
or the USB device is stored in the vehicle as
an album. The WMA, MP3, and AAC formats
are stored. Individual tracks and directories
can be deleted later, Deleting a track and directory,
refer to page 185.
Tracks with DRM copy protection can be
stored but cannot be played back.

Managing music
Albums
Renaming an album*
The name of the album, if available, is automatically
entered when the album is stored. If the
name is unknown it can be changed later if
needed.
1. "CD/Multimedia"
2. "Music collection"
3. Highlight the desired album.
4. Open "Options".
5. "Rename album"
6. Select the letters individually.
Deleting an album
An album cannot be deleted while a track from
that album is being played.
1. "CD/Multimedia"
2. "Music collection"
3. Highlight the desired album.
4. Open "Options".
5. "Delete album"
Deleting a track and directory
A track cannot be deleted while it is being
played.
A directory cannot be deleted while a track from
that directory is being played.
1. "CD/Multimedia"
2. "Music collection"
3. Highlight the directory or track.
4. Open "Options".
5. "Delete folder" or "Delete track"
Free memory capacity
Display the free memory capacity in the music
collection.
1. "CD/Multimedia"
2. "Music collection"
3. Open "Options".
4. "Free memory"
Music collection
Backing up the music collection
The entire music collection can be stored on a
USB device. Make sure there is enough free
memory capacity on the USB device.
Depending on the number of tracks, backing up
the music collection may take several hours.
Therefore, it is best to perform the backup during
a long trip.
1. Starting the engine.
2. Connect the USB device to the USB interface
in the glove compartment, refer to
page 134.
3. "CD/Multimedia"
4. "Music collection"
5. Open "Options".
6. "Music data import/export"

Wow. I am really impressed. I had no idea that things have come this far. No wonder the 6-disc changer is no longer part of the Premium Sound Package, especially in light of the exceedingly limited interior storage space (in driver reach). Now if we can only figure out a way to remove the phone cradle. I really see these guys redesigning the center storage compartment upon facelift. Hopefully a retrofit can be accomplished; albeit unlikely. Thank you for all of your help LikeGadgets!

I find it easier to just keep a flash thumb drive plugged into the center console. It's easier to move / change MP3 files from the PC at will.

Originally Posted by likegadgets

On my 2010 750i I have copied a couple of standard retail CD's into the "Music Collection" (hard drive) without issue. I have the Changer and do not use it at all (iPod is such an easier solution). The copying only works from the in Dash CD and not from the changer

First couple of months I had my 750li (purchased in Spring of 09) I used CD's to put music on hard drive. Most of my CD's are older and I needed to label all the songs manually. Who buys CD's anymore? I do....but rarely. Remember record stores? Much simpler to use iPod. Load your old CD's on your computer and iTunes will recognize them, label them, and give you the artist, album and art work. No need to sit in car and label each and every song for old CD's. It is nice...having the ability to build a library. But for me....just something I show off to people...or the rare occasion when I leave iPod at home.

Lots of ways u can move music to the 750 WITH titles. Easiest for me

1) RIP your CDs into iTunes on your PC or Mac. iTunes looks up the tracks on the Gracenote database on the web and ADDS the right names (its cool).
2) Drag and drop all the iTunes music folders to a USB drive
3) Stick the USB drive into the USB port inside the 750 glove box
4) Copy it all to your 750 hard disk using the menus of the iDrive. U will find all the songs in "Music Collection"

NOTE, that if u have songs in your iTunes folders that r copy protected by Apple (ones u bot from iTunes) they WON'T play on your car. But the songs u RIP will play.

U can tell by looking at the file extension - .m4a means they will play, .m4p means they r "protected" and won't play.

Probably there is some way to "jail break" the m4p tracks but i haven't bothered yet.

I just spent 15 minutes sitting in the X5 trying to load a single CD into the hard drive. Got 3 songs played. Don't know if they got stored. What a waste of time! Mercedes fast uploads CDs to the hard drive. You can do a complete CD in about 5 minutes. BMW engineers need to talk to the competition. My wife keeps razzing me about buying the X5 instead of the ML. But, at least the X5 Navi works better than the M-B's.

I'll try the various MP3 players another day.

As a previous post said, it may be best to load the CDs onto a thumb drive or an MP3 player.

Norm

Originally Posted by dbs600

Does it save one CD into one 'folder' or does it drop the tracks into one large listing of all tracks you've copied?

It save each CD into one folder.

Originally Posted by dbs600

Can you rename the tracks once they're on the hard drive?
JD

No. Only the folder can be renamed.

Originally Posted by dbs600

How many minutes (average) does it take to copy a standard CD (12-16 tracks)?

It varies on how many music is on the CD or how big is the music files on that CD.

1) Insert the CD

2) Select CD/Multimedia


3) Select the CD you inserted and click Store in vehicle


4) To cancel the storing, press the Option button and click Cancel storing


5) If not cancelled, the storing will continue. Once completed, it'll show in Music collection.


Checkout this step-by-step guide for importing music on USB.

How to import music (USB) into iDrive

Spent more time today with the CD storage. Definitely not as easy or clear in operation as the Mercedes. But, it does show when songs have been loaded onto the hard drive. And, average time to load is about 50 seconds a song.

Norm

Thanks for all of the clarification Asaseaban and info on load time Vintage!

Could this be correct? Backing up my entire Music Collection from the car's hard drive - 80 CD's - took a mere 20 to 25 minutes, when each CD took about 5 minutes to store to same? I seem to have gotten just under 4 GB's worth...

asaseaban: Thanks for the step by step. The manual left out a few things. It didn't mention that the car should off when you plug in the USB, then started, and that the USB does not show as connected etc. Thanks to you I got it working.