Current snap-in adapter: Modify for iphone 5?

200 WAV's? Try 2000+

Done arguing. Listen to whatever the hell makes you happy.

One issue I see with using an old iPhone instead of a flash drive is that if you leave the car unattended for a few days the battery of the iPhone will die.

Also, you can sell an iPhone for more than it costs to buy a 128 gig flash drive, which has 4, 8, or even 16 times as much memory.

Originally Posted by otonimus

One issue I see with using an old iPhone instead of a flash drive is that if you leave the car unattended for a few days the battery of the iPhone will die.

Also, you can sell an iPhone for more than it costs to buy a 128 gig flash drive, which has 4, 8, or even 16 times as much memory.

The iPhone's battery will not die so long as it's plugged into a USB port. I left my iPod unattended for weeks in my BMWs, soon as you start up the engine it's fully functional.

The problem with a flash drive is that it is not compatible with iTunes. Most of us have library's in iTunes with songs we purchased in iTunes organized in playlists in iTunes. To keep that functionality as well as updates to our play counts, an iOS device is necessary. In my case it's an iPod touch, in this posters case it's an iPhone.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

The iPhone's battery will not die so long as it's plugged into a USB port. I left my iPod unattended for weeks in my BMWs, soon as you start up the engine it's fully functional.

The problem with a flash drive is that it is not compatible with iTunes. Most of us have library's in iTunes with songs we purchased in iTunes organized in playlists in iTunes. To keep that functionality as well as updates to our play counts, an iOS device is necessary. In my case it's an iPod touch, in this posters case it's an iPhone.

BJ

How does the iphone not die? Does it trickle charge off of the battery? Hard to believe. Agreed, if it even has 5% battery life remaining, the USB power source will keep it going when you start the car. But if it drains down to zero (how would it not?), it will take a few minutes for the car to bring it back to life.

I guess I'm not an itunes guy (haha, no sh*t, really?). I have it, I use it, but when it comes to anything where I care at all about sound quality, I have zero interest. Used to use it a lot for podcasts, but Stitcher blows away itunes for podcasts (no downloading necessary).

I'm a firm believer in lossless audio, as you already know. Yes, there's ALAC, but those files are much larger, and the iphones/ipods don't have enough memory. Also, ALAC is a lot less universal with other devices/playback softwares.

My admittedly laborious approach: I preview albums on Rhapsody or similar streaming service. If I like it, I buy it on CD from Amazon. I then rip the CD to FLAC and WAV, then archive the CD as a backup. Apple/Itunes doesn't mesh with this approach at all.

I can get about 100 albums of WAV files onto a 128 gig flash drive, which is good enough for me... maybe once a month I'll bring the stick in to edit the content. No biggie... I don't need 1000 albums at once.

Obviously my approach isn't for everyone... Apple/itunes is incredibly convenient if you're willing to sacrifice a lot of information, including a big decrease in dynamic range (bleccch!), which road noise doesn't magically make irrelevant. Just because a car is a less than ideal environment, that doesn't mean that you give up on the best quality source material... doing so just makes it even worse. Significantly. YES, IT DOES

Just one audiophile's take.

Originally Posted by otonimus

How does the iphone not die? Does it trickle charge off of the battery? Hard to believe. Agreed, if it even has 5% battery life remaining, the USB power source will keep it going when you start the car. But if it drains down to zero (how would it not?), it will take a few minutes for the car to bring it back to life.

I guess I'm not an itunes guy (haha, no sh*t, really?). I have it, I use it, but when it comes to anything where I care at all about sound quality, I have zero interest. Used to use it a lot for podcasts, but Stitcher blows away itunes for podcasts (no downloading necessary).

I'm a firm believer in lossless audio, as you already know. Yes, there's ALAC, but those files are much larger, and the iphones/ipods don't have enough memory. Also, ALAC is a lot less universal with other devices/playback softwares.

My admittedly laborious approach: I preview albums on Rhapsody or similar streaming service. If I like it, I buy it on CD from Amazon. I then rip the CD to FLAC and WAV, then archive the CD as a backup. Apple/Itunes doesn't mesh with this approach at all.

