I do not have my MINI yet (built yesterday), but I am having a hard time understanding why most people are using Ipods with the cars with the USB input. There seem to be a lot of complaints and issues with the Ipod interface.

Why not keep the Ipod for other uses and buy a big USB memory stick? In my experience (in Ohio) is that I could only keep the Ipod in a car about 9 months of the year. In the colder months it was completely worthless as it would get too cold overnight and would be undependable the next day. Also I think having the Ipod constantly charging from the car power ruins the batter pack of the ipod.

Why are the benefits of using an ipod over just a memory stick? I do not know if playlists are available or not on a USB stick. Other than this I can not think of any reason. The USB stick is a direct digital signal to the stereo whereas the Ipod uses USB just for control and a analog signal for the sound.

I purchased this stick http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013RKFB8
which formatted was 30GB. I can sync all of my library using Windows Media Player or just drag and drop. I can't say for sure that this will work but I think it will.

I am also wondering how the MINI randomizes songs. Could someone please explain their experience with the random feature? Can I just leave it on or do I have to keep turning it on each time I start the car?

Thanks

 

Funny ... I just bought the exact same stick for the same purpose.

I recently upgraded my '05 convertible to use the Dension Gateway 300 - but it caused the iPod to not turn off and flatten it's battery. Plus, the iPod normally lives in GPMINI and I forget to switch back and forth.

I tried a 1/2GB stick and it worked perfectly with the Gateway, so at the price of 32GB sticks now, I'm switching - less expensive than a second iPod, more portable, and no worries about batteries.

 

For 2nd gen MINI with the USB option, it has been reported that sound quality is significantly better from a memory stick than an iPod connected to USB+aux. M3U playlists are supported for USB memory sticks.

 

I'm doing a bit of both, using a pair of 2g sticks for some things, but the iPod for a bunch as well.

Because I've been using the iPod for a while, I have some iTunes purchased stuff that won't play from a stick I also have some material ripped in the newer Apple lossless format (neither of which will play from a memory stick).

This weekend promises to be my first weekend off in quite a while, and I plan to take apart different sections of the car -- I plan on doing battle with the secret compartment and the middle console to extend cables. Hardwiring power for the radar detector and GPS will be easy.

 

I used Tunebite to free my Apple purchased music so I can play it wherever I wish

 

Here's something from an earlier thread that might highlight the differences. There sure seems to be a big trade-off!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=135899

Go to post #28

Excerpted below:


iPod:
Functionally, when you are listening to music on the iPod, the navigation and selection of music is as fast as if you were using the iPod controls themselves. When you turn off the car, the iPod stops the song. When you return to the car and start it up, the iPod resumes. It may resume at the beginning of the song or track you were last listening to, but it does resume play at that point.

USB:

Functionally, when you are listening to music on a USB drive, the Mini computer must first index the music on the drive before it can be navigated and played. Because the Mini has non-volatile memory it must do this every time you insert the drive AND each time you start the car. So, if you are listening to a song on an album and turn off the car, that information is lost. The next time you turn on the car, the system will go through the process of indexing the music on the USB drive again, but you must then navigate through the indexing to select the album you were listening to and the song, etc. It is not automatic like when using the iPod.

So there you have it (I think)! If you want functionality, then the iPod for your music is the only way to go.

 

That above is written presumably for the R56.
The Dension Gateway 300 in my R52 has none of those issues - continues play from where it left off, background indexes and stores the data to the USB stick so no need to build it again.
Once again, the R56 stereo sucks

 

And my Nissan Maxima has none of those problems with my iPod interface either..but how does that relate to the R56 questions posed by the OP?

 

Good point ... I forget that I'm in the R56 forum world now; I'll go away ...

 

I have tried iPods, an iPhone and my Sandisk 8GB stick. I agree that the USB stick will re-index each time you restart the car.

The iPod sound quality stuff is due to some users setting their EQ to something that distorts the sound. If you switch it to "Jazz" or "Flat" it will sound fine.


