Music files in new F80/82 cars

[tisme]

In my old e90, I stored my mp3 files on the internal hard drive. In the car I currently have I am using a micro-USB stick to store the music, something like this:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-...sb-flash-drive

Questions:

Where are you all going to store your music? On the internal spinning iron platters in the hard drive or on a USB stick?

Also, does anyone know if the new media system will play .flac files?

[jc1654M4]

Honestly, I'm just going to stream the music from iPhone via Bluetooth. All my music is on my phone so I don't need to store anything in the actual car

[jbraslins]

Originally Posted by jc1654M4

Honestly, I'm just going to stream the music from iPhone via Bluetooth. All my music is on my phone so I don't need to store anything in the actual car

What he said.

[pillpusher84]

Yes ... NBT headunit will play flac files ... I have the B&O system in my 550xi and it's the only type of audio files I have in the car. It's the only thing I will listen to because of the sound quality ... everything else sounds like shit to me.

I keep everything on a 1TB hard drive enclosure plugged into the center USB port.

Bluetooth audio vs. FLAC on a USB drive is no comparison ... flac files are 1000% better quality ... 0% audio compression!!

[bh1cqx]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

Yes ... NBT headunit will play flac files ... I have the B&O system in my 550xi and it's the only type of audio files I have in the car. It's the only thing I will listen to because of the sound quality ... everything else sounds like shit to me.

I keep everything on a 1TB hard drive enclosure plugged into the center USB port.

Bluetooth audio vs. FLAC on a USB drive is no comparison ... flac files are 1000% better quality ... 0% audio compression!!

Thanks for the info. Didn't know it supports flac. Is there a limit of the size of the USB drive?

[Holset]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

Yes ... NBT headunit will play flac files ... I have the B&O system in my 550xi and it's the only type of audio files I have in the car. It's the only thing I will listen to because of the sound quality ... everything else sounds like shit to me.

I keep everything on a 1TB hard drive enclosure plugged into the center USB port.

Bluetooth audio vs. FLAC on a USB drive is no comparison ... flac files are 1000% better quality ... 0% audio compression!!

Great to hear that it can play FLAC but does it see the FLAC files as WAV format?
I have read that the NBT can play the WAV format and i remember my PS3 showing WAV when playing FLAC files ,WAV is often used as a raw uncompressed audio format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC

[Caelric]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

Yes ... NBT headunit will play flac files ... I have the B&O system in my 550xi and it's the only type of audio files I have in the car. It's the only thing I will listen to because of the sound quality ... everything else sounds like shit to me.

I keep everything on a 1TB hard drive enclosure plugged into the center USB port.

Bluetooth audio vs. FLAC on a USB drive is no comparison ... flac files are 1000% better quality ... 0% audio compression!!

Yeah, bluetooth is pretty bad audio quality. I can't be bothered to re-rip any of my music files to FLAC, as I originally ripped them in mp3 320 kpbs, which is pretty good, good enough for me. I did do a blind test with myself to see if I could tell the difference between 320 kbps and FLAC, and I couldn't tell the difference, in the ~10 tracks I did on the test. Certainly could tell the difference between 128 kbps mp3s and 320 kbps mp3s, though.

[pillpusher84]

Originally Posted by Caelric

Yeah, bluetooth is pretty bad audio quality. I can't be bothered to re-rip any of my music files to FLAC, as I originally ripped them in mp3 320 kpbs, which is pretty good, good enough for me. I did do a blind test with myself to see if I could tell the difference between 320 kbps and FLAC, and I couldn't tell the difference, in the ~10 tracks I did on the test. Certainly could tell the difference between 128 kbps mp3s and 320 kbps mp3s, though.

What are you curently driving / sound system option? I agree with you ... couldn't tell the difference on my "Premium Audio System" in my '11 535 ... but on the B&O ... very noticeable!

[pillpusher84]

Originally Posted by Holset

Great to hear that it can play FLAC but does it see the FLAC files as WAV format?
I have read that the NBT can play the WAV format and i remember my PS3 showing WAV when playing FLAC files ,WAV is often used as a raw uncompressed audio format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC

The system simply shows the track in question .... the system doesn't differentiate between file types in the media list. BMWs NBT headunit will play WAVs as well ... so whatever your poison for uncompressed audio ... it would be my preference.