I can get about 100 albums of WAV files onto a 128 gig flash drive, which is good enough for me... maybe once a month I'll bring the stick in to edit the content. No biggie... I don't need 1000 albums at once.

Obviously my approach isn't for everyone... Apple/itunes is incredibly convenient if you're willing to sacrifice a lot of information, including a big decrease in dynamic range (bleccch!), which road noise doesn't magically make irrelevant. Just because a car is a less than ideal environment, that doesn't mean that you give up on the best quality source material... doing so just makes it even worse. Significantly. YES, IT DOES

Just one audiophile's take.

Regarding the iPhone battery life, I don't know how it works but I left my car sitting for weeks at a time and when I restarted the engine started the music there was no delay while it slowly charged itself back to boot up. It just came on instantly.

Regarding iTunes, it's just so convenient and so well organized that it really makes the overall music listening experience better. No point in owning 25,000 songs if it's hard to get to them and impossible to organize them; you wind up listening to less music which isn't a good thing.

Regarding sound quality, my point of view is that there are no current great artists making such consistently great music that are worthy of my attempting great in-car audio solutions for them. I already own Abbey Road in several lossless formats, don't need another copy for the car where the wind noise and tire hum takes that 10% acoustic win and neutralizes it. No one rips at a paltry 128kbps anymore because the hard drives are so cheap and spacious, and 256kbps files sound terrific in a living room, very hard to discern from lossless to my ears.

Lastly, I can think of three albums in the last 10 years that were so outrageously good I would be driven to want to hear them in lossless audio. Like it or not, today's music is disposable and thus having track quantity over audio quality in one's car is consistent with what the record industry is doing.

Just my two cents.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

Regarding the iPhone battery life, I don't know how it works but I left my car sitting for weeks at a time and when I restarted the engine started the music there was no delay while it slowly charged itself back to boot up. It just came on instantly.

Regarding iTunes, it's just so convenient and so well organized that it really makes the overall music listening experience better. No point in owning 25,000 songs if it's hard to get to them and impossible to organize them; you wind up listening to less music which isn't a good thing.

Regarding sound quality, my point of view is that there are no current great artists making such consistently great music that are worthy of my attempting great in-car audio solutions for them. I already own Abbey Road in several lossless formats, don't need another copy for the car where the wind noise and tire hum takes that 10% acoustic win and neutralizes it. No one rips at a paltry 128kbps anymore because the hard drives are so cheap and spacious, and 256kbps files sound terrific in a living room, very hard to discern from lossless to my ears.

Lastly, I can think of three albums in the last 10 years that were so outrageously good I would be driven to want to hear them in lossless audio. Like it or not, today's music is disposable and thus having track quantity over audio quality in one's car is consistent with what the record industry is doing.

Just my two cents.

BJ

+1 for Win

Originally Posted by cchrisv

+1 for Win

Minus 100 billion.

Sorry, but it must suck to be so cynical/ closed-minded/ naive/ disheartened/ curmudgeonly/ or just plain bored with music (take your pick). To make such broad blanket statements about ALL music is just plain silly.

There is SOOOO much good music out there, much of it incredibly well recorded.

Ya just gotta spend some time searching for it. I recommend Rhapsody (a bajillion albums, very well organized by genre, a few bucks a month). Question your convictions. Expand your criteria. Try new genres. Loosen up.

"Holy crap how have I never heard this" is mere clicks away, endlessly.

Originally Posted by otonimus

Minus 100 billion.

Sorry, but it must suck to be so cynical/ closed-minded/ naive/ disheartened/ curmudgeonly/ or just plain bored with music (take your pick). To make such broad blanket statements about ALL music is just plain silly.

There is SOOOO much good music out there, much of it incredibly well recorded.

Ya just gotta spend some time searching for it. I recommend Rhapsody (a bajillion albums, very well organized by genre, a few bucks a month). Question your convictions. Expand your criteria. Try new genres. Loosen up.

"Holy crap how have I never heard this" is mere clicks away, endlessly.

Doesn't rhapsody use compression?

Originally Posted by MonkeyCMonkeyDo

Doesn't Rhapsody use compression?

