[Ninefourteener]

Yea... I did it. Eat my butt.

There's been a lot of questions regarding the retrofit CD player in the glovebox of a G05.... and not a whole lot of specifics regarding part numbers.

I asked my dealer to find it, order it, and install it before I pick up the car.

I'm in Europe (buying a US spec car).... so I can't read Dutch (or German obviously.... as I was corrected later in this thread - LOL). But, basically this is the CD player, and the necessary tray to hold it in the glovebox.

385 Euro..... so a little over $400. Installation will be more obviously (actually nope... this includes installation, as I was also corrected on - LOL).... but worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.

So.... poke fun all you want.... but when I buy old, cool CDs at pawn shops or thrift stores.... I'll be jammin out in my beautiful ride.... while you're on your computer trying to download it onto a thumb drive.

Yea..... that was a stab.... Whatcha got punk?? Lol.

But seriously.... I know my M50i comes "pre-wired for a CD player"... whatever that means. I'm not sure about any other G05 models. Before ordering, please be sure to check your specific car.

Hope this helps.

[homerrr]

Originally Posted by Ninefourteener

Yea... I did it. Eat my butt.

There's been a lot of questions regarding the retrofit CD player in the glovebox of a G05.... and not a whole lot of specifics regarding part numbers.

I asked my dealer to find it, order it, and install it before I pick up the car.

I'm in Europe (buying a US spec car).... so I can't read Dutch. But, basically this is the CD player, and the necessary tray to hold it in the glovebox.

385 Euro..... so a little over $400. Installation will be more obviously.... but worth every penny as far as I'm concerned.

So.... poke fun all you want.... but when I buy old, cool CDs at pawn shops or thrift stores.... I'll be jammin out in my beautiful ride.... while you're on your computer trying to download it onto a thumb drive.

Yea..... that was a stab.... Whatcha got punk?? Lol.

But seriously.... I know my M50i comes "pre-wired for a CD player"... whatever that means. I'm not sure about any other G05 models. Before ordering, please be sure to check your specific car.

Hope this helps.

I have good news for you and bad news....
First the bad news: you don't know your languages! That's not Dutch but German....in German, German is Deutsch, so you're forgiven on grounds of being American....and I don't mean it in a bad way.
The good news is that montage means installation, so your €385 ish euro includes installation!
Smart move buying the specialized CD converter that allows you to convert the CDs onto a USB drive you plug into the CD player so you can then put that USB into the car to listen to the music....oh wait, that's what you would expect BMW to do to us, but strangely they didn't....

[Ninefourteener]

Originally Posted by homerrr

I have good news for you and bad news....
First the bad news: you don't know your languages! That's not Dutch but German....in German, German is Deutsch, so you're forgiven on grounds of being American....and I don't mean it in a bad way.
The good news is that montage means installation, so your €385 ish euro includes installation!
Smart move buying the specialized CD converter that allows you to convert the CDs onto a USB drive you plug into the CD player so you can then put that USB into the car to listen to the music....oh wait, that's what you would expect BMW to do to us, but strangely they didn't....

Thanks!!! So that price INCLUDES installation?? Sweet!!

In my previous BMW (2016 340i)... I had about 35 CDs loaded onto the hard drive. But, when I decided to trade it in, and buy a car that didn't have a CD player, I went through the PAINSTAKING process of uploading every CD I have... about 110 of them.... onto my BMWs hard drive... a CD at a time.... which took 5-8 minutes each.

Then... I exported all 110 CDs onto a jump drive from my car.

So... I do have all my CDs loaded digitally..... but I'm one of those weird people that still likes to buy CDs. So I have no doubt there will be more of them. For a little over $400 to ensure that my CD collection doesn't just get left behind in a box in the basement (like all my high school cassettes)..... I figured for me, it was worth the investment.

[homerrr]

I'm with you on the CDs, en just because of the way Bmw indexes the albums etc. Haven't uploaded cds to my current G05 (but that's because I don't have the CD player like some people do....), I can only imagine it hasn't become any better.
Does it play DVD also?

