[peterg1965]

Ok, I have had it for 3 months now and I haven't worked out how to use the USB connection to play music from my wife's iphone5, my galaxy S4 and from a USB stick!

My X5 is a 2010 pre LCI car with the CIC Nav system (with hard drive) and multi button idrive. I tried to connect my wife's iphone 5 to the car today using a standard iphone 5 USB cable, the idrive system did not recognise the phone as an external drive and hence music could not be played from the iPhone through the car's stereo system. Is this normal, do I need to buy the BMW iphone5 Y cable for the phone to be used as a an external music source? Is this the same for my galaxy S4?

Are there any alternatives (that work) to paying BMW £40 or so for a cable?

My alternative solution is to buy a 32Gb USB stick to download my wife's iTunes music library then just stick it in the X5's USB socket and leave it there. I am not even sure if you can copy an iTunes music library to a USB stick!

Any help appreciated.

EDIT. Can I bluetooth audio stream with this age of car with the CIC Nav?

[davyk31]

I use the USB stick option in my X5 Peter, much handier than always plugging in a phone etc. Just copy all your music to a stick, a 32gb stick will hold hundreds of albums and plug that in the centre armrest. All the tracklists etc appear on the idrive.

[///M3NACE]

Hey I had this issue with my sisters them I found the y cable it's a specific cable for the x5 that connects and it's integrated. I'm sure you can get am adaptor to the iPhone 5. Why bother when you can put a USB in and have thousands of songs

[peterg1965]

Thanks. Looks like I'll just buy a 32Gb flash USB drive.

So is it the 'export library' option from iTunes that does the trick? or is it more difficult with iTunes stuff?

[///M3NACE]

Honestly I just make a folder like cruising songs and drag all the ones into the folder on the USB. Very easy you can open in finder. I like be organized

[quattrogmbh]

If its music bought from iTunes then that is rights protected and won't play from a USB stick. If its music imported into iTunes then that will likely be mp3 and can be played from the USB. Find the folder containing the music And just copy paste. The folder structure will already have artist / album / song

[peterg1965]

Thanks for all the responses, I copied and pasted some music from iTunes (imported) onto a USB stick and stuck it in the socket in the car, the idrive system did not recognise it, it said 'reading' (in the external music folder) then after a short while greyed out and did nothing.

[SBE92LCI]

Bear in mind also that the theory is the quality of music when taken directly from a USB is superior to that of music streamed from an iPhone via the cable.

[rogerxp]

Hey Pete, hope you're well, how are you finding the X5 generally??

I just bought a cheap iPod off eBay (quality of appearance not important) , copied my iTunes onto it, then it lives in the car (I'm talking about the Zed but guess it's the same for the X5) and it works a treat. It's just a glorified USB stick afterall but you eradicate any compatibility issues.

[scottc]

Hey Pete,

I had the new nav in my pre face lift e92 and it would connect to my iphone and iPod and display all the album art etc. I cannot remember which lead I used but it will work.

Also music bought from iTunes can be transferred to other devices as long as it's drm free. All of my music is drm fee from iTunes and it plays on any of my devices.

There should be a USB port in the glove box, this will allow you to transfer music from the USB on to the hard drive, I did this my e92.

If you get stuck pop in to bmw, they will be able to confirm the lead you require to play you iPod etc

Scott

[scottc]

Thinking about it Pete, I think its because it's a iphone 5 and the cable. Do you have an old 30 pin cable and iPod? You could try that and confirm it works, if it does buy a 30 pin to new connector from apple and use the old 30 pin cable which should work. I had to do this in my Merc.

[peterg1965]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

Hey Pete, hope you're well, how are you finding the X5 generally??

I just bought a cheap iPod off eBay (quality of appearance not important) , copied my iTunes onto it, then it lives in the car (I'm talking about the Zed but guess it's the same for the X5) and it works a treat. It's just a glorified USB stick afterall but you eradicate any compatibility issues.

Hi Rog,

X5 is going great, not that I drive it that much, in fact I hardly drive it at all. My wife considers it her car and my role is to clean it! Seriously though, it's a great car and all that we wanted and needed. It's got huge road presence and drives really well. Inside is huge and as well fitted out and appointed with toys as any BMW I have had. I love the rear view camera with top view, makes parking really easy. The small downsides are that; the ride is a little harsh but was expected with 20's/runflats/M Sport suspension, the champagne leather is a bind to keep looking perfect and the fuel consumption is much less than expected. The mpg is not really a massive issue though as mileage is low, we(she) has only done a tadge over 1000 miles in three months.

For the first time in years I am not feeling any urge to buy cars! Working in London I Have no need for a car and although I like to keep abreast of car stuff I simply don't need my own. It helps not having a garage! Having said that we have decided that we will keep the X5 for 2-2.5 years then next on the wish list will hopefully be a new Model Discovery or a new Range Rover Sport.....

I need to get the music issue sorted in the X5 though but it is challenging me.

Hope all is well with you Rog, are you keeping in touch with Andrew (Palmnuts)? It all a little quiet on here nowadays, things have moved on and the regulars have too. Can't remember the last Carlos post.......

Originally Posted by scottc

Hey Pete,

I had the new nav in my pre face lift e92 and it would connect to my iphone and iPod and display all the album art etc. I cannot remember which lead I used but it will work.

Also music bought from iTunes can be transferred to other devices as long as it's drm free. All of my music is drm fee from iTunes and it plays on any of my devices.

There should be a USB port in the glove box, this will allow you to transfer music from the USB on to the hard drive, I did this my e92.

If you get stuck pop in to bmw, they will be able to confirm the lead you require to play you iPod etc

Scott

Originally Posted by scottc

Thinking about it Pete, I think its because it's a iphone 5 and the cable. Do you have an old 30 pin cable and iPod? You could try that and confirm it works, if it does buy a 30 pin to new connector from apple and use the old 30 pin cable which should work. I had to do this in my Merc.

Hi Scott, how's things?
Thanks for the tips, I will eventually get the music issue sorted, I need to try my galaxy 5 in the car to see if that is recognised. I will also try my sons iphone4 in it. As you say, I should really pop into the dealer to get them to tell me what lead is required. Maybe it is the fact that it is an iphone5 that is the problem.

I am not sure I know what drm is? Is that an iTunes music file?

[scottc]

I am good thanks Pete, got the e350 last week and i love it just need to do a few pics and will do a post ��

Drm is the protection that can be applied to files in order to protect them. Apple made it so you you could only play the music on devices that you had registered against your iTunes account. They stopped doing this a few years back now so all music should play on any device ��

Try the iphone 4 with the old 30 pin connector, i reckon that should work. You might find you galaxy doesn't work over the usb port, my Nokia doesn't. Also i don't think you can steam via Bluetooth as it came in later. If you go to the Bluetooth settings you will see a music symbol next to the phone, that will tell you ��

[misterS3]

Originally Posted by peterg1965

Thanks for all the responses, I copied and pasted some music from iTunes (imported) onto a USB stick and stuck it in the socket in the car, the idrive system did not recognise it, it said 'reading' (in the external music folder) then after a short while greyed out and did nothing.

What USB stick did you use?

Try a cheap 2 or 4 gig and put a couple of mp3's on there.

Also plug it in to the USB socket in the arm rest (not the one in the glove box). I actually bought a wee right angle USB cable for 99p off ebay so that the USB drive isn't sticking out waiting to be broken.

It should work! No need to faff around with cables and phones!