Entertainment System: First Impressions

LarryK1000 · 06-03-2006, 12:37 PM

I have the 330 with Logic 7: I'm familiar with it, since my Mercedes had it.

This is a very good system. It sounds MUCH better than my Mercedes. And, the Concert Hall surround setting is great. Many times there is an echo and this one is just perfect. No echo at all !

FM:

The FM is fantastic. Just great. It took a little bit to figure out how to store the stations, but I did it.

CD's:

I've only played two (2) MP3 CD's I made last night. I am still going to do some experimenting. The one I made with iTunes listed all of the music by ALBUM. Then, each song would appear under that Album title. When you played the song, the Artist and Title appeared on the screen. Very nice. If someone knows how to get the Artist to appear in an iTunes created disc, please let me know. Also, BEFORE I made the disc, I converted all the ID TAGS to the latest version, which is 2.4. Worked great ! Sound was wonderful. Not as good as a CD, but very good.

The second disc I made was through Titanium Toast and I made it in ISO9660 format. This one listed the songs by Artist, Album and Song Name. And, when it played, the Artist and Title appeared -- however, all names were truncated to 8 characters and all CAPS. Not very good looking. The iTunes created disc used BOTH upper and lower case letters and looks really good and is very easy to read.

I am going to next try a new CD made with Toast, but using the PC format, rather than ISO9660. This should fix the 8 character limit and I'll see if the words are in upper and lower case.

SIRIUS:

Despite the threads here, the sound is very good. Not as good as my XM MyFi, but good. And, with road noise, it should be fine. However, reception is NOT as good as XM. Just a few trees cause the unit to lose the signal. With my XM, I could receive music with my car inside the garage with the garage door open. No way with Sirius.

The only thing I have not been able to figure out is how to not have certain Sirius stations appear. There are stations I will never listen too, i.e., NEW YORK TRAFFIC (I live in L.A.). If someone knows how to do this, let me know. If you go to a particular station, there is an ESN option. That is the Electronic Signal Number. And, the Manual says something about calling the NUMBER to DISABLE the channel. I have no idea what this means. HELP !

But, overall, sounds good.

AUX: iPod:

Just tried my new Video iPod. My music is encoded as MP3's at middle sampling rate (the one iTunes defaults to).

The music sounded very good. Not as good as the MP3's on the CD I made, but very good. I had to crank it up almost all the way to play it at the same volume setting as the radio and satellite. But, no problem. There was no buzz or interference. Very nice.

Summary:

Other than being a little difficult to move around in the iDrive system, the entertainment system, itself, is first rate. Now, I'm so confused, do I listen to my CD's, Sirius, FM, AM, my iPod -- My God, what am I to do?

Seriously, this is going to be a fun car for the next 3 years.

Larry

LarryK1000 · 06-03-2006, 03:26 PM

I think I forgot to mention something:

The iDrive display is so big that the Song Titles are not truncated. And, since BMW uses upper and lower case letters, they get more characters on a line.

I couldn't believe how long the titles were that were completely on the screen.

One example was a Hayden Symphony. The entire title appeared.

Very nice display.

One thing I DID notice is that let's say you are listening to the radio, cd, etc. IF a call comes in, the system switches over to the Phone Screen. When you finish the call, it just stays on that screen. It would seem to me that when the call ends, the Display should return to the screen you were on automatically. Perhaps in a new version of the software.

L

sunchild · 06-03-2006, 03:54 PM

Yes... very nice... indeed...

bsjd00 · 06-03-2006, 04:42 PM

Larry, I agree that the screen should revert automatically after a call ends. One possible way to minimize the inconvenience is to pull the iDrive knob back for 2 seconds which automatically reverts the screen back to the Entertainment menu. (Or push it to the right for 2 seconds for Navigation, etc.)

Not ideal, but better than fumbling through menus.