[Ninefourteener]

Originally Posted by homerrr

I'm with you on the CDs, en just because of the way Bmw indexes the albums etc. Haven't uploaded cds to my current G05 (but that's because I don't have the CD player like some people do....), I can only imagine it hasn't become any better.
Does it play DVD also?

I honestly have no idea. In fact, my dealer actually said it was a CD "changer" in his email.... whereas the part itself, describes it as a CD "player". And, there's no "pictures" to be found anywhere on the internet. I seriously have no idea what I'm getting.

Truth be told.... it took over a week just to get this. Apparently they had a hard time figuring out what the correct parts were.

Whatever... it plays CDs. thats all I care about.

When I pick up the car, you better believe I will post pictures and a review of it. I "think" I'm the only one on this forum that will have one. Some will make fun of me... and that's ok. Many will consider it "help" making their own decision.

[homerrr]

I'm almost certain you're not the only one with it, just the only one that has the courage to confess to it...

[Ninefourteener]

Originally Posted by homerrr

I'm almost certain you're not the only one with it, just the only one that has the courage to confess to it...

Hey... whatever.... I fly my CD-player pride flag proudly

Notice I updated my forum signature?? LOL

[homerrr]

Nice!

Now I hope they get the European map thing figured out so you don't have to stick a Garmin to the windshield...

[Ninefourteener]

Originally Posted by homerrr

Nice!

Now I hope they get the European map thing figured out so you don't have to stick a Garmin to the windshield...

Tell me about it. Waiting... PATIENTLY.

[Paladin1]

Cool - rock on! I understand the nostalgia, but I confess I don't have a CD player - in my house or my car. What I do have is this ($15):



And this ($40):



It takes about 3 minutes to rip an average CD to the drive, and it holds about 400 of my favorite CDs, some dating back to 1983. Collectively, those specific CDs weigh about 78 pounds. And they occupy loosely about 6 cubic feet of space, in their shiny plastic cases. They occupy about 1/4 of the drive pictured, which weighs 2.1g (I had to use a jeweler's scale), and less than an inch square. With the drive plugged unobtrusively into my front console, I can search by composer, artist, title, album (with cover art), skip albums or tracks, or play a custom playlist I build. And more. Essentially instantly. And I can add new CDs whenever I want, up to the limit of the drive, because I keep all the files on my PC, backed up to a 4TB drive so they will never be lost. So I can play them on my computer as well, or burn as many copies as I want to other drives, to play on other devices.

Back in the old days, when I had a CD player in my car (it was actually in the dash, so I didn't need to open the glovebox, which was an addition on later cars), I fished for a CD case, opened it, removed the CD and inserted it into the drive slot. All while driving! Ah, bliss! I could then listen to the CD - fast forward, reverse, or eject. Not a huge amount of choices. On later cars, I could even look at the tracks, although it took awhile for the disk to spin up to read it. When I finished listening to that CD, less than an hour or so generally, I pushed the eject button, took out the CD, fished for the case, replaced the CD, and fished for another one. Sometimes the CD would skip on playback. Sometimes it wouldn't read, and I had to eject and reinsert. And I never, ever left the cases in the car. Hot summer days played hell with the plastic. You could even get a multi-CD player, that I had in one BMW - in the trunk - and it held I believe 6 CDs. Six! No more swapping! At least up to six. And a good thing, because it was, well, in the trunk.

Before that, I had hundreds of vinyl albums. We called them "records." You needed a rather large spinning plate to play them, and they held maybe 6 or 7 songs on one side - then you had to turn it over. You could get stackable players, but no self-respecting audiophile used them - too easy to easy to scratch a "record." And it used a "tonearm" with a "needle" in it, that had to be periodically replaced and was rather delicate. The box with the spinning plate could weigh several pounds - in fact, some weighed 30 or 40 pounds or more, so not really a candidate for portability. So when CDs came out, I switched of course, over time, because it was much more convenient. And much more functional. I realize I completely skipped reel-to-reel, 8-track, and cassette tapes - a topic for another day. But there is a reason they don't exist in any currently manufactured automobile (reel-to-reel never did).

