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2019+ BMW 3 AND 4-SERIES FORUMS (G2x Generation) Local Forums UK Help with adding music from a USB

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      11-24-2021, 06:45 AM   #23
Charlie (Wessex)
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No its not but again in the last car, Sat Nav was on a SD card. Prefer a SD to HDD but that's 1st world problems.
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      11-24-2021, 07:24 AM   #24
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Checking mine now whilst in the car and I don’t have the ‘Music Collection’ option. When I plug my USB in it shows ‘CD Stack’.
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      11-24-2021, 11:01 AM   #25
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No HDD in mine…. USB or Spotify
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      11-24-2021, 11:13 AM   #26
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Let's face it, even if there was still supposed to be a HDD in MY2021 cars it would have been deleted by now!
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      11-24-2021, 11:35 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paulockenden View Post
Let's face it, even if there was still supposed to be a HDD in MY2021 cars it would have been deleted by now!
More than your fair share...
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      11-25-2021, 04:13 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by paulockenden View Post
Let's face it, even if there was still supposed to be a HDD in MY2021 cars it would have been deleted by now!
Ain't that the truth!
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      11-25-2021, 07:55 AM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xenon View Post
The HDD was dropped in MY2021 - there's not a huge amount of reason for having it given you have to faff about transferring music onto it in the first place using a USB stick so why not just play directly from the USB stick? They're as cheap as chips, plus you can also create your own playlists in Spotify / Amazon Music etc. which amounts to the same thing.
Am i missing something, can I copy my amazon playist music to a usb and then play them through the amazon music app, rather than streaming?

My G20 has a internal hard drive, never used and just use a micro USB stick by the wireless charger
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      11-25-2021, 08:20 AM   #30
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No sorry, I meant that because you can play the playlists do you really need to store in the car at all? I didn't mean you could play your playlist from a USB stick.
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      11-25-2021, 08:57 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by xenon View Post
No sorry, I meant that because you can play the playlists do you really need to store in the car at all? I didn't mean you could play your playlist from a USB stick.
Okay, just wanted to make sure as creating playlists on the USB stick is a little time consuming, thanks
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      11-25-2021, 02:52 PM   #32
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Having said that I don't like using a USB stick, I didn't realise that they could really be as small as they are. Having said that the HDD works well enough, with a few nags. If it begins to p*** me off, I might just get one of these which will be totally unobtrusive.... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caraele-Mem...7873391&sr=8-5
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      11-25-2021, 04:05 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex) View Post
Having said that I don't like using a USB stick, I didn't realise that they could really be as small as they are. Having said that the HDD works well enough, with a few nags. If it begins to p*** me off, I might just get one of these which will be totally unobtrusive.... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caraele-Mem...7873391&sr=8-5
I together with a few others on here got the tiny USB Stuart mentions on post 4 of this thread and it’s ideal. Permanently plugged in, barely noticeable and the centre console cover closes unobstructed.
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      11-25-2021, 04:33 PM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex) View Post
Having said that I don't like using a USB stick, I didn't realise that they could really be as small as they are.
I use a Samsung Fit 256 GB. Small and discrete, barely the same height as the lighter cover. Cover closes perfectly.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing...-muf-256ab-am/

Has a high read speed up to 400 MB/s that I wanted for many of the Flac files I use. And as they quote "It works through it all with a waterproof, shock-proof, temperature-proof, magnet-proof, and X-ray-proof body"

Tramped tons of albums onto it.

It now takes a long time to scroll through the collection.

I have a 128 GB version in reserve that I use for maps updates.

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      11-27-2021, 04:51 PM   #35
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So I got one of those mini USBs - 32GB is more than enough for me. Does the same job as the HHD, but with the bonus of being so much easier to add/delete tracks on the PC.
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      11-27-2021, 11:26 PM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex) View Post
So I got one of those mini USBs - 32GB is more than enough for me. Does the same job as the HHD, but with the bonus of being so much easier to add/delete tracks on the PC.
There you go!
I did the same as you Charlie and you’re right adding and removing content is easy on a PC although we have a Mac which proved somewhat challenging until I finally figured it out! Biggest problem I had was finding album artwork for some of my music so much so there are some tracks on my USB which flatly refuse to display artwork no matter how hard I try!
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      11-28-2021, 05:36 AM   #37
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Originally Posted by bmnut View Post
There you go!
I did the same as you Charlie and you’re right adding and removing content is easy on a PC although we have a Mac which proved somewhat challenging until I finally figured it out! Biggest problem I had was finding album artwork for some of my music so much so there are some tracks on my USB which flatly refuse to display artwork no matter how hard I try!
Make sure the physical dimensions of your artwork are not too large.

