Does the MINI stereo display CD titles (CD-Text) if you don't have the integrated NAV? All I've ever seen is 'Track 1', 'Track 2', etc on any CD I've played.

I had a new 328i loaner car the other day while my MINI was in for service and lo and behold I get the CD titles displayed on the stereo. The same CDs that my MINI shows bupkis for. And from the looks of the display the new 3-series has basically the exact same head unit as the R56 has. Is this something that has to be turned on like the RDS titles for radio stations? I looked through the anemic stereo 'manual' (pamphlet) and it doesn't say anything about it.

And if anyone figures out a way to get the MFSW controls to cycle through HD stations, please let me know.

 

I have Nav so I can't answer your other question. Once you tune to a HD radio station, you can use the right arrow on the steering wheel to move from HD1 to HD2. Left to go back.

 

I thought this just sent me to the next preset, but I might have been a little fast on the trigger and it hadn't picked up the HD yet. I'll give it another shot. It'd be a non-issue if you could assign HD2 stations as presets in the first place.

 

I'm not sure about the non Nav display, but on the Nav it displays an HD symbol once the HD is tuned in. Also the jump in audio quality is fairly noticeable.

For some reason we can only preset the FM station. HD works like stereo/mono. When it tunes in the channel, if it detects the HD frequency after the regular FM. Would be nice to be able to preset HD2 channels...

 

It'll show an HD next to the station name, and sometimes you can hear a very weird echoy effect when it changes over if the signals aren't completely synced.

 

Well, I just tried it out and hitting the right or left arrow on the steering wheel just sends you to the next FM preset (as if you'd turned the **** on the speedo/stereo face). Maybe this is punishment for not shelling out for the NAV.

 

That's odd. Does it show the HD symbol indicating you're hearing the HD signal? Maybe there is another button on the radio itself for this? The dash controls are very different without the Nav. I can use the left/right arrow on the dash as well. Do the non-Nav cars have that?

 

Aye, it's showing the HD, so it's got the HD signal. You use the left/right buttons on the radio face to switch to HD2, just not the handy convenient ones on the steering wheel. Ah, well. It's not a big deal. And since I just got an MP3 CD to work, the amount of time I'll spend listening to the radio will probably be going down anyway.

There's just too many audio choices for a ten minute commute - AM, FM, HD, CD, MP3 (via CD or my iPod). I'm glad I didn't end up getting the Satellite Radio. I'd have never listened to it.

 

I just went for a drive and checked. Mine works the same as yours if I am looking at the presets. While those are selected, if I hit left or right it moves to the next preset. If I have it in manual tuning mode and hit right it moves to HD2, left goes back to HD1.

Without Nav, can you set it to be in manual mode instead of flipping through presets?

 

I'll check it out on my drive today. I don't generally spend a lot of time in manual mode (though I might have to start now).

I'm still hoping someone w/o the Nav has gotten CD-Text to work for regular audio CDs.

 

Yeah, I'd like to know this, too. Odds are that there is no way to show extra info on regular CDs. Like you said, it's punishment for not opting for the NAV.

 

The text works for mp3 cd's but will check a regular cd tonight to see if that works too.

 

I've burned CDs (non-MP3) out of iTunes with the CD Text option enabled but still don't get a readout on the radio (non-Nav).

 

Yeah, I think we're out of luck regarding track info for regular CDs. One thing I did notice, though, is that the CD player will resume playing within a track with a regular CD, even after many hours of being off. The MP3s always restart at the beginning of the track, (except if the car is off for only a short time, like a half hour or less) although you have song title and artist info. I guess it is give and take.

 

I haven't tried it with "store bought" CDs but with my home made MP3 CDs it displays the title and Artist.

 

Yes but I think he's asking about audio CDs and not MP3 loaded CDs.

 

No dice with "store bought" CDs - just gives the track number.

 

Aye, I get the filename or ID3 tag info for MP3 CDs, but nothing for audio CDs.

Same for burned audio CDs too.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I guess this is just more incentive to get the NAV or something. It's kind of annoying since you can obviously fit the track name from your MP3s in the non-NAV display, so why not show the CD-Text for regular audio CDs? And doubly so since it's obviously possible. (See the new BMW 3-series which seems to use almost the exact same head unit and/or basically every aftermarket head unit made in the last few years.)

Maybe I'll send some noise up the MINI USA customer service chain and see if it's not possible to have it turned on in a future software update. I don't have much hope of that actually happening though.