2007 BMW X5 stock audio and MP3 capability

Hi Does anyone know if the stock audio system in the 2007 BMW X5 3.0 support playing MP3 cds? The BMW website says

"Anti-theft AM/FM stereo CD radio with Radio Data System (RDS), MP3 capabilities, and 3-channel FM diversity antenna system"

What does MP3 capability mean? Does the player support playing MP3 cds?

Mine's still being built, so I can't verify it for sure, but from the manual:

"CDs with compressed audio files, i.e. MP3, can be played by the CD player"

Originally Posted by raoden

Hi Does anyone know if the stock audio system in the 2007 BMW X5 3.0 support playing MP3 cds? The BMW website says

"Anti-theft AM/FM stereo CD radio with Radio Data System (RDS), MP3 capabilities, and 3-channel FM diversity antenna system"

What does MP3 capability mean? Does the player support playing MP3 cds?

Yes, it can play MP3 but I found it a little more sensitive to "bumps/skip" with MP3 burned CD compared to originally recorded store bought CDs.

It is also a little sensitive to the way the disk is created. I have a CD with MP3's that if I play a specific track the disk reader stops working completely. Basically to get any disk to work you have to turn off the X5 for 15 minutes (time for the system to reset). I have been informed that the navigation enabled X5's do not have the same problem.

Hi BartLee, radel and Alistair,
Thanks for your response. I did finally find the 07 X5 manual on X5World.com. As Bartlee said the manual says that the stock player does play MP3 cds. I am planning on getting my X5 with the navigation system. So lets see how it goes. Thx again for the responses.

It does play MP3s, but it is a bit retarded. When listing them on the screen (iDrive), it is necessary to turn the iDrive knob past the resistance point to scroll down beyond the current screen. So, the knob literally vibrates in the hand as the screen scrolls down---line by line.

It does play them, and one can merely use the buttons to go to the next and prior song, but the visual is really what is valuable. It's probably another bug in iDrive. It does this with real-time traffic as well. (When scrolling through incidents.)

Joel

Originally Posted by JBHorner

It does play MP3s, but it is a bit retarded. When listing them on the screen (iDrive), it is necessary to turn the iDrive knob past the resistance point to scroll down beyond the current screen. So, the knob literally vibrates in the hand as the screen scrolls down---line by line.

It does play them, and one can merely use the buttons to go to the next and prior song, but the visual is really what is valuable. It's probably another bug in iDrive. It does this with real-time traffic as well. (When scrolling through incidents.)

Joel

Is your car an early X5? I wonder if the newer cars with V25.1 and later software have the same issues.

Originally Posted by JBHorner

It does play MP3s, but it is a bit retarded. When listing them on the screen (iDrive), it is necessary to turn the iDrive knob past the resistance point to scroll down beyond the current screen. So, the knob literally vibrates in the hand as the screen scrolls down---line by line.

It does play them, and one can merely use the buttons to go to the next and prior song, but the visual is really what is valuable. It's probably another bug in iDrive. It does this with real-time traffic as well. (When scrolling through incidents.)

Joel

If you press the sterling up/down button briefly, it will scroll to the next or priior track.
If you press the sterling up/down button continuously, it will fast forward or backward.
IMHO, I think that is really a smart setup.

The new software does not change the above issues with playing cds with mp3s.

Originally Posted by R_Mak

If you press the sterling up/down button briefly, it will scroll to the next or priior track.
If you press the sterling up/down button continuously, it will fast forward or backward.
IMHO, I think that is really a smart setup.

The button setup is pretty common, and mimics what I've had on other cars. But the iDrive should have an ability to scroll through all of the songs with "fighting" with the knob.

I have THE latest software (upgraded---again---on Monday), which the dealer needed to install to fix the RTTI that was broken with the prior version. I was told it was 25.1.1.

Joel

Please help me, I can't tune exactly AM/ FM stations even I choose Manual mode. For example, I ave an FM station @100.00Mhz but the E70 radio can not scan it, in Manual Mode, I can only tune 99.9Mhz or 100.1Mhz, can not tune 100.00Mhz. It's similar in AM band, I can tune an AM station @675khz because it always steps 10khz (670-680-690...). How can I do? Thanks for ur attn.

None my cars with digital tuners will tune the stations you mention. I believe FM radio stations in the U.S. (and I presume Canada) are allocated in .2 MHz blocks, with the tuning done in the middle. So, the allocated spectrum for FM is from 87.8 to 108.0 MHz. So, the lowest "channel" starts at 87.8 and ends at 88.0. The middle is 87.9, which is what a radio will tune.

The same is similar for AM, though it is assigned in 10 kHz spacing in the Americas. (Though it does go in increments of 9 kHz elsewhere.)

It is very odd that you would have a radio station at the border of the channel if you're in the Americas. If you are not, it sounds like the software for your vehicle is setup for Americas.

Joel

You are right, I am not in North America, I'm in Asia. Thanks anyway, Joel. But can I upgrade my car software and how to do that?