I do experience noise when switching tracks on a HDD-based iPod (in my case a 5G 60GB iPod). It does not make any noises when I tried my iPhone or my 8GB 3rd Gen Nano.

Since I have a lot of iTunes purchased music and I am too lazy to strip the DRM, I am going with my Nano at the moment.

 

This a little misleading. When I start my car back up it takes around 5 seconds before the USB stick will start to play and it always starts back off from where it left off when I shut the car off. Sometimes if the car has only been off for a few minutes it is more immediate but it has never been more than a few seconds.

I do notice that if I run off of a play list as opposed to the built in index the searching and random functions are a little quicker.

 

How does the random feature in the stereo work? For example, do you have to turn the random on each time you start the car or will it remember this? Also if you have random on and forward to the next song does it choose a random song? Or does it go to the next song of that album? On my Infiniti once I fast forward it stops being random and plays the next track of the folder. I really hate this.

If instead of relying on the stereo to randomize the songs, I build a random playlist and start playing from the beginning, would it start the playlist from the beginning each time I start the car? This would be a problem.

 

The stereo remembers what it was set to when you turn it back on so the random feature will stay on.

You can set the stereo to randomize inside of different categories. You could set it to random and then select an album or random and a playlist, etc. The only quirk is that in order to properly select what you want to randomize you have to start playing a song from that category first and then select random.

I'm pretty sure that the car is just building a randomized playlist as well because it doesn't skip around a whole lot but it does seem to work better if you randomize an existing playlist as opposed to randomizing the dir instead.

The stereo has a lot of unctions that you have to work at to figure out completely, think of it as sideways logic.

 

How much music do you have? I wonder if it would take a long time to index 32 gigs worth of files.

 

I have close to 16GB of music on my flash drive currently.

 

I tried using a flash USB stick (formatted FAT) and it indexed it once; then each time I started the car it spend a couple seconds reading it then played the song I last left off at.

A couple of related questions: what file formats does the USB read? I just dumped some MP3s into the stick without directories or anything; I can’t seem to play by album. What’s the file structure it wants?

Also, for those of you with iPhones: does it work fine connected via bluetooth as a phone and simultaneously as a music player connected via the USB/aux connection? Not sure where I’d put it, but I’d prefer to listen to music from the phone since most of my newer music is DRM protected and won’t run off a stick.

Rob

 

I have an iPhone but oddly I've never connected it to Ferris. I guess I just think of it as a phone when I get in the car.

I think it only reads mp3's and maybe wma's, I haven't experimented too much. You might want to take a look at your mp3 tags and make sure they are filled out correctly. There are a number of free utils on the internet that will allow you to edit them in addition to most PC mp3 players. This is the first thing I do when I rip or "download" music. I'm really **** about how these are filled out. If you put music into a directory structure it allows you treat them like playlists. From the menu instead of selecting playlists though you would select dir. Just one more option.

 

This document: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...oduct_Info.pdf

says:Of course, of the AAC files it will not play the ones with Apple DRM protection.

 

I apologize in advance for what is probably a really dumb question...but I don't have my mini yet, nor a users manual. Where is the USB port located that you are talking about plugging the memory sticks into? Is it right on the radio itself or is it a cable connection?
Thanks.
(just trying to get all my toys lined up before the mini arrives.)

 

it's right below the a/c controls in that little cubby...mounted to roof of cubby hole

also, in my 08 clubman, it picks up right where it left off every time i get in the car, so it doesn't have to re-index...i am using only a 512mb usb stick right now tho

 

I tested the USB connection with an 80gb external hard drive on a test drive and it did not recognize the hard drive. I used an external power supply using an AC inverter, since the USB connection on the Mini is only 0.5A. This hard drive works great in this configuration with my Pioneer Premier usb head unit in another vehicle.

I'm not sure what the capacity limits are on the Mini, it might be restricted to Mass Storage Class devices of a certain size only. It would be interesting to know what those limits are.