I do miss vinyl, and CDs. Cleaning and polishing the album, finding just the right needle, admiring the sleeve art, watching the platter spin at 33 RPM. Or holding a new CD case, smelling the fresh plastic, fiddling with the controls on the player and playing a new album for the first time (Abbey Road on a CD!), with no pops, skips or track jumps like the vinyl record. Progress! Yep, I miss that. Just not in my car.

[homerrr]

Thank you for taking the time to write that. Of course you have plenty of time now that you don't have to spend it on looking for CDs and swap them put etc....

[VTENGR]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Cool - rock on! I understand the nostalgia, but I confess I don't have a CD player - in my house or my car. What I do have is this ($15):

It takes about 3 minutes to rip an average CD to the drive, and it holds about 400 of my favorite CDs, some dating back to 1983. Collectively, those specific CDs weigh about 78 pounds. And they occupy loosely about 4 cubic feet of space, in their shiny plastic cases. They occupy about 1/4 of the drive pictured, which weighs 2.1g (I had to use a jeweler's scale), and less than an inch square. With the drive plugged unobtrusively into my front console, I can search by composer, artist, title, album (with cover art), skip albums or tracks, or play a custom playlist I build. And more. Essentially instantly. And I can add new CDs whenever I want, up to the limit of the drive, because I keep all the files on my PC, backed up to a 4TB drive so they will never be lost. So I can play them on my computer as well, or burn as many copies as I want to other drives, to play on other devices.

Back in the old days, when I had a CD player in my car (it was actually in the dash, so I didn't need to open the glovebox, which was an addition on later cars), I fished for a CD case, opened it, removed the CD and inserted it into the drive slot. All while driving! Ah, bliss! I could then listen to the CD - fast forward, reverse, or eject. Not a huge amount of choices. On later cars, I could even look at the tracks, although it took awhile for the disk to spin up to read it. When I finished listening to that CD, less than an hour or so generally, I pushed the eject button, took out the CD, fished for the case, replaced the CD, and fished for another one. Sometimes the CD would skip on playback. Sometimes it wouldn't read, and I had to eject and reinsert. And I never, ever left the cases in the car. Hot summer days played hell with the plastic. You could even get a multi-CD player, that I had in one BMW - in the trunk - and it held I believe 6 CDs. Six! No more swapping! At least up to six. And a good thing, because it was, well, in the trunk.

Before that, I had hundreds of vinyl albums. We called them "records." You needed a rather large spinning plate to play them, and they held maybe 6 or 7 songs on one side - then you had to turn it over. You could get stackable players, but no self-respecting audiophile used them - too easy to easy to scratch a "record." And it used a "tonearm" with a "needle" in it, that had to be periodically replaced and was rather delicate. The box with the spinning plate could weigh several pounds - in fact, some weighed 30 or 40 pounds or more, so not really a candidate for portability. So when CDs came out, I switched of course, over time, because it was much more convenient. And much more functional. I realize I completely skipped reel-to-reel, 8-track, and cassette tapes - a topic for another day. But there is a reason they don't exist in any currently manufactured automobile (reel-to-reel never did).

I do miss vinyl, and CDs. Cleaning and polishing the album, finding just the right needle, admiring the sleeve art, watching the platter spin at 33 RPM. Or holding a new CD case, smelling the fresh plastic, fiddling with the controls on the player and playing a new album for the first time (Abbey Road on a CD!), with no pops, skips or track jumps like the vinyl record. Progress! Yep, I miss that. Just not in my car.

I haven't ripped a CD since college, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. When ripping a CD, will the program default to highest possible music format? I have a bunch of CDs that I created from MP3s that I can't remember the bit rate, I'm hoping it's at least 192kbps. However, "college me" probably didn't care too much about lossy vs lossless music formats at the time. My hard drive that stored all those MP3s has long been destroyed, so the CDs are my only copy. I don't want to rip the MP3 CD in FLAC format and have a file needlessly large. I also don't want to have a bunch of music files that are all different file types - will that throw the radio off - having all the MP3s together and all the FLAC files together?