06-03-2006, 12:37 PM	#1
LarryK1000 Larry from Los Angeles 14 Rep 296 Posts Drives: 2006 330i Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles (SFV) iTrader: (0)	Entertainment System: First Impressions I have the 330 with Logic 7: I'm familiar with it, since my Mercedes had it. This is a very good system. It sounds MUCH better than my Mercedes. And, the Concert Hall surround setting is great. Many times there is an echo and this one is just perfect. No echo at all ! FM: The FM is fantastic. Just great. It took a little bit to figure out how to store the stations, but I did it. CD's: I've only played two (2) MP3 CD's I made last night. I am still going to do some experimenting. The one I made with iTunes listed all of the music by ALBUM. Then, each song would appear under that Album title. When you played the song, the Artist and Title appeared on the screen. Very nice. If someone knows how to get the Artist to appear in an iTunes created disc, please let me know. Also, BEFORE I made the disc, I converted all the ID TAGS to the latest version, which is 2.4. Worked great ! Sound was wonderful. Not as good as a CD, but very good. The second disc I made was through Titanium Toast and I made it in ISO9660 format. This one listed the songs by Artist, Album and Song Name. And, when it played, the Artist and Title appeared -- however, all names were truncated to 8 characters and all CAPS. Not very good looking. The iTunes created disc used BOTH upper and lower case letters and looks really good and is very easy to read. I am going to next try a new CD made with Toast, but using the PC format, rather than ISO9660. This should fix the 8 character limit and I'll see if the words are in upper and lower case. SIRIUS: Despite the threads here, the sound is very good. Not as good as my XM MyFi, but good. And, with road noise, it should be fine. However, reception is NOT as good as XM. Just a few trees cause the unit to lose the signal. With my XM, I could receive music with my car inside the garage with the garage door open. No way with Sirius. The only thing I have not been able to figure out is how to not have certain Sirius stations appear. There are stations I will never listen too, i.e., NEW YORK TRAFFIC (I live in L.A.). If someone knows how to do this, let me know. If you go to a particular station, there is an ESN option. That is the Electronic Signal Number. And, the Manual says something about calling the NUMBER to DISABLE the channel. I have no idea what this means. HELP ! But, overall, sounds good. AUX: iPod: Just tried my new Video iPod. My music is encoded as MP3's at middle sampling rate (the one iTunes defaults to). The music sounded very good. Not as good as the MP3's on the CD I made, but very good. I had to crank it up almost all the way to play it at the same volume setting as the radio and satellite. But, no problem. There was no buzz or interference. Very nice. Summary: Other than being a little difficult to move around in the iDrive system, the entertainment system, itself, is first rate. Now, I'm so confused, do I listen to my CD's, Sirius, FM, AM, my iPod -- My God, what am I to do? Seriously, this is going to be a fun car for the next 3 years. Larry
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06-03-2006, 03:26 PM	#2
LarryK1000 Larry from Los Angeles 14 Rep 296 Posts Drives: 2006 330i Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Los Angeles (SFV) iTrader: (0)	I think I forgot to mention something: The iDrive display is so big that the Song Titles are not truncated. And, since BMW uses upper and lower case letters, they get more characters on a line. I couldn't believe how long the titles were that were completely on the screen. One example was a Hayden Symphony. The entire title appeared. Very nice display. One thing I DID notice is that let's say you are listening to the radio, cd, etc. IF a call comes in, the system switches over to the Phone Screen. When you finish the call, it just stays on that screen. It would seem to me that when the call ends, the Display should return to the screen you were on automatically. Perhaps in a new version of the software. L
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06-03-2006, 03:54 PM	#3
sunchild Lieutenant 25 Rep 469 Posts Drives: 2006 BMW 330i Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Orange County, CAL iTrader: (2)	Yes... very nice... indeed...
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06-03-2006, 04:42 PM	#4
bsjd00 Lieutenant 38 Rep 407 Posts Drives: e90 Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: U.S. iTrader: (0)	Larry, I agree that the screen should revert automatically after a call ends. One possible way to minimize the inconvenience is to pull the iDrive knob back for 2 seconds which automatically reverts the screen back to the Entertainment menu. (Or push it to the right for 2 seconds for Navigation, etc.) Not ideal, but better than fumbling through menus.
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