Music in the Mini

Download your music onto a USB stick and then you can download that onto the 20Gb hard drive in the car.
Pat

Most of my music was already on my computer in the form of mp3 files. However I did have a few cd's I needed to add. If you have a computer or laptop with a cd/dvd disc drive you can simply load them into your computer which asks if you want to download and store the files. Once these have been downloaded a good idea is to buy a large capacity (32GB/64GB etc) USB drive and transfer the files over to that.

You then simply plug that into your mini and play the music off the drive or transfer all the files into the minis hard drive. I prefer keeping my music on the usb stick which gives me the option of easily adding/subtracting files as desired.

It isn't necessary to go to the extent of buying a new ipod just to listen to your music in the car

What you are better doing is a process called "ripping" your CDs which will create a digital copy of the songs on your computer. Depending on the software used or the options selected this will create files with a MP3, WAV or FLAC extension or something. From there the files would be copied to your USB drive.

If you are non technical then I personally would recommend you keep the music on your USB drive without adding to the whole process of then copying the songs to the internal hard drive, because then you would have to learn how to add and remove songs from there too.

Alternatively if you were into downloading music from iTunes then an iPod would be the easiest thing for you. iTunes would synchronise all your music to your iPod and then you would plug the iPod into the car, which is a lot less hassle.

It really is v easy to rip music to computer save to usb then in options import to the cars hard drive. I'd recommend that as then there is nothing in the car to attract thieves etc or lose! You can also stream via Bluetooth off your phone. Options are endless. My media xl equipped Cooper doesn't quite perfectly control spotify but it moves up and down tracks in a playlist. V impressive.

I think for technically challenged using iTunes and ripping/copying your CDs to it would be pretty simple to do, and transferring them to an iPod is easy too. Then the iPod plugs to the car and is operated from the car interface, also easy. As mentioned you can also transfer ripped songs (iTunes) to USB but that's not as easy as to iPod. And you can import them onto the car's hard drive but that's no easier than playing from an iPod. Plus you can use the iPod itself if you want. I've never hardly played CDs in my Mini dating back to 2007, I always use my iPod.

I vote for the iPod option. Go to ebay and get a "classic" iPod with 120 or 160GB of space. More than enough room to keep all but the largest music collection with you.

If your library is not too big, consider one of the smaller iPod touch's. Nice thing about this is that it has wifi. If you park your car within range of your computer at home (as I do - in my garage), you can actually sync it up without ever removing it from the vehicle. As I listen to a lot of podcasts, and use a 160gb Classic iPod, I have to remove the iPod and attach it to the computer to sync. Not a big deal but certainly less convenient than the wifi option.

iPod classic is great, and it sits in the little mesh pocket where nothing else fits anyway

Hi all, I can't find any internal hard drive in my car, can anyone here pls advise

Thanks

the internal hard drive doesn't come as standard, it has to be optioned. if you haven't got it then it wasn't added to the options list (or your dealer made an error!)

The hard drive comes with the media xl pack I think.

I checked with the dealer today and he said my 2015 Hardtop comes with the internal 20 GB hard drive.

I didn't order it, just got the media XL package.

Yep that's right. Use it it is fantastic.

Hat said:

the internal hard drive doesn't come as standard, it has to be optioned. if you haven't got it then it wasn't added to the options list (or your dealer made an error!)

Click to expand...

I believe the 20GB internal hard drive is part of the media XL pack only, so if you haven't got that then you won't have a hard drive. I bought a small (physical size) 32GB USB sticks for £8 and copied mp3 files onto that and plug it into usb port in Mini, works ok although moving between albums seems to be a bit of a pain (standard LCD screen).
As an aside I was surprised to find that standard sound system only has 2 speakers (in front doors), didn't check before ordering but expected at least 4!

Yes std system is 2 door speakers and two underseata subs, vis boost has two more in the rear passenger side panels and the glorious hk system adds tweeters front and rear and a centre dash speaker plus 400 watt amp.
In my r56 I used a massive memory stick but made 3 sub folders labelled one a to h one I to o and then o on and put the album's in there by artist name. Savred hours scrolling through but the media xl seems to solve this.

Am looking into getting an iPod classic with 160GB space, and apparently they don't make them anymore?

Don't need it for anything other than music, so don't need the features that come with the other iPods, such as texting or whatever else.

Any suggestions?

MINIgirl said:

Am looking into getting an iPod classic with 160GB space, and apparently they don't make them anymore?

Don't need it for anything other than music, so don't need the features that come with the other iPods, such as texting or whatever else.

Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Buy one on Amazon or eBay. They're still selling them.

Unfortunately they are about $500 new on Amazon and about half the price for a used one.

Don't know if it's a good idea to buy something like that used?

Just buy a high capacity memory stick. Cheap and easy

I got one word for you. Spotify

You can stream music directly to your phone (and make the playlists you want available offline) for about 10$ a month.

Not sure about other countries but here in Sweden noone buys music anymore. Like the old saying: Once you go Spotify you never go back...

Or was that not the correct version?