Yes, and Stitcher too.

Look, the guy has his convictions and his heart is in the right place. It's just a funny spot for this type of discussion. This isn't a media room forum or a high fidelity forum. We drive performance cars that make noise, on streets that make noise, and fly like the wind which makes noise. To each his own, but to me the automobile is not the place to make a stand on sound quality.

I've got CD's and 180 gram vinyl for the stuff I care passionately about, but when it comes to mobility I download and rip and it sounds great on the products those types of compressed sources are optimized for- like iPod's and iPhones and car stereo systems.

BJ

Yeah I couldn't imagine being stuck to just 100 albums. I put my iPhone on shuffle with 16,000 songs. Now that works for me

The hi quality stuff is on the 12 gb drive. And yes there are certain albums that must be crystal.

Originally Posted by otonimus

One issue I see with using an old iPhone instead of a flash drive is that if you leave the car unattended for a few days the battery of the iPhone will die.

Just left my old iPhone in the car for 12 days while we were off on a trip. Phone battery was still at 48% upon our return.

Apple is just pretty good at battery management, especially if the cell radio is off.

Originally Posted by MonkeyCMonkeyDo

Doesn't rhapsody use compression?

Yes it does but otonimus said earlier in the thread he's only using it to find music, not actually listen to it.

Any body use their iPad for music or other functions in their car?

Originally Posted by Bimmermeupscoty

Any body use their iPad for music or other functions in their car?

It would appear unless you are infighting or arguing with another BMW enthusiast, most questions go by the wayside.

I would speculate that the ipad functionality is similar to the iphone with the exception of calls. The iphone however fits better in the arm rest...

Originally Posted by asinow

It would appear unless you are infighting or arguing with another BMW enthusiast, most questions go by the wayside.

I would speculate that the ipad functionality is similar to the iphone with the exception of calls. The iphone however fits better in the arm rest...

That's not very fair.

The poster asked if anyone was using an iPad for music in their car. Since none of us do, none of us responded.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

That's not very fair.

The poster asked if anyone was using an iPad for music in their car. Since none of us do, none of us responded.

BJ

Thanks for responding...That wasn't my point...My point was there is so much contention here it seems, and this is my observation.

A new user asks a question, such as myself, a question he or she needs help with, as trivial as it may seem to you or others, should be responded to, especially from a highly respected user such as yourself, IMO.

With all that said, I'm not picking on you, I respect your position and enjoy reading your posts.

Originally Posted by asinow

Thanks for responding...That wasn't my point...My point was there is so much contention here it seems, and this is my observation.

A new user asks a question, such as myself, a question he or she needs help with, as trivial as it may seem to you or others, should be responded to, especially from a highly respected user such as yourself, IMO.

With all that said, I'm not picking on you, I respect your position and enjoy reading your posts.

I can only speak for myself, but I try very hard to answer all questions that I'm qualified to answer especially when they come from people who are new to the site.

If there are any questions on your mind right now, fire away, I will be happy to help.

BJ

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

I can only speak for myself, but I try very hard to answer all questions that I'm qualified to answer especially when they come from people who are new to the site.

If there are any questions on your mind right now, fire away, I will be happy to help.

BJ

Thanks...I appreciate that. One question I saw on another post of yours, the ASS feature. A pain in the ass...My dealer wants $280 to update the software on my 2013 328i. Did you encounter this when you fixed yours?

BYW, sorry thread for being off topic, we'll stop shortly.

Originally Posted by DavidM1975

Yes it does but otonimus said earlier in the thread he's only using it to find music, not actually listen to it.

bingo

Originally Posted by boltjaM3s

To each his own, but to me the automobile is not the place to make a stand on sound quality.

Totally respectable position. For sure a car is light years from an ideal listening environment, so there's a solid argument to be made for quantity over quality...

For me personally, I hate the sound of compressed audio, and find that it makes any system sound worse, road noise and all... depends on your priorities I guess.

Originally Posted by asinow

Thanks...I appreciate that. One question I saw on another post of yours, the ASS feature. A pain in the ass...My dealer wants $280 to update the software on my 2013 328i. Did you encounter this when you fixed yours?

