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      09-16-2019, 02:48 PM   #1
Another blue M40i
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Question 2020 X3m40i HK system & FLAC

My car is arriving in a week or so (hopefully, it's "at the port") and I was able to access the owner's manual in "My garage". I just spent two days copying 575 albums into FLAC.
I see this in the manual now:
USB storage device
Playable formats
MP3, MP4, M4A, M4B, AAC, WMA.

One of the reasons I opted for Harmon Kardon was sound quality. Can anyone reassure me that my system will be able to read FLAC?
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      09-16-2019, 03:13 PM   #2
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i haven't tried flac on my car yet, but honestly with road noise I highly doubt you could tell between a mp3 vbr320 and a flac. If the car isn't moving and is in a quiet spot, maybe. Regardless I can try this for you later today if you like. I keep all my music in both flac and mp3 vbr320 formats. One for home listening and one for the mobile/car.
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      09-16-2019, 03:27 PM   #3
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I want to know about FLAC too, I have a mix of WAV and FLAC. I don't want to have to convert 1TB of music to another format due to the hassle..pls can you try it.. it's fine on my non-HK F25.

Last edited by clivem2; 09-16-2019 at 03:40 PM..
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      09-16-2019, 03:44 PM   #4
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My 2019 X3 M40i plays FLAC off of a USB stick. I'd be surprised if they dropped it in 2020 for any reason.

The one issue I have with FLAC on USB is maintaining album song order. It wants to play the songs in alphabetical order instead of the original song order on the CD.
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      09-16-2019, 03:44 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by foglem View Post
i haven't tried flac on my car yet, but honestly with road noise I highly doubt you could tell between a mp3 vbr320 and a flac. If the car isn't moving and is in a quiet spot, maybe. Regardless I can try this for you later today if you like. I keep all my music in both flac and mp3 vbr320 formats. One for home listening and one for the mobile/car.
I'd appreciate it. The problem is that I have already converted all my CDs to FLAC. I hope I don't have to do this all over again. Unless there is a converter that will do everything in all directories one batch & keep the cover photos & all directory & file structure. The earlier cars were able to play FLAC files according to my searches here, but very little info on 2020 X3's and The HK system is also an unknown factor for me.
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      09-16-2019, 05:22 PM   #6
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2018 with HK, FLAC playing without any problems. I also doubt they changed supported media format.
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      09-16-2019, 09:39 PM   #7
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I use a 256 GB USB flash drive (Samsung FIT Plus, formatted as exFAT) in my 2019 X3 M40i with the Harman Kardon stereo. The flash drive is loaded with about 750 albums. All are in FLAC format and all are properly tagged (artist, year, album, genre, track title, track number, cover art). The car plays them without a glitch. Importantly for me, it plays FLAC gaplessly--i.e., music that transitions from one track to the next without an audible gap (The Dark Side of the Moon, say) is actually played back without any audible gap.
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      09-16-2019, 09:44 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Another blue M40i View Post
I'd appreciate it. The problem is that I have already converted all my CDs to FLAC. I hope I don't have to do this all over again. Unless there is a converter that will do everything in all directories one batch & keep the cover photos & all directory & file structure. The earlier cars were able to play FLAC files according to my searches here, but very little info on 2020 X3's and The HK system is also an unknown factor for me.
Please keep your CDs in FLAC. FLAC is lossless, and therefore well suited for archival purposes. Once you rip to FLAC and properly tag everything, you are set. You can always batch covert all of your FLAC files to any other format you want later. I use Foobar2000 to convert from FLAC to MP3 because my wife's Benz does not play FLAC. I drag my entire FLAC collection to Foobar2000 and point it to a new "MP3" folder. The next day, the MP3 folder has a mirror structure to the FLAC folder, except all files are MP3s. Foobar2000 is freeware and portable. PM me if you are interested in this. The creation of the mirror structure is not exactly intuitive in Foobar2000 and took me a few tries to figure out.
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      09-17-2019, 12:28 PM   #9
foglem
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Sorry I apparently missed that this was in question for the 2020 model. Works fine on my 2019.

