Use my B2 in my Car ? ? ?

[Paul S]

Hey all,

     I'm going to try to get my B2 hooked up to my cars stereo but I need a bit of advice first.

I'm going to power it from a Cigarette lighter socket, I have the plug itself but it has an internal fuse. What rating fuse should I use for the B2  ?

Ideally, I would like the music menus up on the Cars display if it is possible, with that in mind:- 

My car has bluetooth, my phone is already hooked up to it but more than one device can be hooked up at the same time. My B2 it connected to my Home Theatre system and performs beautifully so should I try the Bluetooth connect or use the cars built in 3.5mm stereo connection instead -  ?

My car also has a USB-A connector, could this be a connection option  ?

For good measure I have a 2017 BMW Series 1 - 116D incase someone is familiar or have even tried this idea out in their car.

Many Thanks for any assistance

Paul    

[Chris Buckle]

I just copy MP3 versions of my music onto a USB HDD and plug it into the car’s USB port. The car indexes the music and will display track details and album art work. Your version of iDrive may differ.

Chris

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Paul,

Assuming your B2 music format is "FLAC" you can ask the B2 to make a hidden MP3 copy of this :-

This can then be exported to a USB storage device thus

this is the link that gives more detail 

I feel that this would be the "cleanest" and easiest way to have your B2 music in your Car.

One word of warning, the FLAC+MP3 conversion can take a VERY LONG time to complete - some people use other software to achieve this see this link

Fred

[PMB]

Hi Paul S,

I would try a 5A fuse.

I think the only way to get any track info displayed on the car's system is via Bluetooth and then that may be limited.

It is not possible to plug the B2 USBs to any other USBs.

The Line Out to 3.5mm will provide audio only.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[JFBUK]

Hi Fred,

I'm not sure that Paul needs to create MP3s.

Most recent BMW entertainment systems use what they term iDrive and that supports FLAC playback I believe.

I would test first with a playlist export of FLAC files to USB

John

[Chris Buckle]

Mine doesn’t but it is a bit long in the tooth. The manual lists what it can play.

[Paul S]

Thanks All,

Well I took my mains power supply out today and powered it from the Garage socket with my B2 in the car, the Car didn't seem to like Bluetooth connection to the Brennan B2 cos it did not find anything either way (Car screen mentioned something about Bluetooth 'BT Compatibility' ? ? ?). My Galaxy S10 connects fine to the car though. The car can connect to x4 bluetooth devices at the same time so it has to be something to do with the Brennan Dongle or whatever else. 

Anyway, gave up on that idea but did convert a few sample FLAC's to MP3 onto a Stick which worked fine in the USB port and even put up the album cover pic, album name, artist and track name on the iDrive display  :-D. No random play option for the whole list of tracks like the Brennan can but it will random play the contents of a single album  LOL. Beamer appears to support 'playlists' though so I'll have to investigate that a little further.

Interesting JFBUK !  MP3's always sound tinny to me even at highest quality and it did in my car, really quiet compared to the DAB radio too, I may try the FLAC's directly and also try converting to other common formats on a sample track to see what will take up the least space and give the best sound in the car. Luckily the Mrs doesn't mind not having the whole 3500 track available in the car so just a stick of 'MY' music will suffice   :-D 

 

Cheers

Paul

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Paul,

Just one thought, is your B2 running the "B2" or the "B2B" version of the software, it is the "B2B" that is needed for best bluetooth functioning.

Fred

[Chris Buckle]

Paul,

Good to hear that you have something working. But iDrive should be able to play all tracks in random order - it does on mine. I have my display almost always in 'Split Screen' mode so I always have to fiddle about a bit to restore random play if I have been doing something else but it is possible. Manual states select 'Options' 'Random".

Chris

On Monday, 13 September 2021 at 22:13:49 UTC+1 Paul S wrote:

[Paul S]

fred,

     In the web UI 'settings' it shows: Version B2B Sep 7 2021 08:11:11 which I assume is the latest update installed

Paul

[Paul S]

Chris,

     Don't think mine will do split screen as my car has the narrower screen (5.6 inch I think), although that is an assumption, I have only had the car for about 6 weeks after leasing Honda's for the last 25 years because I used to work for them. Really need to get my head in that manual. I'm sure you are right about the random play, I'm sure I only had a single sample album on the Stick at the time   LOLOL. My other assumption is that on the stick the tracks should be arranged the same way they are on the brennan itself, master Folder Artist Name, Sub Folder for Album Name which then contains the tracks.

Paul

[Chris Buckle]

Paul,

I think you are right; your screen is probably too small to offer split screen.

IDrive uses the ID3 tags in the MP3 file to display track names, album art, etc, so the folder structure and naming shouldn’t matter. Having said that, I do have mine organised as Artist, Album, Tracks, which seems the logical way to do it and also means that you can find stuff. Without going to check, I’m pretty sure that you can search through your USB device using the directory and file structure as well as album name, artist and so on.

Chris

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Yep, it is.

On Tuesday, 14 September 2021 at 08:48:37 UTC+1 Paul S wrote:

[Paul S]

Ok, so I got to a final destination on this topic.

Tried out sample tracks on a stick with AAC, FLAC, MP3, WMA and WAV formats used and all of them played in my Series 1 fine. To be fair, there was very little difference

in how each sounded and all formats also put up the cover art on the screen. The only really useful thing missing was a tag in the tracks which defined the 'Genre' for the

tracks which the car could use to pick from.

Here's how I did it just in case anyone else wants to try it:

===============

1. Hooked up my Brennan B2 to my PC using the NAS feature.

2. Converted my FLAC albums to MP3's at highest quality available to 'same named' folders in a directory on my PC using 'MediaHuman Audio Converter' software.

3. Batch Tag for 'Genre' to all tracks as I convert to define Rock, Easy Listening, 80's, 70's etc using 'MP3tag' software.

4. Standardised the 'Loudness' of all tracks/albums using 'MP3Gain' software (due to most tracks being at different levels which is one of my Pet Hates)

5. Copied all music folders to the Stick arranged like this:

Root\<Artist Name>\<Album Name>\<CD's Tracks>

or:

**This worked when there's more than one album per artist**

Root\<Artist Name>\<Album Name (Disc 1)>\<CD's Tracks>

..................................\<Album Name (Disc 2)>\<CD's Tracks>

or:

**My BMW displays slightly differently to the Brennan to put the info correctly on the screen, I had to arrange the folders like this**

Root\<Artist Name>\<Album 'A' Name>\<CD's Tracks>

..................................\<Album 'B' Name>\<CD's Tracks>

..................................\<Album 'C' Name>\<Album 'C' Name (Disc 1)>\<CD's Tracks>

..................................\<Album 'C' Name>\<Album 'C' Name (Disc 2)>\<CD's Tracks>

This allows me to pick by Artist, album, Genre etc and the 'Random' setting in 'Options' will randomise the tracks defined/shortlisted my these selections which is simple,

great and I'm seriously happy with the result. I got here with the help of all of you and I thank you all for that help. My whole collection of 3500 tracks wont even touch the

surface of my 64Gb Stick so I may look into doing a version in WMA format which does not sound quite so tinny as MP3's although file size is 4 times bigger, this was

really just a proof test.

I found all software to support doing a WMA set but cant seem to find any WMA compatible software for the MP3Gain side of things. This analyzes the current level of

each individual track in the batch and raises or lowers each track to a level that you set, anyone know of software which will do the same job for WMA's  ? ? ?

Many Thanks All of you

Paul