[10101X5]

I put different video under different folders. It seems the car only displays/plays what's under the first folder. Is it correct? Is there a way to view all folders and select? Thanks.

[JC210]

I use dBpoweramp to rip CDs to FLAC and to edit the metadata.
I have two 128GB Sandisk Ultra-fit USB drives (Amazon code dp/B07855LJ99), which fit under the front sliding cover, set up as shown:

\FLAC\CD box 1\CD1\track 1.flac
\FLAC\CD box 1\CD1\track 2.flac
. . .
\FLAC\CD box 1\CD2\track 1.flac
\FLAC\CD box 1\CD2\track 2.flac
. . .
\FLAC\CD box 2\CD1\track 1.flac
\FLAC\CD box 2\CD1\track 2.flac
. . .
\FLAC\CD box 1\CD3\track 1.flac
. . .
\box 1 playlist.m3u
\box 2 playlist.m3u

Example from a playlist file:
FLAC\Karajan 1960s\08 Symphony No.4 in B♭, Op.60\01 Symphony N°4 in B♭, Op.60 - 1. Adagio - Allegro vivace.flac
FLAC\Karajan 1960s\08 Symphony No.4 in B♭, Op.60\02 Symphony N°4 in B♭, Op.60 - 2. Adagio.flac
FLAC\Karajan 1960s\08 Symphony No.4 in B♭, Op.60\03 Symphony N°4 in B♭, Op.60 - 3. Allegro vivace.flac
FLAC\Karajan 1960s\08 Symphony No.4 in B♭, Op.60\04 Symphony N°4 in B♭, Op.60 - 4. Allegro ma non troppo.flac

You can see my playlists, CD boxes, CDs and tracks are named after the full original names and include extended ANSI character sets.
I expected a German car would understand characters like ßàáâãä but I was not sure about sharp ♯ and flat ♭
So far iDrive7 has found them all and played them, including displaying the correct ANSI characters on the control display.
I wish I could display composer as well as artist, I may have to do a mass metadata edit to achieve that.
And long titles don't scroll, you only see the first 30 or so characters.
Each 128GB drive contains 6-8 boxes of 50-60 CDs each.

Originally, I restricted myself to 128GB drives because somewhere here I read that over that size iDrive resumed at the start of the playlist (or disk) rather than where it last was when it stopped, however I have recently copied all this data onto a WD SSD 1TB drive (amazon product code dp/B08F27J5SQ) in the centre armrest, and so far it's worked flawlessly, using playlists to navigate.

[noirmiaskratch]

If I'm reading correctly JC210, the USB port will read USB's up to and including 1TB?

[Nigel1500]

Hello,

The problem with iDrive resuming at the start of the playlist was corrected on 03/2021 update.

I didn't know iDrive would play videos ... I'll be investigating that one!

I have a 512Gb USB-C stick in the centre armrest ... I used to have a 3 1/2" hard disk plugged in there and it actually worked !!!

I currently have about 30Gb of music, mostly MP3 but some FLAC on the USB-C. It's arranged as follows:

USB-C\Alpha\Artist\Album\CD#\

Alpha = I have a folder for each letter of the alphabet, "0-9" (to cover artists such as 5 Seconds of Summer), "Christmas", and "Mix" (to cover various artist albums)

CD# = optional subfolder for if the album has more than one record or CD

I have several small USB sticks for the centre console with new material.

Also, if you rename the device the new name will appear on the screen. I've named my USB sticks, DRAGONFLY, LADYBUG and MANTIS. I think it looks cool in the device list and it's fun for the kids.

eg: MANTIS\Q\Queen\2014 - Queen Forever (Deluxe Ed.)\CD2\I Was Born to Love You

I preface the albums with the year it was released because I like them in chronological order. Skip that if you want them in alphabetical order.

[Nigel1500]

Note to self ... remember to turn on notification before posting replies ...

[Mrmel]

How many files do you have? It seems, that BMW won't see all the files, if you have more like 15000 files. :-( I had to split my collection into 2 usb drives which is quite inconvenient. :-/

[Paladin1]

Originally Posted by Mrmel

How many files do you have? It seems, that BMW won't see all the files, if you have more like 15000 files. :-( I had to split my collection into 2 usb drives which is quite inconvenient. :-/

Correct - the limitation is not the size of the drive but the number of files (14,000 according to the manual) for each drive, which more or less limits the size to around 128Gb. That will still store a lot of media, considering the internal HD storage space (no longer user-accessible in newer cars) was around 20-30Gb.

[Nigel1500]

Good Lord!

Why on earth would BMW set a limit of 14,000 songs? I know that's around 1000 hours of music, but still .... why, why, why?

Could you imagine Apple or Microsoft saying, "Sorry guys, 14,000 files is more than enough!"

[Sonny185]

Remember, Bill Gates once said that 640mb was enough memory for any PC. Go figure.....

[jBwFellow]

Originally Posted by Sonny185

Remember, Bill Gates once said that 640mb was enough memory for any PC. Go figure.....

640Kb

[Paladin1]

The once-Chairman of IBM Thomas Watson famously said, "I think there's a world market for maybe five computers."

[Shanimal]

Originally Posted by Sonny185

Remember, Bill Gates once said that 640mb was enough memory for any PC. Go figure.....

Originally Posted by jBwFellow

640Kb

The DOS based PCs ran on the 8088 CPU with its 1MB Total Memory Space that was (generously split) as 640KB User Space and 384KB System Space.

Youngsters and their Urban Legends... Sheesh...

(Hi, I'm Shanimal, and I can be a bit pedantic...)

[Nigel1500]

Originally Posted by Shanimal

The DOS based PCs ran on the 8088 CPU with its 1MB Total Memory Space that was (generously split) as 640KB User Space and 384KB System Space.

Youngsters and their Urban Legends... Sheesh...

(Hi, I'm Shanimal, and I can be a bit pedantic...)

... with 20Mb hard disks ... like, who'd ever fill all that space up?