[ukgthor]

As previously mentioned I've now ordered my F10 520d SE, although I still have to wait another 6 weeks for delivery.

A couple of questions for the F10/F11 owners out there:

1. In regard to the USB connector in the armrest, is there a list of compatible iPods that it works with and how easy is it to get working ?.

2. What is the benefit of storing music on the Sat Nav Pro hard drive compared to connecting an iPod via the USB ?.

3. Cup Holders - personally I'm not a coffee or tea drinker and I think that the cup holder configuration is a waste of space. Are there any options to remove the actual cup holders and replace with a storage tray for coins, phones etc.. ?

Thanks in advance.

[scottz5]

I think the cup holders work well. They are not in the best place, but they are fine. My iPhone fits will in the holder.

[james d]

Re No.2-Importing music from my I-Pod through passenger glove-box USB port took ages and even though said 100% complete some albums have only 2-3 tracks out of 10-12. Playback seems quite complex and long winded as well so will end up just plugging into Aux in port in central arm-rest.I have F11 520D SE with Pro- Media/Combox and 1 year old I- pod Classic with about 3 days' worth of music on it.

[Simmo24]

I use the hard drive. Just imported all the music from the USB in the glovebox, it seemed to work ok, you can create playlists and a handy feature is that it will make a playlist automatically of the most played 50 tracks.

[ukgthor]

So exactly what is the capacity of the Sat Nav Pro hard drive and how many albums (with artwork) can you store on it ?

[Sharbotcom]

Originally Posted by ukgthor

So exactly what is the capacity of the Sat Nav Pro hard drive and how many albums (with artwork) can you store on it ?

Forget about the artwork being stored on the Sat Nav hard drive. The only time you will see the cover artwork is under the following 2 conditions:
1) the artwork is imbedded in the tags of the file and,
2) when the files are accessed via the usb connection in the arm rest.

It appears that the files stored on the Sat Nav hard disk are treated/processed similarly to reading a standard CD and are not processed for artwork...pitty.

I have not tested bluetooth playback so that might be a 3rd method.

Bill

[sunnyUK]

I think the HD space is around 12 GB - it was in the brochure somewhere

[LuvMyE92]

I have a USB flash drive in the USB port - no ipod - no nav (therefore no hard drive) and it works great. Album art etc. comes on over, but who cares?

To me the only advantage of an ipod would be the ability to use song lists, or playlists or whatever they're called.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by LuvMyE92

To me the only advantage of an ipod would be the ability to use song lists, or playlists or whatever they're called.

But using your USB flash drive supports playlists too!
So there really isn't much advantage of using an iPod at all. With USB flash drive, you can leave it plugged in and no cable to mess around with.

[Autojack]

The cup holders do take up a lot of space, but the deeper right one works pretty well. The left cup holder is not as deep and is not very supportive. I use the left one to hold my Blackberry Bold, connected by cables to inputs in the armrest.

The 12.5 GB on board hard disk holds hundreds of CDs. I have about 35 to 40 CDs stored and have used only about 15% of the hard drive capacity. You can also delete individual tracks of any CD after it is loaded, so you could easily store 300 - 500 "best of" style CDs. From what I have read, it appears it uses 256 compression.

I have my iPad connected to the dedicated connector inside the armrest.

[Alan48]

I bought a 320gb external USB hard drive and have that attached to the USB port in the arm rest. It shows album art and is really quick! Plus, it holds circa 80k songs!!!

[gorban]

I have a 4 year old 80 GB ipod with currently 4000 tracks on it, connected to the USB port. Works great, including album art. One advantage of the ipod over a USB stick is that you get better support for podcasts and audio books.

[ukgthor]

Originally Posted by Alan48

I bought a 320gb external USB hard drive and have that attached to the USB port in the arm rest. It shows album art and is really quick! Plus, it holds circa 80k songs!!!

Really, this I am surprised about. I would have thought that BMW would be quite restrictive about what devices could be used through the Armrest USB.

Can you let me know the make and model of the hard drive that you are using, as this is definitely the way forward for me to hold my entire iTunes Library together with all of the hi-def album artwork that I have (and it will be cheaper than buying an iPod Classic !!)...

Also, have you tried playing movies (mp4) from your armrest hard drive onto the pro media screen ?

[Alan48]

I use a Seagate Expansion 320GB drive. 5200 rpm USB 2.0. Works a treat but I haven't tried video... I'm guessing not though.

[Shake n Bake]

Originally Posted by Alan48

I bought a 320gb external USB hard drive and have that attached to the USB port in the arm rest. It shows album art and is really quick! Plus, it holds circa 80k songs!!!

Brilliant. I never even thought of that.

[svowles]

Me too. Running a Buffalo 500gb hard drive through the armrest USB and all is good and very fast.

[nosnoop]

Originally Posted by svowles

Me too. Running a Buffalo 500gb hard drive through the armrest USB and all is good and very fast.

Seriously, guys.... How many hours of music do you need to at your disposal?

[Alan48]

I know, it is a tad overkill but is also a good incentive to finally rip all of my CDs to computer. And let's face it, you might have a car full of CDs but never the one you want at that particular moment in time! It's a cheap way of storing music too as hard drives are much cheaper than memory sticks. My hard drive was £30!

[bike99]

Originally Posted by ukgthor

1. In regard to the USB connector in the armrest, is there a list of compatible iPods that it works with and how easy is it to get working ?.

Anything above 1st generation would work.

[Neil McRae]

just beware, not all usb hard drives work, usually a power issue.

[Alan48]

If you have the Combox then most hard drives work as it is USB 2.0 with sufficient power. Older cars have issues with power.

[justthefacts]

Originally Posted by ukgthor

As previously mentioned I've now ordered my F10 520d SE, although I still have to wait another 6 weeks for delivery.

A couple of questions for the F10/F11 owners out there:

1. In regard to the USB connector in the armrest, is there a list of compatible iPods that it works with and how easy is it to get working ?.

2. What is the benefit of storing music on the Sat Nav Pro hard drive compared to connecting an iPod via the USB ?.

3. Cup Holders - personally I'm not a coffee or tea drinker and I think that the cup holder configuration is a waste of space. Are there any options to remove the actual cup holders and replace with a storage tray for coins, phones etc.. ?

Thanks in advance.

I'm with you, I would ten times rather have a storage tray for my phone, wallet, and key fob than those cup holders. They look cheap, they take up too much space, they are located in a place where my phone wants to be, and when you put cups in them they block the climate controls! If anyone has seen an aftermarket solution, please post!