I wrote a little converter about 5 years ago to batch convert flac to mp3 keeping the directory structure. But this Foobar2000 sounds good and is likely far more up to date than my old jerry-rigged tool!

And agreed, store in FLAC because it's lossless. Convert from that to any other needed formats but always keep the original in flac.
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      09-17-2019, 01:41 PM   #10
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Thanks for the tip regarding Foobar2000. I was using ISOBurner and couldn't seem to get iDrive6 to play the FLAC files in album order. Agreed, you just can't shuffle play Dark Side of the Moon. It can trigger brain snaps (very painful, don't ask).

To the OP: It would be interesting to know if FLAC has been dropped from support in iDrive7. If that's the case, here are some Plan B options you can consider:

FLAC files on a phone music player - The phone music player handles FLAC compatibility for you. The catch is you'd want to plug the phone directly via USB. Using Bluetooth will apply a sonic cheese grater to your audio experience.

Apple iTunes supports an Apple proprietary lossless format, similar to FLAC. The risk (admittedly small) is that Apple could drop support for the format at any time. You can store the tunes on an i-phone or i-pod and plug it into the USB port for playback.
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      09-17-2019, 07:16 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz3D View Post
Thanks for the tip
To the OP: It would be interesting to know if FLAC has been dropped from support in iDrive7. If that's the case, here are some Plan B options you can consider:

FLAC files on a phone music player - The phone music player handles FLAC compatibility for you. The catch is you'd want to plug the phone directly via USB. Using Bluetooth will apply a sonic cheese grater to your audio experience.

Apple iTunes supports an Apple proprietary lossless format, similar to FLAC. The risk (admittedly small) is that Apple could drop support for the format at any time. You can store the tunes on an i-phone or i-pod and plug it into the USB port for playback.
I find it hard to believe that they would drop FLAC compatability, but will know for sure in a week or so. I have an android phone, and nothing Apple, so we'll see. I would prefer to use an ssd instead of plugging in a phone. At least now I know I can convert the files as a group if I need to.
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      09-18-2019, 06:01 PM   #12
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I'm beginning to think nobody at BMW really knows. HK didn't either. They said it depends on the Head unit and to ask BMW.
BMW says:
==========================================
Hi Mr. B.,
Thanks for contacting the BMW Genius Team.

You are unable to play FLAC files in your vehicle. The playable formats are MP3, MP4, M4A, M4B, AAC, and WMA.

I hope this information is helpful. Thanks again for your inquiry.

For your convenience, BMW Genius Team members can also be reached via the BMW Genius Hotline Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-844-4GENIUS (443-6487).

Emily T.
BMW Genius Representative

Make a BMW product expert your new co-pilot.
=================================
This is what my "garage" car's manual says, but the manual doesn't even refer to a Harman Kardon system & I can't find any info on one.
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      09-18-2019, 06:54 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Another blue M40i View Post
I'm beginning to think nobody at BMW really knows. HK didn't either. They said it depends on the Head unit and to ask BMW.
BMW says:
==========================================
Hi Mr. B.,
Thanks for contacting the BMW Genius Team.

You are unable to play FLAC files in your vehicle. The playable formats are MP3, MP4, M4A, M4B, AAC, and WMA.

I hope this information is helpful. Thanks again for your inquiry.

For your convenience, BMW Genius Team members can also be reached via the BMW Genius Hotline Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-844-4GENIUS (443-6487).

Emily T.
BMW Genius Representative

Make a BMW product expert your new co-pilot.
=================================
This is what my "garage" car's manual says, but the manual doesn't even refer to a Harman Kardon system & I can't find any info on one.
I will test it tonight for you. I have a 2020, iDrive 7 and HK audio. Just need to know how to make a FLAC from iTunes.
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      09-18-2019, 07:10 PM   #14
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I just put a single .flac file on a USB stick and it played just fine.
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      09-19-2019, 10:22 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by corn18 View Post
I just put a single .flac file on a USB stick and it played just fine.
Thank you very much!!! I really do appreciate you testing this.

