I have an 01 M5 and an 02 M3 convertible, each with the standard trunk-based CD player/changer. I would like to get a whole lot more capacity and function and was wondering if anyone knew of any BMW-compatible (i.e., interfaces and integrates in the same way as the stock one) MP3 player or a CD changer that has an MP3 (or other digital media, e.g., wmi) decoder.
The reason is obvious. Hi-res MP3 consumes about 1MB per minute of music and with a capacity of about 650MB, a data CD would hold about 10 to 15 average music CD contents. WMI is even denser. Yet better would be a disk-based MP3 player that had a CD player interface. This could yield yet far more capacity and be easier to program.
Does anyone know of any source for either of these or one imminently available? I bet people would be willing to pay a lot for this capability.
Ultimately, BMW needs to get on the stick. They have nice integration between the audio, Nav, and phone systems. It's time to get into the 21st century and provide digital media integration. For example, having the ability to pick albums, songs and playlists by name via the nav screen, just as you do with Windows Media Player or Real Networks Jukebox on your computer.
The step beyond that is internet integration via phone GPRS for real-time nav-traffic, web browsing, media downloads, etc. This is all existing and relatively inexpensive technology that BMW (and others) need to embrace to differentiate themselves at the high end.
Have you considered a hard drive based MP3 player? Circuit City has the Neo Jukebox 2200 for $279 after $50 rebate. It has a 20GB laptop hard drive. I love mine. Check them out at I/O Magic The reason I like this unit better than, say, the Creative Nomad, is that you can upload AND download from the player. Plus, you can use it as a portable hard drive, as you are not limited to storing just MP3 files.
Have you considered a hard drive based MP3 player?
That would be ideal, as stated, but does it fully integrate with the M-audio system, e.g., does it appear to the system when connected as a CD system controllable via the steering wheel, etc? If so, I will run out and buy two.
Send me email at amenard@cisco.com. I will add you to our Texas M5 distribution list.
I have done extensive investigation into this issue. Unfortunately, there are no elegant solutions to this problem. I, like you, yearn for the day when I get my entire music collection on a server in the trunk, with remote control access, and an in-car display to pull up playlists. Unfortunately, the only way to go with this today is to use FM modulation, which is not really CD quality. BMW has not made it easy for us to integrate such a system.
__________________
Andy
'00 Imola Red M5 - sold 4/02
'00 Mustang Cobra R - #155 of 300
'02 F-250 SD Powerstroke Crew Cab 4X4
'00 Honda Accord V6
Last edited by AndyMenard; 15th November 2001 at 03:30.
That would be ideal, as stated, but does it fully integrate with the M-audio system, e.g., does it appear to the system when connected as a CD system controllable via the steering wheel, etc? If so, I will run out and buy two.
Tom
Tom, Some time ago, someone posted here the name of a company supposedly working on such a system which would somehow replace the CD changer, but yet still appear to the headunit as a CD changer...ie: it fakes it out. Not sure if it is shipping yet? or what the name of the company was? I will search the archives and repost.... This is still not perfect, but it a bit better than the in-trunk unit which we have to deal with now?!
__________________
Andy
'00 Imola Red M5 - sold 4/02
'00 Mustang Cobra R - #155 of 300
'02 F-250 SD Powerstroke Crew Cab 4X4
'00 Honda Accord V6
It looks like the Phatnoise product is what is the most interesting, since it will utilize the existing CD changer input on the head unit??? not sure if they are still on target to ship this November, but I am on the list to get beta information... here is the link....
Originally posted by MEnthusiast WOW- that is excellent! Andy- please keep us up to date on this! They currently dont list the NAV type head unit we have in our cars........
ME:
I'm going to email them to get more details and post findings here, so watch this thread for more information.
The thing I am confused about is how are you going to display the playlists?? not sure how they plan on doing this?? Also, since the headunit only has 6 CD locations?, does this mean that we will be limited to only 6 different playlists?? I have many questions for them on this?... looks cool however, if it works and is not too expensive??
__________________
Andy
'00 Imola Red M5 - sold 4/02
'00 Mustang Cobra R - #155 of 300
'02 F-250 SD Powerstroke Crew Cab 4X4
'00 Honda Accord V6
perhaps they will figure out ways to use the existing keys in new ways- eg. the radio seek buttons and the number buttons in combination. I dont know- maybe the scroll wheel will do something? but Id easily swap out the cd changer for this kind of thing if it was "plug-n-play"
BMW seems to be more focused on sat. radio than mp3. probably b/c they think they will make more money this way- but theyd give us more enjoyment with MP3!
__________________
All the best,
Jerry 00 Z8 Jet Black/Red Sport / some others
On a related note, I wonder how hardcoded the number of CDs (6) is into the system. This might be somewhat moot, however, given that the mechanism for selecting the CD bay is pressing the single digit bay number, so the limit cannot be more than 10 given that.
Have you considered a hard drive based player?
Linear Mode
