[meyergru]

FWIW:

With Progman v27, large USB sticks in the 6FL switched back to radio after a few minutes, I tested several different ones. This was neither a bad MULF nor the well-known software issue before v27, as my car was built 9/07.

The update to v30 was supposed to fix this problem (and it actually did). But now, some mp3 track's title information are not shown, only the file names. Some investigation showed that this happens when the ID3V2 tag info is larger than approx. 32 KByte. This can happen when you make use of album cover art in ID3 tags, like I do. I assume my initial problem is related to this, maybe they fixed some memory leak by just ignoring ID3V2 headers that seem too big completely.

Also: Beware of v30, it causes turbo lag issues with 335is, just like 29.2!

[kefler]

My car was build Jan 25th 08... I wonder what version I would have then? I've been having this issue with the ID3V2 tags not working as well.. I couldn't figur eout why... i'm pretty sure all my tags are correct... but random songs are just simply "Various Artists" as the artist.


I will now go and check the ID3V2 header size and see if its > 32KB on the ones that dont work and < 32KB on the ones that do.. if thats true, maybe I'll just shrink the cover art in the bigger ones or something.

Thanks for the tip!

[meyergru]

Originally Posted by kefler

I will now go and check the ID3V2 header size and see if its > 32KB on the ones that dont work and < 32KB on the ones that do.. if thats true, maybe I'll just shrink the cover art in the bigger ones or something.

Thanks for the tip!

You're welcome. You can also just delete the cover art on the stick, as the 6FL does not make use of it anyway.

[Mace]

Originally Posted by meyergru

FWIW:

With Progman v27, large USB sticks in the 6FL switched back to radio after a few minutes, I tested several different ones. This was neither a bad MULF nor the well-known software issue before v27, as my car was built 9/07.

The update to v30 was supposed to fix this problem (and it actually did). But now, some mp3 track's title information are not shown, only the file names. Some investigation showed that this happens when the ID3V2 tag info is larger than approx. 32 KByte. This can happen when you make use of album cover art in ID3 tags, like I do. I assume my initial problem is related to this, maybe they fixed some memory leak by just ignoring ID3V2 headers that seem too big completely.

Also: Beware of v30, it causes turbo lag issues with 335is, just like 29.2!

Ok....I'll bite....what's an ID3V2 tag? Just got a 32gb thumb drive and guess that I'll have these problems when I get my car so may as well head it off. Thanks.

[meyergru]

Originally Posted by Mace

Ok....I'll bite....what's an ID3V2 tag? Just got a 32gb thumb drive and guess that I'll have these problems when I get my car so may as well head it off. Thanks.

See here. ID3V2 file headers are one possibility to add metadata information (tags for different items like artist, title, a.s.o.) to the actual raw MP3 audio data stream. Other than the previous fixed-length ID3V1 (which was at the end of the file), one can also add cover art images, for example, although this is not very common. If you have never heard of ID3V2, you are not likely to run into problems. Most ripping programs do not add such "big" tags (only textual information which tends to be smaller), even few ID3 taggers do.

The MP3 playing device (such as the BMW USB audio interface 6FL) interprets this metadata to show title information and thus separates the audio data stream and the ID3V2 tag information.

I assume the 6FL just "sees" an ID3V2 header with its reported length and copies it somewhere else in memory to separate it from the audio data stream and further analyse the metadata information. It has to do something to this extent as there could also be ID2V1 information (even both at the same time are possible). If the destination area is of fixed maximum length, this may have led to overflows and have caused resets in the past and this seems to have been defeated in the new software by limiting the maximum possible ID3V2 header length to around 32 KByte.

[BDMBimmer]

I had the same problem and it came down to the cover art. I found if anything was over 200x200 in size the tracks would not get sorted. So it must have been the ID tag size.

[meyergru]

Good news: BMW admitted I was completely right regarding the ID3V2 problems. Becker - the OEM that makes the 6FL - will integrate a fix in an upcoming version.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by BDMBimmer

I had the same problem and it came down to the cover art. I found if anything was over 200x200 in size the tracks would not get sorted. So it must have been the ID tag size.

It's actually related to a ping timeout from the iPod, typically with larger tracks or when the iPod is set to Shuffle. When the vehicle does not receive a response withing a certain window - it assumes there is no iPod connected.

Glad to know the problem was recognized and a fix is underway.

[StarrDlux]

have you seen the idrive revert to dos 8.3 file naming yet? mine did and files were like
thesmi~s

every dir was in dos 8.3 format. oddly after a few restarts it went away. i was like wtf i haven't seen this is a long time. lol.

i think idrive has memory leaks and runs out of ram all the time esp. with an 8.5GB DVD+R DL drive with lots of mp3's. i know its not what you got but i think the flaw may be in another area since the radio ( and idrive) freaks the heck out and chooses random start (FM,CD,DVD) start points somedays. Other days it will be in the CD DIR showing while its playing the DVD+RL DL songs. i've given up on this software i want my money back for it. Either give us the source to fix it or something but i called this microsoft bmw idrive. and its vXworks RTOS so one would figure it wouldn't be plagued with microsoft (windows CE) bull sheot.

I was thinking my next unit would be idrive with usb adaptor but now i wonder if the radio itself is crapping out on large volumes.

[meyergru]

Originally Posted by StarrDlux

I was thinking my next unit would be idrive with usb adaptor but now i wonder if the radio itself is crapping out on large volumes.

It may be that there is some bug in the radio software as well (which is responsible for the CD/DVD MP3 audio), but the 6FL is a completely separate unit. It has its own memory which it uses to cache the ID3 title info of up to four separate memory sticks (when you connect a new stick, it takes a long time scanning it before you can access playlists).

I don't even know if the ID3 tags of MP3s from the optical drives are shown at all or if its only the file names... I think on my E46, it basically was like that.

Whatsoever, I assume your bug has nothing in common with mine, except that they both may be memory leaks - although in different units.

[BDMBimmer]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

It's actually related to a ping timeout from the iPod, typically with larger tracks or when the iPod is set to Shuffle. When the vehicle does not receive a response withing a certain window - it assumes there is no iPod connected.

Glad to know the problem was recognized and a fix is underway.

I was actually using a memory stick. All the big files went under "Various Artist, Various Album" but the track names would show up fine.

Also glad to know about the fix.