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by homerrr

Thank you for taking the time to write that. Of course you have plenty of time now that you don't have to spend it on looking for CDs and swap them put etc....

You're welcome! Half joking, but serious when it comes to safety and convenience (sound is equivalent - the FLAC digital files are lossless, and really make the most of the B&W). Another digital - really plus - is that the new X5 seems to understand voice commands for music. Still experimenting, but I've been able to "Hey BMW, play album "XXX." If that works reliably it will be awesome. Don't try that with a CD, boys and girls.

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by VTENGR

I haven't ripped a CD since college, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. When ripping a CD, will the program default to highest possible music format? I have a bunch of CDs that I created from MP3s that I can't remember the bit rate, I'm hoping it's at least 192kbps. However, "college me" probably didn't care too much about lossy vs lossless music formats at the time. My hard drive that stored all those MP3s has long been destroyed, so the CDs are my only copy. I don't want to rip the MP3 CD in FLAC format and have a file needlessly large. I also don't want to have a bunch of music files that are all different file types - will that throw the radio off - having all the MP3s together and all the FLAC files together?

Depends on your software, but generally yes; dBpoweramp has been great for ripping with almost every CD (even obscure labels) in their database. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless format, so you basically get what you started with - it won't improve the existing sound, but it won't degrade it either. Currently a gun battle between FLAC and MP3 for standardization, but time will sort it out. File size was a consideration in the days when megabits were expensive, but you can get a 256G drive that will hold as many CDs as you care to own (for most) for about $40. The audio system in the X5 recognizes and plays both FLAC and MP3 files (and other formats as well I believe, like WAV) and you could even have a mix in one album. I have a number of computer downloads that are MP3, and I've usually just copied them straight, although you could convert them (no point really). Album art is a bit tricky, but the format for an album with music files is that it may contain a Folder.jpg file with the art (usually 800x800, but it reads down to 500x500 as well in my experience), or the album art may actually be part of the file. If the rip doesn't include the album art you can just search for it online (dBpoweramp actually does that), edit the JPG to 800x800 and include it in the playlist as Folder.jpg and the car will read it fine. Sample playlist:

[VTENGR]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Depends on your software, but generally yes; dBpoweramp has been great for ripping with almost every CD (even obscure labels) in their database. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless format, so you basically get what you started with - it won't improve the existing sound, but it won't degrade it either. Currently a gun battle between FLAC and MP3 for standardization, but time will sort it out. File size was a consideration in the days when megabits were expensive, but you can get a 256G drive that will hold as many CDs as you care to own (for most) for about $40.

So if I burned a CD with MP3s at 192kbps, does the burner software uncompress that MP3 back to it's OG state, or is all that compressed data that happened during the ripping process gone for good.

[Ninefourteener]

There's an incredible amount of knowledge presented in this thread.... I'm not sure what language it's in though, because I didn't understand a word of it.... lol.

I get it.... CDs are outdated. Cool.

I'm still gonna buy em.... still gonna play em. Guess I'm old. lol.

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by VTENGR

So if I burned a CD with MP3s at 192kbps, does the burner software uncompress that MP3 back to it's OG state, or is all that compressed data that happened during the ripping process gone for good.

As far as I know it's gone for good - just like a photograph with a compressed JPG file, you can't generate data that doesn't exist. Once a file is compressed the data is lost (otherwise it would be the original size). But the good news is that MP3 files play very well, and you need to be pretty discriminating to tell the difference (admittedly some are). The original compression in MP3 files deleted data that most humans couldn't hear.

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by Ninefourteener

There's an incredible amount of knowledge presented in this thread.... I'm not sure what language it's in though, because I didn't understand a word of it.... lol.

I get it.... CDs are outdated. Cool.

I'm still gonna buy em.... still gonna play em. Guess I'm old. lol.

You go Daddy-O!

[VTENGR]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

As far as I know it's gone for good - just like a photograph with a compressed JPG file, you can't generate data that doesn't exist. Once a file is compressed the data is lost (otherwise it would be the original size). But the good news is that MP3 files play very well, and you need to be pretty discriminating to tell the difference (admittedly some are). The original compression in MP3 files deleted data that most humans couldn't hear.