I have only tried a 1GB drive ... but I assume there is no limit to what the system can read. I believe the system will only read a FAT32 format, which I have ... so my guess is 4GB limit to drive size, as that is the max FAT32 can do.

[Caelric]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

What are you curently driving / sound system option? I agree with you ... couldn't tell the difference on my "Premium Audio System" in my '11 535 ... but on the B&O ... very noticeable!

Not driving anything right now, deployed to Afghanistan. My previous car was an Infiniti G35 with a custom sound system, Alpine based, but even on the stock sound system you can tell the difference between 128 and 320. I did the blind taste on my in home computer though, which has a good sound card and good speakers.

[pillpusher84]

Originally Posted by Caelric

Not driving anything right now, deployed to Afghanistan. My previous car was an Infiniti G35 with a custom sound system, Alpine based, but even on the stock sound system you can tell the difference between 128 and 320. I did the blind taste on my in home computer though, which has a good sound card and good speakers.

I totally agree with you on the 128 v. 320 topic ... but on a good system you will absolutely notice a difference between flac (any lossless audio) and 320 MP3s.

Seveal years ago (in my younger days) ... I did the same on my '06 TL-S ... completely ripped out the garbage stock system and did all custom audio with 3SIXTY sound processor, time delays, etc and high-end alpine amps, subs, etc

I could tell the difference then, as well as on my current B&O setup between 320 MPs and FLAC. (had lossless audio functionality through the 3SIXTY)

on another note ... thank you for your service to our country!

[Holset]

Originally Posted by pillpusher84

The system simply shows the track in question .... the system doesn't differentiate between file types in the media list. BMWs NBT headunit will play WAVs as well ... so whatever your poison for uncompressed audio ... it would be my preference.

I have only tried a 1GB drive ... but I assume there is no limit to what the system can read. I believe the system will only read a FAT32 format, which I have ... so my guess is 4GB limit to drive size, as that is the max FAT32 can do.

Ok i understand.

Depending on type FAT32 has a drive limit of 2-16TB and max file size 2-4GB up to 256GB with FAT32+.

[SteveSpy]

Originally Posted by Holset

Ok i understand.

Depending on type FAT32 has a drive limit of 2-16TB and max file size 2-4GB up to 256GB with FAT32+.

On the subject, can somebody confirm for me that it will read FAT32+ though? I would need a 64Gb stick to put all of my music on it and it would be great if I could simply leave it in there and not have to fuss with Bluetooth (cellphone battery drain) and stupid playlists...

[///M ARMY]

Right now I am using a 16GB USB to store all of my music. Wasn't able to store it on the hard drive.

[tisme]

Originally Posted by sspyrops

On the subject, can somebody confirm for me that it will read FAT32+ though? I would need a 64Gb stick to put all of my music on it and it would be great if I could simply leave it in there and not have to fuss with Bluetooth (cellphone battery drain) and stupid playlists...

I'm using a 32GB stick in my F80

[SteveSpy]

Originally Posted by tisme

I'm using a 32GB stick in my F80

Do you know what file format it is using?

[tisme]

Originally Posted by sspyrops

Do you know what file format it is using?

I'll check it later, it was formatted on a PC, not a Mac.

[SteveSpy]

Originally Posted by tisme

I'll check it later, it was formatted on a PC, not a Mac.

Right, what I need to know is the file system. It is either FAT32 or NTFS then.

[ibimmer954]

Yes, it will read FAT32.

[DC2015F80]

My CA advised me that the internal hard drive can only handle 20 GB. So I imagine anything more would require a thumb drive or hard drive installed full-time.

[jc05e46m3]

I'm using a USB stick as well with FLAC files. One problem though, some of the albums I load in the stick do not show up at all! Anyone else experience this?

[mic_crispy]

Originally Posted by jc05e46m3

I'm using a USB stick as well with FLAC files. One problem though, some of the albums I load in the stick do not show up at all! Anyone else experience this?

I'm doing the same and have not noticed anything missing yet.