[pcdesign69]

I read the sticky about the 2011 fall update 3 series and came across this quote:

"Album Cover Art: If cover art is contained in the metadata of a particular song, it will show on the vehicle display while the song is played."

Anyone seen this in action?

[BMW Kai]

Hello,

yes i have seen it already.

But it´s not so spectacular, but it´s nice to have ;-)

I´ve seen it in a 320XD 10/10 a car from sixt car rental

[okevino]

never seen it.
what's metadata =/

[dinoniel]

I think the album art looks great...maybe I just have lower standards than bmw kai haha. Obv its not some 1080p quality or whatever.

However, I have ONLY seen this feature with an Ipod/Iphone connected via USB. I have not figured out a way to attach the album art to a regular mp3. Meaning the music collection I uploaded to the cars HDD has no album art...boring. I had created a thread asking if this was possible but got no replies...

[philmcgee]

Originally Posted by dinoniel

I think the album art looks great...maybe I just have lower standards than bmw kai haha. Obv its not some 1080p quality or whatever.

However, I have ONLY seen this feature with an Ipod/Iphone connected via USB. I have not figured out a way to attach the album art to a regular mp3. Meaning the music collection I uploaded to the cars HDD has no album art...boring. I had created a thread asking if this was possible but got no replies...

Yes it is possible. Just as tags for the name of the album, song title, artist etc can be stored in an mp3 file along with the song-data (in so-called ID3 metadata tags), you can also add e.g. a jpeg or png image into the file so the coverart image will show up on capable hardware. A great free tool for embedding the artwork is MP3TAG. Use google to find it.

[wrickem]

Yes, it works and it looks good if you use the Apple cable on cars built from September on. What I found is that if you use the USB cable instead of the old Y cable, you lose sound quality. I'd rather have the HK sound as good as possible than have a small picture up on the display.

[Technic]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Yes, it works and it looks good if you use the Apple cable on cars built from September on. What I found is that if you use the USB cable instead of the old Y cable, you lose sound quality. I'd rather have the HK sound as good as possible than have a small picture up on the display.

What being lost is the iPod EQ by not using the old "Y" cable... sound quality should improve by using the USB cable.

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by Technic

What being lost is the iPod EQ by not using the old "Y" cable... sound quality should improve by using the USB cable.

Yeah, you would think so, right?! I am still hoping someone else with a Sept build on tries it out both ways in their car and lets us all know. In my car, it is very noticable. The USB sounds good, but the Y sounds great. I'm not much of an electronics geek, so I don't know why the sound is so much better coming through the aux with a TRS connector than through the USB, but anyone could definitely can tell the difference.

And I had a lot of time to play with the EQ and Tone settings, I even tried the "optimal" ones that are on a thread here. USB never could be set to sound as good as the Y in my car, no matter what we did.

[VooDooM4]

I just took delivery of my car and only used the Apple cable and I tweaked my settings and it sounded pretty good to me, but I haven't used a Y cable because the car didn't come with anything. The album can be displayed on the left (small) and the right (large) of the nav screen. I think its a nice touch by BMW and Apple.

[dinoniel]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Yeah, you would think so, right?! I am still hoping someone else with a Sept build on tries it out both ways in their car and lets us all know. In my car, it is very noticable. The USB sounds good, but the Y sounds great. I'm not much of an electronics geek, so I don't know why the sound is so much better coming through the aux with a TRS connector than through the USB, but anyone could definitely can tell the difference.

And I had a lot of time to play with the EQ and Tone settings, I even tried the "optimal" ones that are on a thread here. USB never could be set to sound as good as the Y in my car, no matter what we did.

My dealer actually did provide me with a Y cable on my september build. I think she did not know they were no longer required to provide it. I speak from personal experience when i say the Y cable actually does NOT work with an iphone/ipod touch. You have to use a standard apple cable like the one that came with your apple product. So unfortunately those of us with post september builds will never know which one sounds better lol.

Getting back to the topic I'll def try mp3tag. my music collection is a mess lol, will post back on how it goes.

[wrickem]

Originally Posted by dinoniel

My dealer actually did provide me with a Y cable on my september build. I think she did not know they were no longer required to provide it. I speak from personal experience when i say the Y cable actually does NOT work with an iphone/ipod touch. You have to use a standard apple cable like the one that came with your apple product. So unfortunately those of us with post september builds will never know which one sounds better lol.

Getting back to the topic I'll def try mp3tag. my music collection is a mess lol, will post back on how it goes.

Then something is definitely wrong with either your Y-cable or car's software because my Sept 29 build car works with either the Y cable or Apple USB with my Ipod touch,ipod classic,iphone 3g and my iphone4 (yeah, I had to try them all, because I am OCD like that, and had to know).

[dinoniel]

that's good to know. For some reason when I tried with a Y cable it would find the device but not initiate any audio (yes it was plugged in correctly).

I had an aftermarket sony stereo in my old car and the USB actually did sound noticeably worse than the aux. I know this makes no sense, but I think it's relevant considering wrickem is seeing something similiar.

My solution was to bypass the whole thing and play directly from the HDD but i know some people are crazy and have over 12gb of music. I have found that playing from the HDD on the bmw sounds noticeably better than the ipod USB

Edit: This is with HK sound system

[lucas.kent]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=20

[gobobbie]

Make sure you check you are connecting your BMW with an iphone or similar. I compared the album art via an iPod video (3 or 4 yrs old) and it did work but the artwork was really pixelated. Same with the last model iPod nano. With my iPhone 4, it comes out crystal clear. Looks fantastic.

[fsalum]

I connected by iphone 4 using the Y cable that came in the car and I don't see the album cover art when playing my songs and the cover art are all working on itunes.

[E92Carrera]

Originally Posted by fsalum

I connected by iphone 4 using the Y cable that came in the car and I don't see the album cover art when playing my songs and the cover art are all working on itunes.

The album art only works when you use the iPod cable not the y-cable.

[dinoniel]

I've tried several programs to embed album art. They all work fine on a computer but when transferring to the bmw's hdd the album art never shows up.

Can anyone confirm they have seen album art from music that is actually on the cars hdd (and not through usb?) I saw a screenshot but that is playing via usb.

Thanks

[Guelytu]

Hello, use Software "Mp3tag" and edit album pic. the image must have this format 500x500x or 600x600 ... 1000x1000x. It work on my E91.

[carjon]

I use split screen on my nav. Left (big) is navigation and right side is album art. Apple cable from my phone.
There are several programs to find album art and add (I do via iTunes).
Looks strange when not showing art to me now.