I had a couple that were about 1000 x 1000 pixels. Idrive just goes - nope.

I changed them to about 600 x 600.

You will also need to rename the folder of your album on your USB stick if you update the cover art (as the image filename will be the same), just add some random number/letter at the end of the folder name. The system doesn't seem to re-index previously detected folders when a previous file physically changes, renaming the folder forces a re-indexing. Actual album name is contained in the individual files' metadata.

I also noticed that the system gets tripped up if you have the same album name for different artists. It seems to group them together. For example, "Greatest hits". Make sure your album name is unique in the metadata.

I use mp3tag as a tool to adjust the metadata, and it also has a search function for album art.

D.
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      11-28-2021, 06:06 AM   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_3 View Post
Make sure the physical dimensions of your artwork are not too large.

I had a couple that were about 1000 x 1000 pixels. Idrive just goes - nope.

I changed them to about 600 x 600.

You will also need to rename the folder of your album on your USB stick if you update the cover art (as the image filename will be the same), just add some random number/letter at the end of the folder name. The system doesn't seem to re-index previously detected folders when a previous file physically changes, renaming the folder forces a re-indexing. Actual album name is contained in the individual files' metadata.

I also noticed that the system gets tripped up if you have the same album name for different artists. It seems to group them together. For example, "Greatest hits". Make sure your album name is unique in the metadata.

I use mp3tag as a tool to adjust the metadata, and it also has a search function for album art.

D.
Thank you very much for that Dave. I’ll give that a try and see what I can do. Didn’t know any of that I tend to be someone who just stumbles along through ‘computery’ things like this not really knowing what the hell I’m doing most of the time and hoping for the best! So all that information is very useful. I know what I’ll be amusing myself with today now!
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      11-28-2021, 06:24 AM   #39
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Another point worth mentioning is that if the indexing doesn't work as well as you'd like, there is a search by folder option which I use a lot.

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      11-28-2021, 12:27 PM   #40
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_3 View Post
Make sure the physical dimensions of your artwork are not too large.

I had a couple that were about 1000 x 1000 pixels. Idrive just goes - nope.

I changed them to about 600 x 600.

You will also need to rename the folder of your album on your USB stick if you update the cover art (as the image filename will be the same), just add some random number/letter at the end of the folder name. The system doesn't seem to re-index previously detected folders when a previous file physically changes, renaming the folder forces a re-indexing. Actual album name is contained in the individual files' metadata.

I also noticed that the system gets tripped up if you have the same album name for different artists. It seems to group them together. For example, "Greatest hits". Make sure your album name is unique in the metadata.

I use mp3tag as a tool to adjust the metadata, and it also has a search function for album art.

D.
Just updated the files on my USB for the two that didn't show any artwork and by reducing the image size as you suggested they now display the album artwork in the iDrive.
Brilliant! Thanks for the advice much appreciated!
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      03-08-2022, 06:49 AM   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave_3 View Post
I use a Samsung Fit 256 GB. Small and discrete, barely the same height as the lighter cover. Cover closes perfectly.

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing...-muf-256ab-am/

Has a high read speed up to 400 MB/s that I wanted for many of the Flac files I use. And as they quote "It works through it all with a waterproof, shock-proof, temperature-proof, magnet-proof, and X-ray-proof body"

Tramped tons of albums onto it.

It now takes a long time to scroll through the collection.

I have a 128 GB version in reserve that I use for maps updates.

D.
Quick question....do you know if ALL the files you loaded onto the USB are being read (or are able to be read) by the car?

I ask because I have a similar set up where I use a 512GB capacity SanDisk USB stick in the forward socket.
I use an additional USB stick in the armrest socket, as I have a very large collection of music that exceeds 512GB

I know that in my case, for some unknown reason, the car seems unable to read them all...many are missing when I try the search option. Each input must have a file limit capacity or "read" limit.

My next step is to query the BMW Genius to see what info they have, thought I'd ask you first.....
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      03-08-2022, 01:09 PM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie (Wessex) View Post
Not sure what the hell I do, but if I add some music from a USB to music collection, I seem to replace all the collection with what I have added...but not all the time.

I added an album yesterday and it was fine. Just tried to add 3 albums and it's replaced everything and just left me with the 3 albums. So back to the PC and upload everything onto a USB to reload it all.

What am I doing wrong? I'm sure that it's really simple but.....

And frankly, why BMW had to be so damned clever with it all is anyone's guess, as a simple SD card would have been more than sufficient.
Hi OP, I'm not too sure I understand the question. AFAIK the G series cars all over the range do not have a car 'hard drive' to upload to anymore. Was that the ask?
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