[AHB900]

Hey guys, I am having an issue getting my USB stick to work with my car. I have a USB stick that is formatted to FAT32 and I have filled it with mp3 music and mp4 videos. I plug the USB stick into the USB inside the arm rest, and the car DOES find the stick and it shows up on the idrive but when I try to play something it says file cannot be played.

Also, I do have the option required for this USB playback..

Any idea why this could be happening?

THank You

[Frogman]

Originally Posted by AHB900

Hey guys, I am having an issue getting my USB stick to work with my car. I have a USB stick that is formatted to FAT32 and I have filled it with mp3 music and mp4 videos. I plug the USB stick into the USB inside the arm rest, and the car DOES find the stick and it shows up on the idrive but when I try to play something it says file cannot be played.

Also, I do have the option required for this USB playback..

Any idea why this could be happening?

THank You

It should work...

First, are you running the latest bluetooth / media software on your car? If not, you should update it. Go here: www.bmw.com/update and follow the instructions.

Try just putting one or two .mp3's on the stick (no .mp4's) and see if you can play those. I don't believe your car will play the videos, so they may be confusing the car.

Also, what bit rate are the .mp3's? I remember something about issues with high bit rate mp3s. Try some at 128K first, and work up from there.

[Mermaid]

While I love using a usb instead of my phone for music, I've found that it's very temperamental. I've never tried a video before so I can't help you with that but with music, make sure you wipe out the usb, erase everything from it and do it with disc utility if you have a Mac. Even if you delete everything off of it, it's still got stuff on it sometimes unless you reformat it. After you've added the music again then pop it in the car and let the music start. With mine, a song will just start playing. I then scroll down to "current track" or something like that, select that and then all the music is listed alphabetically. If I do it any other way, I get the file can't be played message.

Hope that helps!

[AHB900]

Originally Posted by Mermaid

While I love using a usb instead of my phone for music, I've found that it's very temperamental. I've never tried a video before so I can't help you with that but with music, make sure you wipe out the usb, erase everything from it and do it with disc utility if you have a Mac. Even if you delete everything off of it, it's still got stuff on it sometimes unless you reformat it. After you've added the music again then pop it in the car and let the music start. With mine, a song will just start playing. I then scroll down to "current track" or something like that, select that and then all the music is listed alphabetically. If I do it any other way, I get the file can't be played message.

Hope that helps!

Yeh i had it cleaned and reformatted to fat32 it was originally fat16.

Originally Posted by Frogman

It should work...

First, are you running the latest bluetooth / media software on your car? If not, you should update it. Go here: www.bmw.com/update and follow the instructions.

Try just putting one or two .mp3's on the stick (no .mp4's) and see if you can play those. I don't believe your car will play the videos, so they may be confusing the car.

Also, what bit rate are the .mp3's? I remember something about issues with high bit rate mp3s. Try some at 128K first, and work up from there.

I got the latest bluetooth/media software. Ill try to put only mp3 files and they are all purchased and 320kbps. If it cant play 320kbps i would just stick to the USB cable lol.

[Boucheroux]

I tried yesterday with the USB in the armrest. Video in MPG. It works perfectly, but no 4/3 to 16/9 automatic. I will try with MP4.

[v12]

Originally Posted by AHB900

Hey guys, I am having an issue getting my USB stick to work with my car. I have a USB stick that is formatted to FAT32 and I have filled it with mp3 music and mp4 videos. I plug the USB stick into the USB inside the arm rest, and the car DOES find the stick and it shows up on the idrive but when I try to play something it says file cannot be played.

Also, I do have the option required for this USB playback..

Any idea why this could be happening?

THank You

What year model is your car and what video format(s) are your files?





-

[sparker92]

I haven't had issues with mine. Any car running iDrive 4.2 should be able to read MP3, WAV, and most FLAC files. MP4's should play only in park. Other cars without Nav or iDrive I am unsure of at this point in time.