This was an example where the manual was wrong! And also the BMW "Genius".
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      09-20-2019, 01:24 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Another blue M40i View Post
Thank you very much!!! I really do appreciate you testing this.

This was an example where the manual was wrong! And also the BMW "Genius".
BMW Genius. Typically known as a fine example of an oxymoron.
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      09-20-2019, 01:29 PM   #17
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Thank you from me too!
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      09-21-2019, 10:53 AM   #18
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To the OP: Sorry about the delay in responding; I was on a business trip.

To follow up on Foobar2000, it's freeware and can be run in a portable mode. I'll upload my fully configured portable installation somewhere later today if anyone is interested in trying it out without the hassle of going through the configuration process. The attached screenshots show how you convert from one format to another. As I said above, all of my music is in FLAC and properly tagged, and I typically convert to MP3 for my wife's car. The process is as follows:
  1. Drag and drop the FLAC folder into Foobar2000. This can take some time if you have many albums. For simplicity, the screenshots only show one album in the Foobar2000 window.

  2. Select all files (CTRL+A) and right click. Choose the Convert option, item "..." in the submenu. See screenshot #1.

  3. The Converter Setup window opens. See screenshot #2. In that window, click on Output Format and choose MP3 as well as the quality you want. Make sure that Processing section says "None." If it says something different, click on Processing and deselect everything (unless you want to post-process the audio in some specific way, but then you probably know what you are doing and do not need this guide). The Other section should say "Transfer tags and attached pictures." This ensures that all of your FLAC tags will be ported to MP3 flags, including album covers. If your FLAC music is not tagged, this will simply do nothing (but I highly recommend that you tag your music as in my experience iDrive works better with tags).

  4. The Destination section is the most important. Clicking on Destination opens a new window. See screenshot #3. Set Output Path to the folder where you want your MP3s to be saved. Output Style and File Name should read "$directory(%path%,2)\$directory(%path%,1)\%filena me%" This instructs Foobar2000 to replicate the FLAC folder structure in the MP3 output folder. Foobar2000 counts folders from the bottom up. So "$directory(%path%,1)" refers to the folder in which the individual FLAC files are saved. "$directory(%path%,2)" refers to its parent folder. I only use two levels because my FLAC folder is organized as follows:

    R:\FLAC\Pink Floyd\A Momentary Lapse of Reason\
    R:\FLAC\Pink Floyd\A Saucerful of Secrets\
    R:\FLAC\Pink Floyd\The Dark Side of the Moon\
    R:\FLAC\Pink Floyd\The Division Bell\
    R:\FLAC\U2\Achtung Baby\
    R:\FLAC\U2\Boy\
    R:\FLAC\U2\No Line on the Horizon\
    R:\FLAC\U2\October\

    Hopefully you get the idea--i.e., every album is two folders down from R:\FLAC. If your music is organized in a way that does not employ a folder structure with constant depth (e.g., some FLAC files are in the root folder, some are one folder down, some are two folders down), then use "$directory_path(%path%)\%filename%" You may, however, need to make some adjustments after everything is converted. For example, if I set the Output Path to "R:\MP3", I'd end up with MP3s in R:\MP3\FLAC\etc., and would have to bring all of the folders one level up to get rid of the extraneous FLAC subfolder right under MP3.
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      04-21-2020, 11:50 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gugin View Post
To the OP: Sorry about the delay in responding; I was on a business trip.

To follow up on Foobar2000, it's freeware and can be run in a portable mode. I'll upload my fully configured portable installation somewhere later today if anyone is interested in trying it out without the hassle of going through the configuration process.[/LIST]
Hello,
I'm a new BMW X3 user. I've many favorites CDs and I'd like to transfer it propertly incl. all tags and graphics to FLAC format for me and MP3 320 format for my wife. Could you upload to any cloud drive portable application with your settings as you wrote please? What application are you using to convert CDs to FLAC?
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Jacek
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      04-21-2020, 02:17 PM   #20
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LAME.
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      04-21-2020, 02:22 PM   #21
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https://lame.sourceforge.io/
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      04-21-2020, 03:41 PM   #22
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It has no graphic interface and no internet free database usage - its too complicated for me
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