Thanks for the help!

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by VTENGR

Thanks for the help!

You bet! Most of the time compression won't matter at all, and certainly on the B&W system it'll sound great. The type of music is significant - for the final violin solo in Scheherazade, it matters. A lot. Particularly if First Violin is your sweetie. For Janis Joplin, not so much.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by Paladin1

Depends on your software, but generally yes; dBpoweramp has been great for ripping with almost every CD (even obscure labels) in their database. FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless format, so you basically get what you started with - it won't improve the existing sound, but it won't degrade it either. Currently a gun battle between FLAC and MP3 for standardization, but time will sort it out. File size was a consideration in the days when megabits were expensive, but you can get a 256G drive that will hold as many CDs as you care to own (for most) for about $40. The audio system in the X5 recognizes and plays both FLAC and MP3 files (and other formats as well I believe, like WAV) and you could even have a mix in one album. I have a number of computer downloads that are MP3, and I've usually just copied them straight, although you could convert them (no point really). Album art is a bit tricky, but the format for an album with music files is that it may contain a Folder.jpg file with the art (usually 800x800, but it reads down to 500x500 as well in my experience), or the album art may actually be part of the file. If the rip doesn't include the album art you can just search for it online (dBpoweramp actually does that), edit the JPG to 800x800 and include it in the playlist as Folder.jpg and the car will read it fine. Sample playlist:

Attachment 2196389

Great writeup. The only thing I can add is I would say there isn't a gun battle between FLAC and MP3 for standardization as they are on two opposite sides of the spectrum.

FLAC is the simplest terms is about compressing a WAV file without losing its fidelity at all. WAV files are the clearest sound, but are uncompressed and massive as a result. It gets more nuanced in that WAV is a container and not a audio format, but lets keep it sane for now.

MP3 is about compressing a WAV file, but removing all of the sound that a human can't hear (according to the designers of MP3 anyway). So you're left with a much much smaller file that sounds very neutered IMHO. Of course, YMMV.

FLAC is now coming to the fore because of a desire for lossless now that we no longer have the space and bandwidth constraints of the early 2000s. So a 50MB FLAC file for a song isn't a big deal anymore. And MP3s sound bad IMHO.

But I would say FLAC and MP3 will coexist occupying separate ends of the spectrum. FLAC focusing on higher quality without caring for space or bandwidth and MP3 will still be the best choice when you have limited space and/or bandwidth.

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by LogicalApex

Great writeup. The only thing I can add is I would say there isn't a gun battle between FLAC and MP3 for standardization as they are on two opposite sides of the spectrum.

FLAC is the simplest terms is about compressing a WAV file without losing its fidelity at all. WAV files are the clearest sound, but are uncompressed and massive as a result. It gets more nuanced in that WAV is a container and not a audio format, but lets keep it sane for now.

MP3 is about compressing a WAV file, but removing all of the sound that a human can't hear (according to the designers of MP3 anyway). So you're left with a much much smaller file that sounds very neutered IMHO. Of course, YMMV.

FLAC is now coming to the fore because of a desire for lossless now that we no longer have the space and bandwidth constraints of the early 2000s. So a 50MB FLAC file for a song isn't a big deal anymore. And MP3s sound bad IMHO.

But I would say FLAC and MP3 will coexist occupying separate ends of the spectrum. FLAC focusing on higher quality without caring for space or bandwidth and MP3 will still be the best choice when you have limited space and/or bandwidth.

All correct of course. My meaning was that we may eventually see lossy formats like MP3 disappear in non-streaming media. FLAC files (though still compressed) may be as much as 6x the size of lossy compressed files, but they will still fit on a CD, and technology now doesn't limit either size or cost in other media like USB. JPEG and RAW files in photography are somewhat of a comparison, but JPEG isn't going anywhere soon - the size differential there can be100x or more, so JPEG will coexist with uncompressed photographic files for some time to come. With the increased quality and competitive cost of playback equipment, and increasingly dropping costs - and compact form factor - of storage, using lossy compression on an audio file may make less sense in the future.