BYW, sorry thread for being off topic, we'll stop shortly.

It's a free update. Either your dealer is ignorant or is trying to rip you off. Speak to the management office of your dealership, they'll make a call and get it straight.

BJ

Originally Posted by otonimus

Totally respectable position. For sure a car is light years from an ideal listening environment, so there's a solid argument to be made for quantity over quality...

For me personally, I hate the sound of compressed audio, and find that it makes any system sound worse, road noise and all... depends on your priorities I guess.

There is nothing more subjective than sound quality, one man's ears are different than another's, very hard to make an argument either way.

From my experience, a car is the perfect place to choose song quantity over song quality as having 20,000 songs and 2,500 artists at one's fingertips is incredibly convenient and a good use of hard drive space. I haven't used a CD since 2004 and my collection is 80% rips I did over the years at 160kbps and 20% iTunes downloads at 256kbps. To my ears, those songs sound fantastic in my F30 with the standard (European 'premium') audio system as they do on my iPhone/iPod/iTunes devices which, again, are optimized for this type of compression and subsequent decompression.

BJ

Hi BJ,

Thanks for your valuable information.

I read in another thread that you don't recommend the snap-in adapters because it disables one of the crucial features of the Navigation system (when exiting highway, etc.).
My understanding is that you have a beater iPod that sits in your car with a USB connected to it and you connect your iPhone to the car via Bluetooth.

You have a lot of songs and like to keep a lot in your car with a very organized set up (I like the wifi sync to your car in the garage). I don't have that many songs and I like to keep things simple.

Is there any problem with using my iPhone (or the Galaxy Note 2 which I plan to buy soon) as both a music source and for phone calls? Will I be able to use those crucial Navigation features that you mentioned that is not available with iPod Out?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by kkapdolee

Hi BJ,

Thanks for your valuable information.

I read in another thread that you don't recommend the snap-in adapters because it disables one of the crucial features of the Navigation system (when exiting highway, etc.).
My understanding is that you have a beater iPod that sits in your car with a USB connected to it and you connect your iPhone to the car via Bluetooth.

You have a lot of songs and like to keep a lot in your car with a very organized set up (I like the wifi sync to your car in the garage). I don't have that many songs and I like to keep things simple.

Is there any problem with using my iPhone (or the Galaxy Note 2 which I plan to buy soon) as both a music source and for phone calls? Will I be able to use those crucial Navigation features that you mentioned that is not available with iPod Out?

Thanks.

First off, thanks for the 'thank you'; it's always a pleasure to help other BMW owners they way they helped me over the years.

If I am understanding your question properly, you are asking if you 'lose' anything if you plug your iPhone into the USB port in the armrest for music purposes because you'd prefer to use your phone as opposed to a beater iPod.

The answer depends on if you have BMW Assist w/Enhanced Bluetooth and USB or not.

If you do have BMW Assist w/Enhanced Bluetooth and USB you will lose Bluetooth audio when docked. So if you are listening to Pandora or another streamed audio source, it gets turned off when you dock to USB. When phone calls come in, you get disconnected from your music and need to re-launch the streaming app without it automatically resuming the music you were listening to which is annoying. If a text message comes in, you do not hear an audible alert and have to rely on the envelope icon on the iDrive screen which can cause you to miss messages.

If you don't have BMW Assist and are connecting your phone via a "Y" cable, there is no streaming audio so that is not a concern.

It is for these reasons that I opt to use a beater iPod. I don't have to compromise the music experience, and I don't have to compromise the phone experience either. With either option, nothing gets compromised on navigation with split-screen and other features- that's only a quirk of iPod Out which is exclusive to the snap-in adapter approach.

BJ

BJ Thanks.

I was actually thinking about connecting my phone via bluetooth only and no USB as I hate cords. So my question is,

Given that I have BMW Assist w/ Enhanced Bluetooth and USB, will connecting my phone via bluetooth have the same problem as connecting it via USB that you mentioned above? That is, will my music stop when a call comes in and not resume after the call which will require me to reconnect the phone in order to listen to my music again?

My initial plan is to use one device (phone) for both music and phone calls with bluetooth only.

Thanks.