[DaveInFL]

I recently bought a 128GB USB stick and popped several FLACs on there to try it out. I store my music in folders as follows:-

Genre > Artist > Album > Song

I was able to navigate a round the USB stick and got down to a particular album and play all the tracks from that album. So far so good. Then I wanted to navigate back up and play all the tracks in a certain genre (my top level folder), for example Oldies, or Pop. Seems I can't do that, or I wasn't able to determine how to do it. If I navigate to Oldies then I have to go into that folder and select an Artist and then an Album.

So, is the smart way just to create playlists and then select the playlist I want to play? If so, then what tool (I've got a Mac) is the best for creating a playlist and would be compatible with the X5? I don't use iTunes and normally use Sonos to play my Flacs when at home, so don't actually have a music app installed on my Mac...LOL.

Appreciate any help on this.

[weinerbarn]

BMW programmed to reject playing oldies. You have to buy a Cadillac for that.

[DaveInFL]

Originally Posted by weinerbarn

BMW programmed to reject playing oldies. You have to buy a Cadillac for that.

Most helpful answer of 2022. Thanks a bunch for that. I'm sure it sounded hilarious before you hit reply!!

[weinerbarn]

Yes, you should probably create playlists. Just need to create m3u file for each playlist which contains the paths to each file(s) you want in the list. Lots of videos out there on how to use VLC media player or even a text editor to do this.

[DaveInFL]

Originally Posted by weinerbarn

Yes, you should probably create playlists. Just need to create m3u file for each playlist which contains the paths to each file(s) you want in the list. Lots of videos out there on how to use VLC media player or even a text editor to do this.

Thanks, I’ll check VLC out and go ahead and create some playlists.

[DaveInFL]

Ok, so I downloaded VLC and created several playlists. I save these playlists in a directory called Playlist, which is under the main directory of Music on the USB drive. So, one the USB drive I have the following:

Music
French
Spanish
Pop
Oldies
Classical
Playlist

When I put the USB drive into the X5 I can see all the folders under Music except the Playlist folder. In addition, if I search for playlists nothing is showing. Really confused as to why the playlists are not showing up. The playlists are in the m3u format. At a total loss now. I would have thought that the BMW interface would simply let me choose a directory and play all the songs under that directory and can't for the life of me work out why BMW decided not to allow this.

As anyone else with a 2023 X5 able to create playlists on their USB drive and see them? It shouldn't be this difficult right?

[DaveInFL]

Anyone help on this? Still not seeing my playlists, so I can't play all the songs I want. All I can do is play a particular album at a time due to how my folder structure is.

[Sonny185]

Just use the center knob of iDrive and push left to the search feature and you can pick from a list on how to search the USB drive. I use that feature all the time.

[DaveInFL]

Originally Posted by Sonny185

Just use the center knob of iDrive and push left to the search feature and you can pick from a list on how to search the USB drive. I use that feature all the time.

Yes, that is what I am doing. Still doesn't let me play all the songs in the subfolders of a directory. I have to go to the lowest level which is where the songs are located. Just seems like a bad design to me.

Worked out how to get the playlist working so that will be fine. For some reason VLC on the Mac wasn't creating the playlists correctly, so had to go with another app and that worked.

[Nigel1500]

Let me have a look at this over the weekend. I've got about 20k songs and a handful of playlists. My folder structure is:

USB\(Alpha)\Artist\Year - Album\CD (if required)\Tracks

eg: Dragonfly\I\INXS\2001 - Shine Like it Does - Anthology\CD1\Original Sin

(Alpha) is folders A - Z, plus Christmas, Mix, and Soundtrack folders - self explanatory.

I use MP3 rather than FLAC.

iDrive will search the Genre based on the file tags, so I don't group my music by Genre. I use Mp3tag to batch edit the tags. It will also add the cover.jpg or cover.pcx to the mp3 file to be displayed on iDrive ... not sure if it works on FLAC.

I have a separate folder for playlists ... Dragonfly\Playlist. I create them using WinAmp. I haven't used a playlist for 6 months or so ... let me give it another test and I'll get back to you.

[Keithwand]

Originally Posted by DaveInFL

Most helpful answer of 2022. Thanks a bunch for that. I'm sure it sounded hilarious before you hit reply!!

Have to admit that was funny.

[Keithwand]

Try using Amazon prime music now that they’ve they’ve changed it. Doesn’t work

[Nigel1500]

Originally Posted by DaveInFL

Anyone help on this? Still not seeing my playlists, so I can't play all the songs I want. All I can do is play a particular album at a time due to how my folder structure is.

OK, I had a little play over the weekend ... I also looked into your problem with playlists ...

Firstly, if I choose Search/Playlist, my playlists appear straight away. My folder structure is \USB\Playlists

Note "Playlists" plural, is a folder straight off the USB root.

Also, here is a sample playlist I tested out on the weekend:

#EXTM3U
\E\Eagles\1976 - Hotel California\01 - Hotel California.mp3
\E\Elton John\1985 - Ice On Fire (CD Issue)\04 Nikita.mp3
\J\Japanese Breakfast\2021 - Jubilee\01 - Paprika.mp3

Here is the same playlist, as generated by WinAmp on PC

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:390,Eagles - Hotel California
\E\Eagles\1976 - Hotel California\01 - Hotel California.mp3
#EXTINF:343,Elton John - Nikita
\E\Elton John\1985 - Ice On Fire (CD Issue)\04 Nikita.mp3
#EXTINF:220,Japanese Breakfast - Paprika
\J\Japanese Breakfast\2021 - Jubilee\01 - Paprika.mp3

As for playing by Genre only, BMW won't do it. You can search by Genre, but once you choose a track it will take you to that album, and play the rest of the album. You will need to make playlists to play various artists of the same Genre.

I've been doing this with BMW's since about 2005, when I burned about 20 DVD's full of MP3 files ... each using different specs ... until I found one that worked ... But the iDrive back then would only handle about 3.2Gb of MP3 ... so I couldn't fill the whole DVD. I digress. My point is, after 17 years of mucking around with music and BMWs, I've found my folder structure to be the simplest to work with:

<Alpha>\<Artist>\<Year - Album>

Make sure you've tagged your FLAC or MP3 music to include:

1. Genre
2. Year
3. Artist
4. Album
5. Track
6. Track Number

You can also add the album cover graphic as an extended tag. MP3Tag will do this, but I'm not sure if it works on Mac.

Just a note on album covers. Keep them small. 300 x 300 is fine ... from the days of my old 530D ... 600 x 600 is about all you need to display in iDrive. Over 1000 x 1000 and they won't display on iDrive.

Good luck.

[thewils]

I gave up on BMW Media being able to play music as I request it. I just loaded up a thumb drive with flacs and mp3s and have it shuffle around sorta simulated random tracks using gestures to skip one if I'm not in the mood. If I want to hear anything specific, then I get Siri to play it off the connected iPhone. If I try to find music while driving using the BMW Media player, i'm gonna crash and that wouldn't be good.